Some years ago I started investigating the common belief
among book-collectors that there are fewer second-hand bookshops in the UK than
there used to be. As a matter of stark statistical fact, this is simply not the
case.
Of course, many people will have the subjective impression
that it is true, based on their own, partial, experience. They will know of
bookshops that have closed, and towns or cities that had several but now have
none. No-one is doubting such personal impressions.
But they are not the whole picture. The broad profile I have
established, using contemporary book trade and book-collecting directories, is
that there were 523 second-hand bookshops in the UK in 1955, about 600 in 1966,
about 750 in 1973, about 900 in 1984 and in 1995, about 950 in 1999, and 1,140
in 2014. There are 1,282 now, in April 2025. At no point does this profile show
a decrease. Even if we exclude charity bookshops, the total of all other
bookshops has been stable, at about 900+, for over forty years.
Could there have been a temporary dip in between any of
these periods? Possibly, but I have not seen any evidence of that, and it could
only have been small and of short duration given the overall upward trend.
The main reasons given for the supposed decrease are the
internet, high street rents and charity bookshops. Again, no doubt each of
these has had an impact. But bricks-and-mortar booksellers can sell via the
internet too, and booksellers can migrate to lower rent areas. Indeed, there is
some evidence of this: there are fewer city centre bookshops and more in
smaller, less expensive towns.
But what about charity bookshops? The argument here is that
these get their stock and most of their staff for free, and also enjoy tax and
business rate concessions. They therefore provide, the argument goes, unfair
competition to privately-owned bookshops. In a recent (2 April) article, ‘The
problem with Oxfam Books’, for The Spectator, Alexander Larman
confidently states: ‘If you’re ever wondering why many medium-sized, even
large, towns and cities in Britain don’t have second-hand bookshops any longer,
the simple answer is that the Oxfam bookshops have driven them out of business.’
In fact, over 700 places in Britain do still have a
second-hand bookshop, but, that aside, the argument sounds plausible, and I can
think of an apparent anecdotal example. York has two Oxfam Bookshops and in
recent years has lost at least six other bookshops. But in each case Oxfam was
not directly cited as the cause of closure. The reasons included retirement,
death, relocation, redevelopment, the economic climate, the pandemic.
What does the evidence show? The major introduction of
full-scale charity bookshops in the UK began around 2000. Oxfam had opened sixty by 2003, fifteen more
were announced in 2004, and by 2009 it had 130. Other charities followed,
though on a much smaller scale.
The Book Guide, the online listing of second-hand bookshops,
gave in August 2017 a figure for the total number of charity bookshops it
recorded: 287.
However, it also gave an overall number for all bookshops:
1,187. This means that 930 in its list were not run by charities. This would
include, as with all the other overall figures I’ve cited, not only
“traditional” bookshops but also private bookrooms open by appointment, and
antiques centres with significant book stocks, and even a few well-established
market stalls.
It will be seen that the rise of charity bookshops to
getting on for 300 had not on the face of it affected the number of other
bookshops. There were 900+ of these in the late Nineties and still 900+ in 2017
alongside the charity bookshops. The theory that charity bookshops drove out
other bookshops is not borne out by the figures in this period.
But what about the period since 2017? Well, there was not
much change in the two or three following years, certainly, since The Book
Guide showed broadly similar figures for those. But since then? From 2020 to
now?
Charity bookshops have continued to increase. The Book Guide now lists about 150
Oxfam Bookshops, together with a further 40 of its general shops with a book
room or significant stock. It also lists 11 for Amnesty, 7 for the Red Cross, 6 for Age UK, and 17
named as ‘Community Bookshops’ (there are more of these, with a variety of
names). There are many others for national or local good causes.
Furthermore,
The National Trust began opening second-hand bookshops at its properties in
circa 2010 and in April 2025 reported on its website that it had “more than
240”. However, some of these are very small and so do not meet the Guide’s
criteria, and most may only be visited after paying an admission charge to the
property: The Book Guide largely omits these and so they are additional
to its overall totals.
If the
theory that charity bookshops drive out traditional bookshops were true, we
would expect to see this major expansion lead to a clear reduction in the
latter. Has it? Have other bookshops declined since 2020 as the charity
bookshop sector expanded?
Again,
there is no clear evidence of this. I haven’t surveyed every single bookshop in
The Book Guide but I have twice carried out sampling to estimate the number of
charity and community bookshops. Both times this suggested they comprise about
27% of the total. If this is broadly correct, it implies there are still about
935 other bookshops: a very similar figure to The Book Guide’s 2017
survey. The figures do not support the supposed decline in the number of
conventional bookshops as charity bookshops have increased.
This
analysis does not mean of course that there is no instance where a charity
bookshop has had a role in influencing the closure of a private bookshop. There
may well be examples, although one I saw confidently cited recently was rather
refuted by the fact that the bookshop in question had not in fact closed, and
is indeed still open now. But my analysis does show, I hope, that it cannot be
generally or largely true.
I am well
aware that this statistical evidence will not stop the story some booksellers
and book-collectors (and journalists) like to tell. So, since they prefer anecdote, I’ll share
one of mine. I once visited a small South Wales town where a second (privately
run) second-hand bookshop had just opened. I asked the owner of the original
one if this bothered him. Oh no, he said, it was good for business: more
bookshops attract more visitors. The proof of that is in thriving Hay-on-Wye,
which has around 17 bookshops, all apparently doing well – and, incidentally, a
charity bookshop too.
(Mark Valentine)
