Our blog is two years old.
What have we achieved in the past two years? Here is a list of our original blogging aims compared to what we have actually achieved.
Aim 1: Become the best blog that ever existed.
Result 1: Er...
Aim 2: Take over the world.
Result 2: Um...
Aim 3: Er...
Result 3: Oh.
In other words, things are going quite nicely with the blog, thank you very much.
Saturday, 30 March 2013
Thursday, 28 March 2013
Easter opening times
The Easter bunny has commanded us as follows:
- Thou shalt not open on Good Friday, for it is a day of quiet reflection.
- Thou shall open gladly on Easter Saturday to bring joy unto the shoppers;
- Thou shalt not open on Easter Sunday for there may be the eating of many Easter eggs;
- Thou shalt not open on Easter Monday; instead, thy shall take up thy walking boots to high plains or Derbyshire or somewhere;
- Thou shall open again on Tuesday.
(After Christian satirist Adrian Plass. With apologies to Christians, other religions, athiets and anyone, really.) Our opening times are here.)
Tuesday, 26 March 2013
New name for books?
"I'd love to talk to you some more about your history with printed information."
A great quote from Robot & Frank, asked by a patronising man (Jeremy Strong) tasked with digitising a library (ie chucking all of its books) to one of its longtime regulars (Frank Langella) - a book reader who is "so square" he is "practically avant garde" in the age of the ebook.
An interesting watch for fellow book-heads.
Monday, 25 March 2013
Cruising for a browsing?
Bookshop browsing is, as it turns out, a good thing according to this piece in The Bookseller.
New market research suggests that healthy bricks and mortar bookshops lead to a healthy publishing industry, while closed bookshops don't just shift sales to the internet: many of the sales disappear altogether.
Market analyst Douglas McCabe says: “We estimate that when a bookshop closes, about a third of its sales transfer to another bookshop. This means as much as two-thirds of sales disappear.
"Some of this spend doubtless migrates online, but much of it vanishes from the book sector entirely.”
He added that nothing should be "considered too extravagant" in efforts to keep bookshops going.
We agree, obviously. There is a lot we can do that, say, Amazon can't do. In fact, we'd encourage everyone to treat us with extravagance. Chocolates will do, but only posh ones that come individually wrapped inside ribbon-tied boxes.
The article also says that, with the exception of the Fifty Shades trilogy, social media isn't a great way of shifting book units. So stop reading this blog post immediately. It's stopping you from buying new books. Stop reading. Stop it. Oh, you're so rebellious.
We feel positive about the future. Our customers are loyal and our booksellers are passionate. And we also think that lots of our books happen to be brilliant too.
Some time soon, take a few moments to have a browse. It's an extravagance worth taking.
You're still reading, aren't you? Stop it.
New market research suggests that healthy bricks and mortar bookshops lead to a healthy publishing industry, while closed bookshops don't just shift sales to the internet: many of the sales disappear altogether.
Market analyst Douglas McCabe says: “We estimate that when a bookshop closes, about a third of its sales transfer to another bookshop. This means as much as two-thirds of sales disappear.
"Some of this spend doubtless migrates online, but much of it vanishes from the book sector entirely.”
He added that nothing should be "considered too extravagant" in efforts to keep bookshops going.
We agree, obviously. There is a lot we can do that, say, Amazon can't do. In fact, we'd encourage everyone to treat us with extravagance. Chocolates will do, but only posh ones that come individually wrapped inside ribbon-tied boxes.
The article also says that, with the exception of the Fifty Shades trilogy, social media isn't a great way of shifting book units. So stop reading this blog post immediately. It's stopping you from buying new books. Stop reading. Stop it. Oh, you're so rebellious.
We feel positive about the future. Our customers are loyal and our booksellers are passionate. And we also think that lots of our books happen to be brilliant too.
Some time soon, take a few moments to have a browse. It's an extravagance worth taking.
You're still reading, aren't you? Stop it.
Friday, 22 March 2013
Googly Eye Books
Here's something for the weekend: googly eyes on books.
Googly Eye Books does what it says on the, er, paperback. They even have an A-Z list of featured authors.
Have a look. As it were.
Spotted by @John_the_Monkey, @roadccdave & The Poke.
Googly Eye Books does what it says on the, er, paperback. They even have an A-Z list of featured authors.
Have a look. As it were.
Spotted by @John_the_Monkey, @roadccdave & The Poke.
Thursday, 21 March 2013
A catchy little collection: @GIANTmicrobes plush toys
We've been feeling a bit peaky here at Blackwell's, and we've just worked out why.
In our medical department on the first floor, if you're lucky you could catch cholera, malaria, swine flu, the common cold and the clap. The ailments come courtesy of our uber-cute Giant Microbes, plush toys that look surprisingly similar to their microscopic counterparts. Well. As similar as a 7" cuddly toy can look...
Pictured above left is chickenpox, which isn't in stock yet but paid a visit to its mates on our first floor yesterday.
Next to that is chickenpox hanging out with its friends, all of whom are in stock and are waiting for you to buy them. Clockwise from top right:
- a brain cell that's just graduated;
- chickenpox;
- bird flu;
- gangrene;
- salmonella (which, in a certain light, looks like Phil Oakey from The Human League);
- MRSA complete with superbug cape.
They're ideal companions to any diseases textbook, and are even available in petri dishes! Pictures by Vicki, our medical buyer.
Wednesday, 20 March 2013
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