Monday, March 28, 2011

Gosh and stuff

If this were a comic, there would be a huge KABLAMMMMM!!!!
right here.
Like that. Yes. Just like that.
But it's not a comic, so assume the Kablammm.

Today has been amazing. We have been truly kablammed by customers and other stuff.

We'd been waiting for a few cheques from schools and stuff for stuff we'd supplied them (which we knew would arrive, but didn't want to push), and today some of them did. Some of the good ones as well... So a small dance was initiated on Wood Green High Road as we took the cheques up to the bank. Then, an email came through letting us know that a payment for another order of books we supplied an organization was hitting our bank account. Cue another small dance. This time involving ribbons and daffodils. And then there were all the wonderful and gorgeous customers who came through the Big Green doors today. So many more than your usual Monday. I say again, flip.

An article in the Observer by Robert McCrum yesterday has caused many phone calls and emails to us . The article suggested that we had closed, which was a bit of a shock to Tim and I. WE ARE STILL OPEN in case you were worried. More surprising to us was the suggestion that opening a bookshop in West London was perhaps a better proposition than opening one in N22.

Now I understand that the article was one that was written to support our appeal, and I appreciate that it was something which encouraged people to make the 'trek' to N22 ( only 6 stops on the tube from King's Cross), but i'm not sure that comparing bookshops in W8 and N22 is of great value. It's a bit like Sports Personality of the Year, when you are choosing between Phil 'The Power' Taylor, Lewis Hamilton, Jess Ennis, some funky fast cyclist and David Beckham. All of these people are sports people and they are all very good at what they do. But some geezer throwing darts vs some geezer driving a fast car?? How can you compare. I dunno frankly. I like Slightly Foxed in Gloucester Road very much. They are brilliant, and I urge book lovers to make the trek to W8 to appreciate justy how good they are.

But we are very different bookshops, who do very different things. We appeal to our customers by doing very different things, and this is what is important. If we fail, it's not because of our location, because there are many thousands of people in Haringey who love reading books.
If we fail it is because WE have got it wrong.
Not N22.

2 comments:

  1. Aw - but you're not going to fail, so nobody's got it wrong.

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  2. Or take a trek to SW7, where Slightly Foxed is actually to be found: The Slightly Foxed Bookshop
    123 Gloucester Road
    London SW7 4TE

    Never believe what you read in the papers!

    Judge

    ReplyDelete