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BUY THE WAY News from the shop front
■ THANKS TO local fashion experts The Coveted Mag (whoworewhatwhen.typepad.co. uk) for alerting us to a new ASOS collaboration with some of our favourite emergent Scottish designers. The designs are, in true ASOS style, cheap, bright and on-trend: we really like Louise Gray and Jonathan Saunders’ collections, and we’re particularly excited about the chance to snap up one of Holly Fulton’s Art Deco-meets-Native American print dresses (pictured above. All the rage at London Fashion Week, yah?) for a mere £85. ■ IN GLASGOW, the Oxfam clothes store at 231 Byres Road (just opposite Hillhead Underground Station) is undergoing something of a major makeover. In order to complement the Byres Road Oxfam book and record stores, as well as compete with the increasingly classy-looking vintage and second-hand shops springing up on the street, the shop is going to be relaunched as an Oxfam DIY shop. There’s only one other of these in the world, and that’s the flagship store in Camden. Basically, the idea is to run lines of accessories and up-to- the-minute designs recycled from second-hand garments, as well as a choice selection of clothing. The organisers are involved with Glasgow School of Art, and various emergent artists will be taking it in turns to create installations in the windows. Look out for the all new shopfront from Thu 18 Feb. ■ FINALLY, Edinburgh make- your-own-pottery institution Doodles Ceramics has turned ten this year, and they’re celebrating with a bargain- barmy load of offers. As well as specialised half-term workshops (running until Fri 19 Feb) and activities around Mother’s Day and the easter holidays, they’re offering 10% off your pottery painting session on the first Sunday of every month. Just quote ‘tenth birthday offer’ when booking in. Check them out at www.doodlesscotland.co.uk
Reading and righting Don’t listen to the naysayers. There’s life in the book trade yet, says Kirstin Innes
B etween the bankruptcy of Borders before Christmas and the oncoming onslaught of cheeky backlit upstarts like the Kindle and the iPad, popular wisdom would have it that things are looking a little gloomy in the world of book selling.
for It’s certainly a difficult time to be an independent book seller, space with fighting Waterstone’s marketplace dominance and 3 for 2 scheme, and the ease/ridiculous loss-leading discounts involved in shopping over Amazon. Lost In Fiction, a promising looking new opening on Glasgow’s Byres Road in 2008, didn’t last a year in business. However, three relatively new
shops, The Edinburgh Bookshop in Bruntsfield, Glasgow’s Hyndland Bookshop and the award-winning Watermill in Aberfeldy, seem positively chipper about the challenges ahead. ‘Yes, people do seem to be in thrall to Amazon, don’t they?’ chuckles Kevin Ramage, who co- owns the Watermill. ‘They do nibble around our edges from time to time, but business has been very, very good here over the last few months. It’s supposed to be quiet time just now, and we’re still busy. We offer a whole package – we have a café and homeware shop attached. People can’t while away a damp afternoon on Amazon. Well, they can, but it would be
PRODUCT OF THE FORTNIGHT
depressing!’
Vanessa Robertson, who runs both the Children’s Bookshop (like Ramage, with her partner) and its grown-up neighbour the Edinburgh bookshop is equally unfazed, and is convinced the personal touch will keep the independents afloat.
‘With independent bookshops, staff have ownership and feel empowered – if a customer comes in for a problem, we can talk it through. We can order books in quickly, we can deliver, we can look after schools who need orders, we can organise author events. We’re just trying to feel part of the community.’ What independents can do that the centrally-run chain stores can’t is cater to their community, and long may they continue to do so.
Hyndland Bookshop, 143 Hyndland Road, Glasgow, 0141 334 5522; The Edinburgh Bookshop, 181 Bruntsfield Place, 0131 229 9207, www.edinburghbookshop.com; The Watermill, Mill Street Aberfeldy, 01887 822896, www.aberfeldywatermill.com
Big Man Tea ■ Hoi. Big man. Like specialised Japanese tea? Like Glasgow? Then boy, have we got the right product for you. We’re always suckers for a quirky, locally run wee business, and Big Man Tea, producing fine Japanese teas (white, green, black and blue, of all things) under a deliberately Weegie name, really tickles us. You can currently order their teas after dinner in many of our favourite restaurants, including Café Gandolfi, and buy them on their website, www.bigmantea.com Tea packets start at £11 for 40g (20 cups).
12 THE LIST 18 Feb–4 Mar 2010