There has always been some interest in a dedicate bookshop to spring up in Ramsbottom, today I posted a comment in Facebook asking if a certain empty shop front would be a good place for a bookshop. (this has since became Lolos Vegan and Raw)
It was a slightly loaded question, as I already knew there was a lot of interest in a bookshop in Ramsbottom, but what transpired from the back and forth chatter is that the rates for the shop in question are a little on the high side (£22,000 a year high!).
In addition to such a high rent for this particular property, there is also the suggestion that physical books are a dying art, and that everyone has moved on to eBooks. Amazon has certainly made it difficult to make any money in this area as they have both eBook and physical book sales pretty well sewn up, so much so that they can dictate the price a publisher would sell a book to them for.
I suggested we put together a small amount to cover this, the suggestion from me was that I would happily pay £10 a month (with one offering up £20 a year) to go towards having a bookshop in Ramsbottom. I also got another 5 others to agree to this, so only another 2195 left until we can pay for the business rates for a year. Then, just the easy part of making money and getting stock.
What do you feel? Would you like to see a Ramsbottom bookshop? If so, where do you think it would fit in, given the price of this key retail property on Bridge Street is likely too much.
Jennifer from Espresso News suggested that something like a Shakespeare and Company like that seen in Paris would fit in well, This is Rammy would strongly agree!
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