Modesty forbids us from going on too much about this, but it’s only fair to note another baby step in the early life of Wanstead Bookshop, a new venture which in its first few months has already supplied hundreds of books to Wanstead readers.
The new development is a pop-up bookshelf, housed hospitably by the High Street’s newest café, City Place Coffee. The bulk of Wanstead Bookshop’s sales are online at wansteadbookshop.com (it’s a website which offers personal service – radical, huh? – and same day despatch of books). But having a physical presence on the High Street offers a glimpse of a different dimension. The economics of bookshops are pretty unfavourable, Wansteadium can exclusively reveal, and will continue to be so while people still buy from well-known online retailers whose name begins with A and contains a Z.
But the new bookshelf has been warmly welcomed by customers and has been something of a hit.
We can also happily announe that the new novel from Wanstead’s favourite actress, Jackie Clune, is available at the bookshelf, as well as online.
And we can also tempt readers that as part of its contribution to this year’s Wanstead Fringe (assuming Covid doesn’t derail things again) Wanstead Bookshop will be hosting a series of events with writers who include Hannah Armstrong, the author of the much anticipated history of Wanstead House.