obsessive blogger | Reads of Nassau
There has been a small reshuffle in bookshops around Dublin lately. Chapters has moved from Abbey Street to their huge new premises on Parnell Street. Easons have finally, after plenty of rumours, closed their Eason-Hanna store on the corner of Dawson Street and just around the corner, Reads (bought by Easons in 2006) has opened a new, larger, dedicated bookstore.
Apart from the abysmal branding of the new Reads store – garishly red facade and chicken scrawl logo – the internal layout of the shop is horrible. With Waterstones and Hodges Figgis within a 2 minute walk, both with four stories of selling space, the new Reads needs to innovate if it is to go up against these two juggernauts. With most of my time spent in the children’s books section of any store I enjoyed the removed room that Easons-Hannas had reserved for young readers. In comparison, Reads has children’s books shelved alongside science fiction, fantasy and adult graphic novels.
Not everything about the new store is negative. Reads look to be trying maintain their edge on selling books at the best price that they can – with a large selection of bestselling and highly acclaimed books available at great prices. But at the cost of the aesthetic pleasure of feeling comfortable in the store, is it worth the saving?
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Or, to summarise: bollocks.
Well, yeah.
But credit where credit is due… I dropped in yesterday and they had taken down the blinding spotlights that were hanging over the shleves.
David,
I hesitate to suggest that Reads does the job it is designed to do: lure many non bookshop buyers (and Tourists) in to buy commercial and mainstream fiction and non-fiction at reduced pricing.
It works kinda like Tesco Value. Many book readers will “self-select” the less visually obnoxious but higher priced bookshops (read Texco Own Brand or Tesco Finest* for those).
That said, in terms of browsing pleasure, it doesn’t have any!
Eoin
I’m with you on this one. Reads is great for bargains, but I love to spend hours wandering around Hodges Figgis and Waterstones. You couldn’t do that in Reads.
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