I spent today culling my collections and taking books and DVDs to the the charity shops in town. One of those I went to is the new Oxfam bookshop in Market Harborough, which opened in the autumn.
It is a good shop, but you have to feel sorry for those trying to make a living from the book trade - there is also an Age Concern bookshop nearby. At one time, maybe 10 years ago, Harborough had three secondhand bookshops and a junk shop with a good selection of bookshops too. Now there is only Christine's Book Cabin.
Still, if it helps Oxfam raise funds to send bloggers to New York, I am all in favour of it.
Following a similar hollowing out around my area, the nearest bookshop is a s/hand business, whose owner tells me that more than half his business is internet sales. But he only continues because (a) he likes doing the job and (b) he has other income and his wife has a very good job. Meanwhile a retired librarian friend helps Oxfam and also browses other charity shops for gold nuggets that he can and does sell on...
ReplyDeleteOnly students and a few gullible (cynical ?) pop stars whose careers are on the rocks now even pretend to have illusions about Oxfam.
ReplyDeleteFor further reading, Katherine Quarmby`s New Statesman article `How Oxfam is Failing Africa` is very useful.