Petworth Bookshop
The Petworth Bookshop is our April Bookshop of the Month. Found in the West Sussex town of Petworth, this well-established shop stocks books for all readers. We asked Steve, the owner about his typical day, how he picks the books that line his shelves and his favourite read of the last twelve months – read on to find out more!
1. What’s it like running an independent bookshop in Petworth?
Although I have been bookselling in Petworth for 24 years, I still feel excited when I turn the key in the lock each morning. So much has changed since 2002 both in bookselling and in wider society and this has seen the importance of what we do increase enormously. Many of our loyal customers have been with us from the start and are certainly the converted, but as a tourist destination town within South Downs National Park we are continually being ‘discovered’ and so are able to demonstrate what the high street still has to offer My most recent bookseller, an English graduate from Bath, has told me that she thinks she is starring in a rom-com with the shop and location. She awaits her Hugh Grant.
It has been a rare privilege to see life in the town over this time. I suppose I am part of the landscape now. Many children who were regulars with their parents are now adults and simply love revisiting the shop. I am proud that many customers want to say that this is ‘their’ bookshop and I am always thrilled to see this in operation when they bring their friends and families to browse and buy.
2. Tell us about your typical bookselling day – what’s your favourite part?
Good coffee is the starting point of the day. The croissants are long gone, the Greek yoghurt and fruit is in. Opening duties are general retail. I do love being a shopkeeper as well and I do have some history in my family of the same. We opened a card and gift shop next door 12 years ago such was our success with that side of the business – Red Card Petworth, has gone on under the direction of Sally Matson, my business partner, to win awards. So, there are two shops, 3 or 4 staff all starting their day and the social element is one we all enjoy. The courtyard outside is swept, the windows are polished, emails, orders due and to be placed and then meetings with reps, returns, training, social media; it all comes into play but only after the first two coffees…
3. How do you pick the books that line your shelves?
The stock chosen is intended to make it as difficult as possible to leave without a book in your hand… During the week the shop is a traditional market town indie, but at the weekend we enjoy a younger, more contemporary vibe so we can think very laterally with our choices. I indulge myself to a degree with art and design books and encourage all my staff to have an input. It is a big shop and so the more voices it contains the wider our appeal to the browser. I will always stock books that are important, germane to current politics, conflicts and thinking – in general not always of great commercial value but I am adamant that we have a responsibility to reflect what is happening in the world, and where possible present alternative viewpoints. Satisfyingly I do have a good number of very serious readers amongst my customers, and this intellectual curiosity gives me a freer hand with stock choices than I see made elsewhere. Always we want to surprise our customers and ensure they are rewarded for investing their time with us.
4. If you had to choose a book to recommend over the last 12 months, which would it be?
Incredibly difficult to pick only one book to recommend. On the basis of sheer reading pleasure, it would be Francesca Kay’s The Book of Days. A wonderful evocation of the post reformation world set in an English Manor in 1546, with the traditions and the superstitions of the older order still present and grinding against the new Protestantism. Wonderful writing, spare and meditative, the novel explores the precarious lives of women and the affirmations and succour of nature’s changing seasons. I felt a great loss when I had finished it. Writing about it now brings back what a fantastic novel it was.
5. And finally, do you have any exciting plans in the coming months that you would like to share with us?
The year ahead involves such things as a new event partnership with Brooklands Members at the iconic racetrack and museum. We may also be book selling at the Goodwood Revival again. This summer we are working on a mass literacy project in senior schools with the force of nature that is YA author Nicola Garrard. Overall, we will continue to provide excellence to our community and beyond and keep front and centre the joy, value and essential humanity of books and reading amidst an age of great uncertainty and reduced attention spans!