As Browne talks, there are piles of books and stacks of boxes all over the shop: online orders have been the only sales for months. They’ll remove smaller tables and chairs to make space, but large tables piled with books throughout the shop will remain: “they are natural separators”. “If we’re open we can’t say to people you can’t look at books. Covid-19 welfare schemes were vital for many bookshops in the short-term, but even with support and gearing up online, business is well down. Chairwoman Heidi Murphy points out schoolbooks are a bedrock of income, and urges Government caution about pushing schoolbook sales online, or any scheme excluding local bookshops.

Source: The Irish Times June 06, 2020 03:56 UTC