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Bookshop

Philistine'sMonsterPhilistine'sMonster
edited May 2007 in Local discussion
Bit of hypothetical market research here. Does anyone feel that Stroud Green would benefit from a small independent bookshop? There's a great one in Crouch End, and Muswell Hill has two -- one for kids and one for grown-ups -- but we're sadly lacking here... or are we? Would it be an insane venture? Would it go the same way as the unique Ulysses Video/comic book "shop"? Now there was a business idea!

Failing that, how about "Curry and Snaps" half-hour photo processing with curry while-you-wait. I for one would use it... probably every day.
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Comments

  • andyandy
    edited 2:50PM
    Nice idea. Not sure there's a market - SGR doesn't really get enough passing trade. Maybe if it was combined with something else?
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  • DavidDavid
    edited 2:50PM
    Wigs.
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  • PetePete
    edited 2:50PM
    comics
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  • PetePete
    edited 2:50PM
    Sorry, needed a joke answer:

    Plumbing supplies
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  • Four EyesFour Eyes
    edited 2:50PM
    I think we need a decent butchers that sells nice sausages, so a book selling sausage and wig shop would go down nicely.
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  • PetePete
    edited May 2007
    You have some crazy nights in, don't you?

    You were a plumbing joke away from a Benny Hill joke, mind you.
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  • LizLiz
    edited 2:50PM
    Phil, I'd love it if we had a bookshop. If Home can manage, then I think a bookshop could.
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  • LucyLucy
    edited 2:50PM
    I support the bookshop too! Although not sure my budget can afford to try and keep both Home and a book shop open.
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  • mattmatt
    edited 2:50PM
    There's a book shop on the same block as Nando's but at the opposite end.

    Or does it only sell a specialist range of books?
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  • LizLiz
    edited 2:50PM
    It's a god bookshop I think. Not exactly what I am after.
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  • AliAli
    edited 2:50PM
    It is a black interests bookshop.

    Got the comment below for a blog on bookshops in London from the Guardian
    http://books.guardian.co.uk/shoptalk/page/0,,1398384,00.html

    New Beacon Books, Finsbury Park
    76 Stroud Green Road, Finsbury Park, N4 3EN
    020 7272 4889
    I visit this shop once a year and it never changes. New Beacon deals with titles from the African American/Caribbean/Black British/African communities, has been there for as long as I can remember (I'm in my 40s) and still wears the same tatty appearance. Too many posters and leaflets for events long past are pinned to the notice board; books falling over each other clutter the shelves. But despite being rough around the edges, it is welcoming, cosy and unpretentious. It stocks titles you wouldn't find in WH Smiths or Ottakar's; and even if they don't have what you want, they'll go out of their way to get it for you. The assistant, Janet, knows her books, and is great at recommending new or old titles. New Beacon Books is a well-known shop: I hope it remains so.
    Maggie Whittaker
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  • LizLiz
    edited 2:50PM
    Shows you what I know. I think it was the word 'Beacon' which made me jump to conclusions - not sure why...
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  • Busby1Busby1
    edited 2:50PM
    What about the library in Mountview Road?
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  • tosscattosscat
    edited 2:50PM
    Bring back the Arthur Simpson library.
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  • mattmatt
    edited 2:50PM
    Crying shame that went, what's the one on Blackstock Rd like? I know a friend of mine was shocked when the Blackstock Road one stopped renting VHS tapes. It shocked her into upgrading her TV recording gear - straight to digital PVR!
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  • ColetteColette
    edited 2:50PM
    It's great - ask Dan about it, he thinks Islington libraries are ace. It's one of the few boroughs that will transfer anything to another Islington library for free.
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  • Philistine'sMonsterPhilistine'sMonster
    edited June 2007
    AAAGH! Don't get me started on Islington's libraries. NO, DON'T! I suppose it depends what you want from a library but I found the one on Blackstock Road to be a little bit of a disappointment. I mean, from the outside it's HUGE but on this inside it's tiny like some perverse TARDIS! And there's nowhere to sit and work for crissakes! What happened to big tables where you could spread all your research about and write undisturbed all day -- with a PEN and real paper instead of a 50cm square desktop with a monitor on it. Heyho.

    It's good for kids storytime, though, but I'm a bit old for that and they look at me funny when I try to listen in.

    The one on Holloway Road is better for being able to sit down and work but watch your bags and phones.

    Anyone know of a good, quiet, well-stocked local library where I can sit down and work? Or have I missed something?
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  • ColetteColette
    edited 2:50PM
    You've got a point there. The N4 library looks awful if you want to spend more than 10mns in it. I've been told the British Library is good for working in, by a couple of people?
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  • andyandy
    edited 2:50PM
    Yep - I like working in the BL.
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