Waterstone’s can’t find it
Glinner urges readers to try to buy a copy of Hannah Barnes’s book Time to Think. A reader reports on one such attempt:
So on Tuesday last week (28 Feb), I looked for ‘Time to think’ in Waterstones Broadgate (Liverpool Street station). I was told that they had one copy, but that it had been ordered specifically for a customer. I was told that the nearest branch with a copy was Gower Street. (I didn’t look there…)
One copy. Why just one copy? I don’t think that’s how these things work. I think normally bookstores get several (or hundreds if they know it will fly off the shelves). They seem to have just One Copy only when it’s a book by some wicked feminist like Kathleen Stock.
On Friday (3 Feb) I looked in Waterstones Piccadilly – the biggest bookshop in London – where the front section as you enter is full of new releases and recommended books.
Been there done that. The Piccadilly one is the first place Jeremy and I went when the fashionable nonsense dictionary was published. (There were several copies.) Anyway – they didn’t have a single copy. Our reporter expressed surprise and one of the assistants snapped at him. Yeah that’s totally normal. The other assistant said it was an order but didn’t say when it would be in, and was vague about it when asked.
I then went to Foyles on Charing Cross Road (Foyles is now owned by Waterstones btw), who also didn’t have it on display in the front of the shop along with the new releases and recommendations. The assistant there said they had sold their allocation and were waiting for more copies, but again didn’t offer when it would be in stock. He looked up to see where I might find it nearby, and said that Waterstones Trafalgar Square had a copy.
One copy.
It could be that they’re just selling faster than Waterstone’s expected, but that seems unlikely, being as how Waterstone’s can pay attention to the news just as well as we can. And even if that is the case, why are they being so lackadaisical or just rude about it? We probably know why.
I couldn’t see it in Waterstones Trafalgar Square either, despite there being a two-unit display headed ‘In the media’. When I asked, I was told that I could find it in the ‘New social sciences’ section.
I found it and bought it. That might have been the last copy in a Waterstones store in London (!).
Suppress suppress suppress.
Maybe British these “booksellers” could get together with American “pharmacists” who refuse to sell abortifacients.
It seems an odd thing for a company to do, to stand between customers and the products they wish to buy. Unless they believe the book is somehow dangerous and they feel a duty to screen or discourage those seeking it. Perhaps they think of the book as if it were a sword, or gun, or explosives, and they must be very cautious in selling it at all, because it could cause “harm” or “actual violence.” No blood money for them! Of course it’s a book about an ideology that results in stunted development, mutilation, and sterility, which, somehow, needs to be protected from scrutiny and criticism. If they were really worried about the health and safety of dysphoric youth, they’d be making huge displays at the front of all their stores. But no, it’s more important to protect the belief system than the flesh and blood of humans being sacrificed in its name.
I know that a store or chain of stores is not required to sell everything it could sell, but I wonder if there’s any legal course of action the author or publisher could pursue? It would be interesting to see how Waterstone’s came to this decision. Seems they’re cutting of their…nose (yes, we’ll call it a “nose”) to spite their face.
Ooops. Maybe these British “booksellers”…
Sorry, Bruce, but there is no legal action to force a retailer to buy from a wholesaler.
My copy is published by Swift Press. If you go to their website and search the title, nothing is found. Search for the author, and it does come up second. Poor web design, or is even the publisher hiding?
I read a few years ago that Waterstones had changed its policies so that local store managers made decisions about stock instead of it being handled centrally. The boss of Waterstones credited this as the reason its bricks-and-mortar stores were able to remain open. Local managers order and display the books they think will sell locally. The idea was to make stores more like indi book shops, which sounds good in principle (to everyone other than indi book shops, I guess).
So perhaps it’s local managers who are choosing not to stock the book. I’ve been told by various people that they’ve found copies in various places, it would be interesting to see a map of which stores stock it.
I can’t help but feel that refusing to stock a best-seller will attract some harsh words from head office, though. Perhaps that’s why some stores seem to be ordering only one copy.
For the record, the book is not available for click and collect in my local Waterstones, although last time I was in there, it had a whole shelf dedicated to JKR books.
Also for the record, if you haven’t read the book, you absolutely should.
I just tried to buy a copy of Time to Think at Waterstones Broadgate in Liverpool Street Station and was told that they only had one copy and it had been ordered specifically for a customer. It seems strange that they would only have one copy when the book is by a well-known feminist like Hannah Barnes. Is this how bookstores usually sell books?