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Second-hand news
By insidebooks | February 12, 2010
Worthy of note is the burgeoning second-hand or used book market. In 2006 22 per cent of adults bought books from a charity shop or other second-hand outlet (Mintel, 2007). Oxfam has 130 specialist bookshops, alongside its sale of books in its other retail outlets, and is the largest retailer of second-hand books in Europe. The internet has revolutionized the search and sale of second-hand books: Amazon sells second-hand copies through its Marketplace scheme; and AbeBooks lists over 100 m new, used, rare, and out-of-print books from more than 13,500 booksellers.
The novelist Susan Hill has spoken out against the expansion of Oxfam’s book operation and its impact on small bookshops and other charity shops. She writes on her Spectator blog …
Some years ago, when Ottakars, the bookselling chain, were behaving like thugs, they had a clever tactic. They visited a medium sized town and looked to see if it had a good, thriving independent bookshop. If it did, they opened down the street. Two people I know had to close their previously profitable shops as an immediate result. Now Oxfam is doing the same.
A feature in The Bookseller also contains a comment likening Oxfam’s chain of bookshops to the ‘Tesco of the second-hand book business’.
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