Making more of bookselling

The trouble with many booksellers is that they just sell books. And if that sounds like a statement or the obvious, it's perhaps because it is. In a world where the great majority of retailers all try to go the extra mile, whatever that is, booksellers seem, in many instances to be rooted in the 19th century.

Consider how nice it might be to have a bookshop where you could listen to music...of your choice...while browsing or just sitting and reading prior to considering a purchase. And for those who are a little older than the UK average, think how good it would be to have a pair of reading glasses on hand to take the place of the ones that you left beside the bed at home.

Dussmann, aka Das KulturKaufaus, aka the culture department store in Berlin, does all of this. Visitors can, for a small returnable deposit, walk away with a CD player, music and a pair of glasses. The aim is to keep shoppers in the store and with books accounting for 60% of sales in this city centre landmark, you can see why this might be important.

The only real question is why other retailers haven't done something similar.

And when you look at the pictures that go with this - look at the "Service Center" bit that's written in red.

Popping up

The word 'community' is much over-used and when seen in the context of a shopping centre is generally a shameless piece of marketing flimflam. Little surprise therefore to have seen this in the Whiteleys shopping centre in Bayswater. OK, there are a handful of pop-up stores that have opened on the scheme's first floor, but does this constitute a "community"?

Probably not. Especially when it is considered that three out of the four pop-ups that have made it over the starting line here are owned by the same company. It does also make you wonder about the nature of popping-up. If the name is any kind of clue, then, by definition, a pop-up store can never be part of a community.

Perhaps I'm missing something. But I rather think not.

Crime and punishment

From time to time, you come across signs that make you smile in spite of the severe message that they promote. This one, spotted in a trendy sneaker store in Camden makes stern reading and is, presumably not to be taken at face value.

Nothing much more to say about it really, other than that I particularly like the "survivors" bit.