Bookshop, Picture of the Week, 30 Nov. 2012

This was Fagin's Bookshop in the central Milton Keynes shopping centre in the 1980's. A brilliant, eye-catching design for a bookshop frontage. Sadly Fagin's has gone the way of many independent bookshops in the UK - into extinction.

Today, the Centre MK has three bookshops, two are Waterstones, whose frontages are tasteful but bland and one is the Works, a discount chain with a front resembling a toyshop.

Other towns and city centres have fewer bookshops and Waterstones is everywhere. However there are still at least 300 independent bookshops in the UK which survive by offering great customer service. Find one near you at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/bookshop/independent-bookshop-directory

Secondhand bookshops are seldom found in city centres at all, which is a pity. Searching through the shelves and bargain boxes in a second hand bookshop can be interesting and sometimes exciting. Unlike in Waterstones you never know what forgotten gem you will come across.

However, one chain of secondhand bookshops has proliferated in the past decade. That is the Oxfam bookshops, with over 150 branches. They are staffed by enthusiastic and often highly educated and knowledgeable volunteers. The benefits are obvious, the customer gets some great books at reasonable prices, these books are recycled and the charity uses the proceeds to help some of the poorest people in the world. There is a list of Oxfam bookshops on their website at:  http://www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/local-shops

There are other secondhand bookshops all over the place. Hay-on-Wye is famous for its bookshops, there are more than thirty including antiquarian bookshops selling beautiful and rare volumes. Look for them: http://www.inprint.co.uk/thebookguide/shops/index.php