The message was stark but indisputable. "Irish businesses will struggle to compete with Amazon.ie, both online and in the high street," said Kenny's bookshop on Instagram. "Shop direct with your Irish retailers, who already exist. Support local, not the billionaires."
The Galway-based bookshop makes a valid point. There was plenty of buzz about the fact that the world’s biggest online marketplace finally had an Irish outpost after all these years; no more making the digital trek to .co.uk to find the item you were looking for. When Amazon.ie was launched earlier this month, there was a lot of spin about 'how much more choice there will be for Irish shoppers’, and how the e-commerce giant intends to work with Irish businesses by setting up a ‘Brands of Ireland’ page.
Eason Retail purchased the Dubray Books business in 2020
Amid the bluster, spare a thought for the little guys. What it really comes down to is that age-old conundrum of convenience vs. the human cost of independent retailers. Kenny’s are correct in saying that they, or Dubray Books, or The Gutter Bookshop, or Books Upstairs even Eason’s or any other number of small Irish book retailers around the country with an online presence will struggle to compete with the titan that is Amazon - but do we really want to lose the very specific kind of joy that meandering through the aisles of your local bookshop provides?.
It's worth keeping in mind that independent bookstores (and music stores, too, for that matter) in particular are reliant on book-lovers and music-lovers for business in a way that Amazon will never be.
I can't count the number of times that I’ve been pulled into Hodges Figgis on Dublin’s Dawson Street by something in the window display, or thought 'I’ll just go in for a quick look…’ and rarely come away empty-handed. You don’t get that when you’re scrolling with Amazon.
Some of my fondest childhood memories are of being taken into town on a Saturday as a kid and being let loose in the musty second hand basement level of the old Chapters bookshop on Middle Abbey Street. I can still remember the vivid smell, the quietness, squeezing past the mountains of books and the thrill of finding a tatty paperback of a Sweet Valley High, Point Horror or Babysitters Club book that I hadn’t read yet. My heart sank when we almost lost Chapters in 2021, after it announced it was to close after 40 years in business; thankfully it got a reprieve, but it certainly made me more conscious of supporting the indie retailers. As for convenience? Many of these independent retailers provide incredibly fast (and often free) shipping, too. I’ve ordered books from an Irish store on a Tuesday morning and had it in my hands courtesy of An Post by lunchtime the next day.
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Watch, via News On One - Amazon launches dedicated Irish website
Look - the fact remains that online retailing is here to stay, and no amount of foot stamping or angry-fist-shaking towards Jeff Bezos and his ilk are going to change that. From fashion brands to grocery shopping, if there is a way for people to consume from the comfort of their armchair, they will do so.
But it’s worth being mindful of what might happen if worse came to worst and Amazon, as handy as it may be on occasion, forced those retailers to close. And it’s worth keeping in mind that independent bookstores (and music stores, too, for that matter) in particular are reliant on book-lovers and music-lovers for business in a way that Amazon will never be. Maybe by making a concerted effort to buy from an independent Irish retailer - even if it means paying an extra couple of euro - it means that we will have the full spectrum of choice available to us, rather than just a bland view of what book an AI bot thinks we might be interested in. Because one day, you might wake up and that choice won’t be there anymore.
As a great woman once sang ‘You don’t know what you got ‘til it’s gone.’
