Off The Shelf

I recently wrote a piece for The Bookseller about bookshops learning to overcome their technophobia. But really 'technophobia' is a proxy - and, on reflection, perhaps a disrespectful one - for change . I say disrespectful, because many booksellers are extremely tech-savvy and many have been trading heroically through the lockdown. I visited my local bookshop Mostly Books yesterday (to be clear, remaining socially distanced, and by prior appointment) and witnessed an impressive operation of online and phone ordering, home deliveries, and perspex screens in anticipation for a phased re-opening beginning in June. But the grim reality is that - as shops re-open - it is going to be a world of perspex screens, masks, gloves and remote contact. In other words, anything but the personalised, one-to-one independent bookselling experience that most entrepreneurs got into bookselling for. And that's before we even consider bookshops that major as destinations, with cafes and