Turning over a new leaf: looking to the future after Victoria Park Books closes

Illustrator and writer Chris Riddell at the launch of Story Habit

A popular children’s bookshop in Victoria Park has closed down after 10 years’ business.

Owner of Victoria Park Books Joanna De Guia found the shop was popular amongst residents but eventually decided the events they had been promoting to draw people to the shop grew bigger than the shop itself.

“We felt it had become a bit of an anchor so we cut ourselves loose,” De Guia said. “The shop just became a financial drain on the events and school business so we decided we don’t want to prop it up anymore.”

“The problem with bricks and mortar is that most indie bookshops tend to be tucked away,” she explains. “You have to constantly invent reasons for people to come into the shop and we just found the invention of the reasons became more rewarding than driving footfall through the shop.”

Many of the other business in the area have an alternative source of income, she says, such as a branch in another area of London or a second business.

‘Foodie’ location

The shop at 174 Victoria Park Road was the only bookshop on that stretch, and de Guia says the location was a difficult one to sell books in: “It’s very foodie, the strip where we had the shop. Monday to Friday it’s very quiet, and Victoria Park is very sleepy – that’s one of its attractions.”

But De Guia says she has no plans to stop working in Hackney, despite the change in her business: “Our whole start and finish is Hackney. We work with Hackney schools such as Mossbourne, Stoke Newington, and the local primary school.

“That’s my meat and drink, that’s what I love, getting all those children interested in reading.”

After locking up for the last time on 1 August, De Guia is now going full-time with her books events business Story Habit.

Story Habit will run events on its own and for other people that will help children find out what books they enjoy reading at an early age. De Guia will continue to sell books, but from a stall at events rather than at the old shop premises.

On 1 October De Guia will be leading an event for Hackney’s primary school teachers about the introduction of poetry as a mandatory part of the syllabus, for which local poet Michael Rosen is confirmed to speak.

She also plans to re-launch her popular week-long event Town Hall Tales next February, and is looking for schools to take part.

The closure of Victoria Park Books leaves Hackney with a healthy number of longstanding bookshops, all independent.

Pages of Hackney, Stoke Newington Bookshop and Broadway Bookshop lead the scene, with some open air stalls like Neil Burgess’s at Broadway Market and Newham Books owner Vivian Archer’s at Netil House adding to the offering.

‘That’s my meat and drink, that’s what I love, getting children interested in reading’

Local businesses have come up with innovative ways to open for longer – Pages, for example, starting up a ‘skill swap’ arrangement whereby volunteers from a local publishing company have manned the store in exchange for use of the event space in the basement.

But despite local support it is still a tough climate for new ventures – for example, Goldsmith’s Row book market, which was forced to close in January 2014 after a year and a half.

None the less, de Guia is upbeat about the launch of Story Habit.

“I don’t think it will have a detrimental effect on other businesses. Hopefully we’ve helped nurture a reading culture in Hackney, and other bookshops in Hackney will only benefit from that.”

Tickets for Poetry: From Guideline To Front Line are on sale for teachers now.