A record number of shops closed in Britain last year, with 16 stores closing a day. Bookshops, however, are bucking the trend, with the number of indie bookshops on the rise for the second year running according to data released by the Booksellers Association (BA). Despite the dominance of online retailers, Hackney’s independent bookshops have never lost their popularity. Here are the beautiful independent bookshops of Hackney.
LIBRERIA
■ Libreria, by the founders of the creative workspace/private members club, Second Home, business partners Rohan Silva and Sam Aldenton, opened with the intention of being a ‘refuge’ from digital.
The mission of Second Home is to nurture creativity and innovation. Everyaspect of Libreria is designed to help readers discover new books and ideas, and encourage interdisciplinary thinking.
65 Hanbury St., E1 5JP libreria.io
ARTWORDS BOOKSHOP
■ Located on Rivington Street and Broadway Market, Artwords carries a curated inventory of international fashion, photography, art, architecture and graphic design books, alongside industry and creative magazines. Store owner Ben Hillwood-Harris said: “Key for us is the look and feel of our bookshop. It seems an obvious point to make these days but creating an inviting and friendly feel in any shop deal- ing in non essential items is very important afterall, there is plenty of competition online, and probably at cheaper prices. That, and, for a bookshop, a well considered and arranged stock of books is vital. We compete with and continue trading despite Amazon by offering a great browsing experience: in my opinion browsing a considered and thoughtfully arranged selection of books beats looking at covers online. Books make lovely gifts: whether for a birthday or a treat for a friend, books make great presents and a bookshop is a wonderful place to browse a selection, choose one and have it wrapped and pick up a card too. Most importantly, books are conduits to a continuing education; they can expand your horizons and your mind!”
Artwords Bookshop Limited Branches at:
20-22 Broadway Market, E8 4QJ 69 Rivington Street, EC2A 3AY artwords.co.uk
BURLEY FISHER BOOKS
■ Burley Fisher Books specialises in new titles by independent presses; it also has a coffee shop. Haggerston’s in- dependent bookshop hosts regular events with authors, both local and from further afield.
400 Kingsland Road, E8 4AA burleyfisherbooks.com
STOKE NEWINGTON BOOKSHOP
■ An award winning independent Hackney bookshop, established on Stoke Newington High Street since 1987. The Bookshop carries an extensive range across most general subjects, but is particularly strong in fiction, children’s books for 0-16 years, and an increasingly popular range of greetings cards, wrap, and stationery including Moleskine notebooks.
159 Stoke Newington High Street N16 0N stokenewingtonbookshop.co.uk
DONLON BOOKS
■ Donlon Books is an independent bookshop and publisher located at Broadway Market. Since 2008, they have built a strong reputation for stocking an idiosyncratic range of new and rare titles, periodicals and printed matter, with a focus on photography, art, critical theory, LGBT literature, music, fashion, counterculture, erotica, and esoterica. Donlon has hosted events for Wolfgang Tillmans, David Armstrong, Stephen Gill, Sara MacKillop, Jean-Michel Wicker, Paul Buck, David Noonan, Viviane Sassen and The Archive of Modern Conflict.
75 Broadway Market, E8 4PH donlonbooks.com
THE BROADWAY BOOKSHOP
■ The Broadway Bookshop – a small but beautiful independent bookshop in busy Broadway Market. The bookshop specialises in literary fiction and has a good range of poetry, philosophy, pol- itics, biography, city literature, travel, art, fashion, music and children’s books.
6 Broadway Market, E8 4QJ broadwaybookshophackney.com