On taking bookshops for granted

You know how every now and then you're lucky enough to meet someone really lovely? One of those extra special, kind people who will do anything for you, just because it's the right thing to do?

This week's bookseller is one of those people. She welcomed browsers and buyers with a friendly smile and a warm heart, offering just the right levels of kindness or information as each individual required. For some, she'd eagerly listen as they popped in for a chat and to share their ambitions for the future, for others it was a friendly hello and leave them alone to look. Then there were the customers asking about X book or where they could buy Y elsewhere, her smile and helpfulness were a marvel and added to the brightness of an already beautiful bookshop.

Her smile and helpfulness were also heartbreaking: my visit was on the last day of trading for independent children's bookshop The Book Nut in Billericay, Essex.

The Book Nut was a boutique children's bookshop found in Barleylands Farm and Craft Village, a complex of shops, workspaces and family activities that appeared to be particularly popular on the sunny Saturday of my visit. A confusing map at the entrance meant it took me a few minutes to locate the bookshop, but otherwise the area was interesting to explore and the bookshop's collection of children's books, carefully curated by a bookseller who's also a talented illustrator seemed the ideal addition to the site.

I enjoyed browsing the shelves but ended up buying a shop recommendation: There may be a castle by Piers Torday. From our conversation it sounded like the perfect combination of joy tinged with sadness, a mirror for my experience in the bookshop. I also came home with a beautifully illustrated The Book Nut mug.

On top of the standard offering of children's books for all ages – and a shelf for grown-ups not brave enough to read younger – the bookshop also ran book clubs and story times. Reading about these has been a poignant experience. It had even won a James Patterson grant.

The bookshop itself was beautiful, decorated with bunting and booky details and staffed by bookseller Hazel and Gizmo the bookshop dog. It was a gorgeous, cheery destination and Hazel's boundless energy meant it was somewhere I wanted to hang out all day, but had to leave for fear of breaking down and sobbing in the middle of the shop.

In the days leading up to the closure, Hazel had politely tweeted about her encounters with customers drawn in by the closing down sale signs. In any other situation this would probably come across as bitterness, but her sunny disposition and the matter of fact way in which the comments were shared instead made this a simple record of experience. They included lines such as: "I go past you all the time, this is my first time here. Isn't it lovely, why are you closing?" or "I haven't been here in two years, oh, you're closing down. Just couldn't make it work could you?"

Now these comments make me angry, but I'm ashamed to admit I can't be self righteous about them. You see, some years ago I was visiting a nearby bookshop when they told me I should take a detour to The Book Nut. Only I was in a hurry to complete a bookshop crawl and nervous I'd run out of time, I made a note of the address and determined to visit when I was next in the area.

As it was I did run out of time, but not for the bookshop crawl. Checking my diary, purely by chance I find I'd actually planned to visit The Book Nut exactly two years to the day since I received the recommendation – which would have been around two weeks after closing. Okay, so I'd made a plan to visit, and I'm not writing this blog to seek reassurance, I know it's not my fault alone that this beautiful bookshop has had to close. But I'm as much a part of the problem as that customer who hasn't visited in two years, as is every one of us who walks past a bookshop and thinks "next time I must pop in".

I'm not trying to guilt-trip readers into visiting bookshops, I'm just trying to encourage you to pause and think next time you're about to walk past one.

Another quote from Twitter: "We walk past all the time and take it for granted you're here, now you're closing we've come in."

Don't take independent bookshops for granted, next time you might be too late.

The Book Nut (RIP)
Studio 3, Barleylands Crafts Village, 59 Barleylands Rd, Billericay CM11 2UD
Tel: 01268 286219
@nutshellstudio1

PS If you're the person who said this: "I came two years ago, you gave amazing recommendations. I got them off Amazon. Why are you closing?" Shame on you.