Free for all @ The Book Barns, Bath Rd.
This Week Bristol saw the biggest ever giveaway of free books. A massive book warehouse off the Bath Rd (A4) was opened to the public and everyone was invited to help themselves to as much as could be carried away. The giveaway was so popular that this outstanding act of generosity by the owners is being continued for another week.
Confusion and rumour surround the reasons for the giveaway. The Book Barns are one of the countries largest sellers of second hand books, selling direct to the public through their own website and selling on Amazon. Their warehouses, one by the riverside in Bristol on the site of the old Paintworks, the others a couple of newer barns down the A37 a few miles with room for far more books and also possible room to expand further into the neighbouring green fields. In total it is estimated they stock over 5million titles. It has been reported that the reason for the giveaway was that the lease they held on the paintworks site is expiring so all stock must go. Though overall reporting has obviously been done quite lazily by the press, with The Sun reporting that the bookbarns are the UK’s largets seller of secondhand books on amazon. They even state that there are 5 million books available for free! Another report read that they were a ’supplier of amazon’!
So where does reality kick in? Well, it’s a genuine story with thousands of books scattered over the warehouse floor and the public is free to help themselves. The Sun article states “not linked to BookBarn International at Hallatrow, Somerset” and that the giveaway is being arranged by the Ashley Nicholson, Director of The Paint Works, not staff of the Book Barns. Unusually for the Daily Mail they do seem to have reported much better than others. - Director of the industrial estate Ashley Nicholson said: ‘We asked Bookbarn to clear the books and they got rid of some of them but there is still a huge, huge number inside the warehouse.’ Rumours that the giveaway was as a result of the company going into administration have strangely not been denied by the ‘other’ book barns, only that they are not associated with them, when only the slightest bit of research shows that the two companies were extremely closely connected only a couple of years ago. Why not simply state that the lease had expired and that the public were invited to collect as much as they could carry as it was not economic to move the remaining, mainly worthless, stock?
On a blog post BookBarns Closing, a Peter Tyson leaves a comment stressing that the companies are not connected in quite an official manner. So, whats the catch? Well, it seems as though Bookbarns set up a new company to run the business on the new site and are now distancing themselves from the expired lease and disposal costs of tons of worthless books they left behind as it was not worth their while transferring this stock to the A37 site.
Worthless books? Some would say it’s a crime to destroy/pulp/burn a book and all books have some value, but how many copies of the 1937 Encyclopedia Britannica are going to be needed, or even bought in the future? The same can be said for thousands of other titles, how many different editions of Dickens have been published, many still exist that are over 100years old, but as they are not first editions they are worth little even in pristine condition. Similair could be said for more modern authors such as Wilbur Smith and Jeffrey Archer, who had hundreds of thousands of copies published, few of which are worth the trouble of storing for the professional bookseller, and even the part-timer with some experience would avoid such titles unless they were a fan of the author. Many book prospectors, or scavengers if you prefer, will be leaving the Book Barns weighed down with books they hope to resell, they may even have used a smart phone to search on amazon to find out prices of books before selecting them. When they get home they’ll be overjoyed to list their box of books on amazon and ‘value’ them at incredibly unrealistic prices due to their rarity or pricematching dodgy american dropshippers that price books at 10x the price of the book available on another website (making profit off gullible customers who only look at one site and do not shop around when buying books). It’s also unlikely they will have checked the amazon sales rank to see if any copies have actually sold. So they may then expect to be storing them until they eventually realise they are storing worthless books that have little to no hope of selling.
Well, I wish them luck, as it is likely that all the stock there was classified as worthless by the owners and this ’stunt’ was a clever way of them not having to pay for the disposal costs themselves and flooding the already crowded shelves of part-time amazon sellers with even more overpriced yet worthless, stock. But with lots of reporting directly connecting bookbarns the ‘amazon supplier’ with the business that did not clear it’s building of waste at the expiry of it’s lease I imagine a lot more statements trying to create distance between the two ’separate’ businesses. The only differences I see between this and flytippping is that it was under a roof and people were fooled into believing that the scrap stock had some value.
Latest news is that they will be open for a further week, though as the story has now made the national press it’s likely that hopeful people will be arriving from even further a field to fill their cars full of tatty books.
Photo of the new bookbarns warehouse
BBC article – very short article, again disassociating the currently trading Bookbarns with the stock disposal.
BBC Video of the Bookbarns clearance
ABE Books entry for The Book Barns, showing email address for current business with the address for the old business at the paintworks – Obviously no connection between the 2 businesses!
Filed under: News | Tagged: book barns, books, Bristol, flytipping, recylcle, waste
I’m sure it’s technically true that “the companies are not connected”. There are two companies (in the strict sense of what’s registered at Companies House): Bookbarn Limited and Bookbarn International Ltd, and I’ve no doubt that they are, formally, not connected. As to their historical relationship, though, it’s pretty iffy to deny a connection when a glance via the Internet Archive shows the current Bookbarn International website http://www.book barn.co.uk to be simply the Bookbarn one with “International” editied in. Have you seen their website terms? They’re among the most anal-retentive I’ve encountered: “Links to the Web sites without the express written permission of BookBarn International are strictly prohibited”.
Nicely summed up Ray. Though I think for people who are so anally retentive as to not allow people linking to their site (had to break the link in your post!) would have issued a statement about not being connected more formally rather than leave quite a grey area open to debate.
I can’t think of any reason why you would divide up a business like this unless the division means it is easier to cut loose the loss making or unprofitable side of the business. This also allows the seperated company to incur debts, such as those for clearing their scrap stock, which would not thenhave to be paid if the company went into administration.
break the link
Sorry, I didn’t realise WordPress automatically completed links without the http…etc bit. Quite bizarre the number of sites that specify this, although I think a lot of them have just bought into some boilerplate contact without actually thinking through the implications (i.e. how deeply controlling and hostile it appears).
There’s been a couple of articles on a trade website:
28.02.09. “Bristol’s abandoned Bookbarn made both the local and national news … Needless to say, there was much derisive internet chatter about the whole affair, as well as speculation about the future of the remaining Somerset Bookbarn. Such concerns will be reinforced by the news I received yesterday, that Derek Belton, the Bookbarn’s founder and principle driving force, had suffered a stroke and is seriously ill in hospital.”
http://www.inprint.co.uk/thebookguide/shops/news.shtml
And a longer one at the url below, about the place that some now call Hellatrow:
http://www.inprint.co.uk/thebookguide/shops/somerset_bookbarn.htm
Anyone who has laboured under Mr Belton will understand the whole situation all too well! Gossip is ever brisk in the Bristol bookscene.
Another recent article from Inprint, mentions the recent death of Book Barns founder Derek Belton. It also ‘alleges’ that the business is being run by a firm of accountants, presumably whilst the estate of the late founder is valued.
More disturbing for those that have ‘arranged’ to sell books via the bokbarns is the theft of the computer that held records of the stock and sales of clients, so that any amounts due and records of stock may be impossible to ascertain.
27.04.09. The recent death of Derek Belton, founder of the West Country’s various Book Barns has heightened concern and speculation about the future of his remaining business, BookBarn International at White Cross in Somerset.
I’ve been told that the theft of a computer at Christmas has led to difficulties in identifying books consigned by individuals and in paying for those that have been sold. And prompted by the scenes at Bristol’s abandoned Book Barn at the end of February, a local bookseller attempted to discover what the future might hold for the remaining Book Barn.
A member of BookBarn International’s staff told him that Derek Belton had handed over power of attorney to a firm of accountants which, it subsequently transpired, seems to be a small tax investigations firm and which now has overall responsibility for running the business. The staff member was happy to pass on the company’s name and the dealer duly phoned them.
The dealer’s interest extended beyond the future of his own books lodged there and he wished to know if the business would be for sale. Apparently the conversation became increasingly heated, with the company spokesperson demanding to know who at BookBarn International had revealed this information, as he said it was confidential. The spokesperson then initiated two further phone calls to the dealer, who described them as turning into ‘a very unpleasant and threatening encounter’.