Saturday 17 September 2011

Death of the newspaper? Part Two: Highstreet creation

I'm writing this as a second part to the question: what will happen to the newspaper and codex? It's a second parter because it branches of somewhere else. To read the first part go here.

This is an appeal to all those who enjoy the smell of a freshly printed newspaper. An appeal to those who prefer their bookshelves full rather than a Kindle sitting on their shelf. And more broadly; this is an appeal to those who like having a high street and would potentially like more bookshops on it and fewer Ladbrokes, or even the other way round.
With internet shopping permeating society it is no surprise that our highstreets are emptying. The facility of being able to purchase your groceries, clothing or technology online draws a huge audience. Laziness does too. But i would advocate taking those extra minutes each day to buy what you want from the highstreet.
We've all heard of buying local to support local businesses in their fight against global companies such as Sainsbury's or Tesco. The ethos here is the same. I enjoy the fact that my highstreet, Godalming High Street if anyone was wondering, has a bookshop i can dip into, has a bakery i can dawdle past to catch the smell of freshly baked bread, has an antiques shop that from time to time has interesting things in the window. I buy from these outlets not because they are cheaper (which they aren't - they have to pay rent which is a cost that a website simply does not have) but because i like having them there every time i walk down the street.
My idea is this: Buy from your highstreet so you still have a highstreet but also buy from the shops you like. If you hate seeing gambling shops on the highstreet but do enjoy gambling, do it online. The shop will not be able to continue as demand will be down (obviously as a result of a combination of people doing this, well, that is unless you have a serious gambling addiction) and it may be replaced by another bookshop given the success of Waterstones in the town.
This has obviously always been the way. The consumer votes with their pocket as to which shops survive and which don't but in the digital age i feel we can make more of a difference as some shops may just go online rather than staying on the highstreet. So, to come full circle,I am going to enter into some highstreet creation i will try to buy newspapers from newsstands rather than just reading online and i hope you do too. Well, unless you don't like bookshops or bakeries in which case maybe just go online.

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