Topping and Company
What is it: One of those independent bookstores to wander, with floor to ceiling books (complete with signature bookshelf ladders), heaving tables of the latest reads, and approachable staff.
Why you’ll love it: More than books (but there are so, so many), Topping supports writers (and their readers), with supper talks, one-day literary festivals, book signings, and reading groups.
What you need to know: There are now four of them: In 2002, Robert and Louise Topping opened the first bookstore in Ely, Cambridgeshire, in 2007 the Bath branch followed, in 2014 St Andrews and in 2019 the 4000 sq foot Edinburgh store (run by their now grown-up kids).
What they offer during whatever situation we find ourselves in: Can’t get to the shop for any reason (pandemics, life, general fatigue) you can call or go online to order books or get recommendations. You could even holler from the doorstep! Join their Signed Fiction Club or Signed Non-Fiction Club with a book a month selected by their booksellers sent your way. Some of the author events head online when regulations shift.
Why we think it matters: After some years out (children, work, smartphones), we found ourselves returning to books over the lockdown months. This after studying English Literature and always having a book in our pocket into our early grown-up years. But when doomscrolling became too much, and the world became an even heavier burden than usual to carry, we escaped into stories, into time spent curled up with a good read, into the simple pleasures of holding something in our hands that didn’t send push notifications. Books are a way back to a version of life that had been edged out by phones, click-bait, and ‘being busy’; they are an antidote to that to-do list that keeps you scrambling.
And one crucial thing to add, yes Amazon is all convenience, but it’s not all community or connection. Indie bookstores are truly some of our neighborhood’s special places — where else can you lose yourself in worlds, be led by curiosity alone, wander while forgetting what time it is? The fact that as legendary a bookshop as Paris’ Shakespeare and Company, and one as popular as New York’s The Strand have had to embark on public campaigns to save themselves, means that an even larger hole has opened up to swallow up these beloved places and we need to stop that, one book purchase at a time (you are the superhero that can save them in this analogy). Think about what you want to remain when life returns. For us, bookstores need to stay with us. There are souls are our cities (yes, we really believe that).
In their own words: Quite simply: “Explore The Universe From Your Sitting Room.”
