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Ian Allan Bookshops to close? (turns out it's just Cardiff closing)

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Polarbear

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Hello

Apologies if there is an existing thread - I did a quick search but couldn't find anything.

I've been advised from a reliable source that the majority of the Ian Allen bookstores are to be closed by the end of February 2015. Whilst the branch near Waterloo Station in London is to be retained, those at Cardiff, Birmingham & Manchester are due to close.

I for one will miss these stores, but I expect that in the internet age with the likes of Amazon, they've struggled to remain profitable?

Finally, the existing stock will be sold off at reduced prices on the run up to closure so now may be a good time to get to one of the shops & pick up a bargain..!!
 
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Techniquest

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I'm not overly surprised to be fair, I haven't been able to get what I wanted in the Birmingham or Cardiff stores on any of my post-2005 visits. Manchester was a lot better, indeed last time I went there I spent £51 and something pence in one go, simply because they had what I wanted and needed, unlike the other stores.

Since I can now also order my NREA online when they're updated, I have even less need of an Ian Allan shop. I must remember to get my ST Publications book updated at some point too, again the Internet can help there! Same for a new AFQR, as my 2012 edition is well out of date!

At least the Waterloo one is staying, but I've only been there once as I rarely venture to that part of London!
 

edwin_m

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The Manchester store, being situated on the station approach to Manchester Piccadilly station, is ideal for browsing generally, but always has had the historical information books that I required.

I walked up the station approach one day this week at about 1720 and every shop that is currently operating was still open, except Ian Allan (despite claiming to be open until 1730 on the net)! I'm not surprised it's not viable if it's closed when most of the potential customers pass by.
 

Busaholic

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As a bookshop proprietor, indeed one that years ago got mentioned in Ian Allan publications as an 'approved' supplier, it saddens but does not surprise me. Once they sold off the magazines it was only a matter of time before the book publishing/shop side was put under scrutiny. Amazon is not the only competition either. There are many specialist transport book suppliers, particularly on the bus, aircraft and military side. Their bus titles have a reputation now of not being specialist enough for the enthusiast yet too expensive for those with just a passing interest. Capital Transport has raised the bar by a long way, especially once it started to look outside the capital for material to publish. Ian Allan Publishing also has been subsumed into Midland Counties Publishing - I was at the London Book Fair when that deal was announced.
 

Xenophon PCDGS

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I walked up the station approach one day this week at about 1720 and every shop that is currently operating was still open, except Ian Allan (despite claiming to be open until 1730 on the net)! I'm not surprised it's not viable if it's closed when most of the potential customers pass by.

I know quite a few of my "early 60's" friends who are still working in Manchester city centre who visit this shop at lunchtime, making use of the free "Metroshuttle" service 1 bus which stops outside the shop in its terminal point, in order to travel to and from the shop there.
 

yorksrob

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It's a shame really. I love browsing in them, although it has to be said, I can rarely afford books nowadays.

In terms of railway books, I have always bought them based on the selection of photographs within. Where now are we going to browse to choose (the Internet is practically useless for This)

Waterstones has long since become a glorified coffee shop, and Foyles is heading in the same direction since it's Ill advised refurb.

If I can ever afford to buy books again, how would I know which ones to buy.

Welcome to the computer age.
 
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Bevan Price

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Yes - I shall miss the Ian Allan shop in Manchester. I have bought dozens of books there in the years since the shop opened. The internet has its uses, but I prefer to glance through books to decided whether or not they are of sufficient interest to purchase.

(Also, I don't really like mail order for items of largish size - somehow with such items, the postman always seems to come when I am out, leaving a "collect it at sorting office" card. )
 

Bishopstone

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Sad news. I will say, however, that I've found their customer service to be lacking on occasion. In the London branch, transactions are often conducted in silence at their end, and in that familiar English way I end up thanking them for my purchase as we part company. Manchester wasn't much friendlier, last time I visited.

That said, they seem to have plenty of time to natter with the regulars, not all of whom appear to be buying anything.
 

Busaholic

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Sad news. I will say, however, that I've found their customer service to be lacking on occasion. In the London branch, transactions are often conducted in silence at their end, and in that familiar English way I end up thanking them for my purchase as we part company. Manchester wasn't much friendlier, last time I visited.

That said, they seem to have plenty of time to natter with the regulars, not all of whom appear to be buying anything.

No excuse not to be civil to paying customers, or indeed to anyone else frequenting the bookshops. I've had potential 'customers' coming in my shop for years without ever buying anything, and then one day breaking the habit of a lifetime. That said, if anyone starts being a pain to me or other customers they are given the order of the boot. Some people think you are a captive audience for their neuroses or general unpleasantness and they need to be disabused of this notion.
 

deltic

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Sad news. I will say, however, that I've found their customer service to be lacking on occasion. In the London branch, transactions are often conducted in silence at their end, and in that familiar English way I end up thanking them for my purchase as we part company. Manchester wasn't much friendlier, last time I visited.

That said, they seem to have plenty of time to natter with the regulars, not all of whom appear to be buying anything.

I agree customer service never seems that great. I recall going into their Manchester branch last year to see if they had "Manchester London Road (GC) 1957: British Railway Centres No.4" but they had never heard of it and it wasnt on their system - but I got in their London branch a couple of weeks later!

The stores remind be of old fashioned sex shops - a lot of older guys furtively looking though the stock without actually buying anything, some dodgy video playing in the background (all of which seem to have the same commentator trying to sound enthusiastic about some shunting movement in the yard) and mainly bored female staff who wonder what these guys see in the stuff they sell.
 

Xenophon PCDGS

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Will there be any "closing down sale" at the non-London establishments or is this too much to hope for?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Ian Allan Publishing also has been subsumed into Midland Counties Publishing - I was at the London Book Fair when that deal was announced.

Would that decision be a natural progression following on from their sale of their magazine division to Key Publishing not all that long ago?
 

Aldaniti

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Sad news. I will say, however, that I've found their customer service to be lacking on occasion. In the London branch, transactions are often conducted in silence at their end, and in that familiar English way I end up thanking them for my purchase as we part company. Manchester wasn't much friendlier, last time I visited.

That said, they seem to have plenty of time to natter with the regulars, not all of whom appear to be buying anything.

Sadly, I have to agree. Every time I went into the Manchester shop there was a lack of friendliness and, on ocassions, a please and thank you was even hard to come by. At some point they had a loyalty card, so many stamps on a card, that sort of thing. I was aware of it but not once was I asked whether I was interested in a card. Still, I'll be sad to see it go, spent quite a few quid there over the years.
 

table38

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I'll be sorry to see the Manchester reading room go, always a good way of killing time whilst waiting for a train.

I'm guilty of often browsing in there, then buying on Amazon, but mostly because I didn't want to lug books around all day. If (as someone suggested above), they had stayed open later, or even on a Sunday, I might have spent more in there.

Although it was rare that I passed without at least looking in the window, if not checking out the "new items" shelves near the till, and my bank statement says I did manage to spend £52.49 in there last month!

Maybe it will become another "Little Waitrose" :)
 

scotsman

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I'm not surprised - the Manchester one was always closed on Sundays, which surely would have been one of their busiest days. Even the weekend before Christmas it was closed.

Am I right in thinking that block it's located in is to be demolished?
 

Crossover

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Shame - have walked past a few times, but only been in once at a time - I usually pass at a time it's closed or when I have somewhere to be. May drop by when I'm in Manchester with possible time to kill at the end of the month :)
 

Springs Branch

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Sadly, I have to agree. Every time I went into the Manchester shop there was a lack of friendliness ........
Last time I was at the Manchester shop was a week after the 2011 riots (somehow the bookshop had avoided being looted!).

At the time, the staff were obviously being bothered by people coming into the shop thinking it was some other business in the vicinity.

To prevent this, a prominent printed notice was on the door saying something like:-

"This is a bookshop, not the XXXX office.
XXXX is on your left xxx yards down the street.
If you come in here asking for XXXX, we will point at you and laugh
".

Didn't really affect my own purchase experience, but it did say a lot about the staff's attitude, and reflected poorly on local management who allowed this notice.


.......The stores remind be of old fashioned sex shops ..........
Do any older Mancunians remember the bookshop, now long gone, on Victoria St near Manchester Cathedral?
It seemed to specialise equally in transport publications and mens interest magazines.
A real one-stop-shop - I bought my first copy of Penthouse and an Ian Allan ABC Locoshed Book in one transaction here, aged around 17. I don't think the question "how old are you sonny?" was asked very frequently in here.
 

Xenophon PCDGS

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Am I right in thinking that block it's located in is to be demolished?

Would I be right in thinking that it is the large Network Rail block that used to be a Royal Mail-type building is the one that will have to be demolished once the new line and trainshed and station for HS2 arrives at the side of Manchester Piccadilly station, rather than the curved block on the railway station concourse?
 

theblackwatch

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A real one-stop-shop - I bought my first copy of Penthouse and an Ian Allan ABC Locoshed Book in one transaction here, aged around 17. I don't think the question "how old are you sonny?" was asked very frequently in here.

Presumably it was the ABC book you put in the brown paper bag for fear of being seen with it? :lol:

In all seriousness, like many on here, I was quite saddened to hear this news. Back in my teens, a day trip to Birmingham would always include an afternoon visit to the Ian Allan bookshop (which was then located in the Pallasades shopping centre - you came out of the main entrance and went up the escalators). Rather handily, there was a nearby exit from the shopping centre down to the Midland Red bus station. On a recent visit to Birmingham, I found the new bookshop (having moved again from Stephenson Street), although it sounds like I won't be going there again...

In recent years I've tended to use the Manchester one more, my most recent visit being in December (and yes, I did make a purchase!). I took like to look at books, and while I buy plenty online from Amazon etc, there are others I want to look at first, and others which aren't available online at discounted rates, which I'd rather buy and have in my hand that wait for it to appear in the post some time after I've ordered it.
 

g4mby

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I last visited the Cardiff shop in 2012 and purchased two not large but quite heavy books. I spent £33.98. I expected and certainly needed a carrier bag to put them in as it was going to be at least another six or seven hours before I got home.

After asking, I was offered one at a cost of 5p. Were things so bad that even then they felt it necessary to charge 5p on a sale of £33.98?
 
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I have spent a fortune in the Manchester branch over the years, somehow being 'unavoidably detained' en-route to my train at Piccadilly. I agree that the staff are off-hand and rather less than helpful at times which is disappointing as a regular customer. The younger members of staff seem to think that the company's network computer is provided to update their Facebook status rather than research a particular title that I might want.

The 'lazy S' building will be demolished when, (and if), the HS2 station is built as it lies in way of the entrance. It is a shame as it is an attractive and good quality building of the period by the same architect as the infamous Centre Point building in Tottenham Court Road in London . 'Square One' - the Network Rail building will also go.
 

Taunton

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I do get the feeling that since Mr Allan Senior let go of the reins, the whole group has really gone into a gradual decline. Even the stock of the Waterloo shop doesn't seem to be kept relevant nowadays, and of all their shop locations it must have the worst location, in an obscure back street with zero passing trade.

You might have thought from when they still owned the mags that they could have been given a rent-free unit on the new Waterloo concourse, as a quid pro quo for Roger Ford not writing anything snitty about Network Rail :)
 

RichmondCommu

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Whilst this is indeed sad news, especially for those who will lose their jobs I do wonder whether this is a failure on the part of Ian Allan management. The likes of Robert Humm and Bill Hudson at Matlock prove that railway bookshops can still thrive. I do wonder whether high city centre business rates / rental costs have played a part in this.

I agree that railway books are expensive but there is always the second hand book market. In terms of browsing Amazon do of course offer free returns if you don't like the book which you have purchased.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Will there be any "closing down sale" at the non-London establishments or is this too much to hope for?

Unlikely Paul as they will just sell the stock through other bookshops as they will continue to publish books.
 

Ash Bridge

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Would I be right in thinking that it is the large Network Rail block that used to be a Royal Mail-type building is the one that will have to be demolished once the new line and trainshed and station for HS2 arrives at the side of Manchester Piccadilly station, rather than the curved block on the railway station concourse?

That's what I was led to believe Paul, its previous use was Royal Mail Andrew Street Parcel Depot, I think the previous poster is refering to it as the Network Rail Square One building as it is at present.
 
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Busaholic

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Whilst this is indeed sad news, especially for those who will lose their jobs I do wonder whether this is a failure on the part of Ian Allan management. The likes of Robert Humm and Bill Hudson at Matlock prove that railway bookshops can still thrive. I do wonder whether high city centre business rates / rental costs have played a part in this.

I agree that railway books are expensive but there is always the second hand book market. In terms of browsing Amazon do of course offer free returns if you don't like the book which you have purchased.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


Unlikely Paul as they will just sell the stock through other bookshops as they will continue to publish books.

Except for newly-published titles, I would expect there to be a general sale of books, probably offering discounts of 30%-50% depending on the condition of individual books and how many are in stock. Their wholesale side is not going to want a lot of tatty old stock back in their system which Amazon and proper bookshops like my own would reject if sent to us. I honestly don't think Ian Allan Publishing will survive the decade - the books they publish are mostly for a generation who are reaching or have already reached bus pass age.
 

edwin_m

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Would I be right in thinking that it is the large Network Rail block that used to be a Royal Mail-type building is the one that will have to be demolished once the new line and trainshed and station for HS2 arrives at the side of Manchester Piccadilly station, rather than the curved block on the railway station concourse?

The "Square One" Network Rail building is right in the path of the HS2 station throat as suggested. The S-shaped building is Gateway House, which is beyond the HS2 buffer stops so could in theory survive after HS2 is built. However because of the amount of redevelopment expected around the new station, and the city's desire to create an impressive "gateway", it's quite likely this building will go.

That's still over a decade off though, so if they are keeping it in the meantime I wish they'd spruce it up a bit. The nearby and similar Macdonald Hotel shows that these buildings can still be attractive if kept in good nick.
 

RichmondCommu

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Except for newly-published titles, I would expect there to be a general sale of books, probably offering discounts of 30%-50% depending on the condition of individual books and how many are in stock. Their wholesale side is not going to want a lot of tatty old stock back in their system which Amazon and proper bookshops like my own would reject if sent to us. I honestly don't think Ian Allan Publishing will survive the decade - the books they publish are mostly for a generation who are reaching or have already reached bus pass age.

I have to say that Strathwood have beat them to it with their "Looking Back At Series" and other associated titles from the 1970's and 1980's. I do wonder why Ian Allan haven't picked up on this given their previous "Hey Day" series.
 
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