End of the story for book shop

ONE of Northampton's last independent booksellers, Kingsthorpe Bookshop, is closing down after more than 30 years.

Owner Robert Webb said he had started looking for a new buyer last year in the run-up to his retirement and has now revealed the Harborough Road shop had been sold to a new buyer . . . but the new shop would not be selling books.

Mr Webb blamed cut-throat competition from the supermarkets which was making life increasingly difficult for independent bookshops.

He said when the last Harry Potter book was published in 2005, he was forced to buy copies from his local Asda and sell them on at the shop, because it was cheaper to do that than buy them from the publisher.

alex.valk@northantsnews.co.uk

15 January 2007