A final word about John Adams bookshop....

I see that the Courier published my letter in today's issue but, because I know that most of you hate parting with the 65p that the paper costs, here it is in full (the paper actually edited it down and missed one or two bits out for some reason, I can't think why!) I wrote it, not to dig up dirt and cause a stir because I've got nothing better to do, but because I didn't want to be tarred with the same brush as Douglas Jeffers and I wanted Tonbridge to know where I stand on the subject of Oxfam books. This really is the last thing I'm ever going to say on the subject.... probably....

"I couldn't believe what I was seeing when I read that Douglas Jeffers, the owner of My Back Pages, formerly John Adams bookshop, was apparently being driven out by Oxfam books. Mr Jeffers is on a very sticky wicket when he argues his case for unfair competition of a charity like Oxfam pushing him out; surely this is just face-saving on his part; his business was dying anyway so you might say he is dressing his grave.
As the owner of Mr. Books in Bank Street, Tonbridge I have watched John Adams having four "Store Closing" sales within the space of a year-and-a-half each time deciding, presumably at the last minute, to stay open to serve the good people of Tonbridge! I opened my shop nearly five years ago to the day on the basis that it would complement John Adams who, at the time, only sold exclusively brand new books, so my business strategy was to sell mainly rare and secondhand books; that was written into my business plan. Further down the line John Adams began selling some secondhand books, and, more recently, purely secondhand books. Then he has the nerve to complain about competition in the town. What is actually wrong with competition anyway? If you ask me it sharpens businesses up, who would otherwise become set in their ways and would operate a lazy, shoddy service. My shop has only succeeded, being tucked away in the almost forgotten old part of the town centre, because I go out of my way to provide this service; in so doing I attract book collectors from all over the South East and, increasingly, from beyond. I might also add that I have revived the dormant Tonbridge Book Fair after a 20 year absense and organised poetry nights and other literary events in the town; Mr. Jeffers has done none of this as far as I'm aware and why would he since he lives in London and not in the community he claims to care about. Yes Oxfam Books opening in Tonbridge gives me cause for concern but if I had to do one of those SWAT analyses they would be a threat, but also an opportunity. In fact I've already agreed to donate around 1,000 books to them, books which have done the rounds in my shop and are now sitting, clogging up my storage and will otherwise probably never see the light of day again. So good luck to Oxfam, they are a wonderful charity and I'm sure that Tonbridge will manage just fine without Mr. Jeffers warped sense of business logic."

Does that make my position clear enough?...