Despite being sceptical when it opened ten years ago I soon found myself won over by Borders Books on Oxford Street. It's late closing time was ideal for when I used to finish work at 7pm at Flashbacks. Many a walk to Oxford Circus station was interrupted by a quick wander round - doing my famous picking-up-and-putting-down, heading to the new titles... to my favorites in the fiction department on the first floor... to the history section and wandering around the biography section which bizarrely only appeared about two years ago. I had a great time getting books signed by Mary Wilson of The Supremes and Boy George.
I started my retail job life in a West End bookshop chain - the long-gone Claude Gill Books on Piccadilly then 19-23 Oxford Street and in my 10 month spell of unemployment I applied to Borders for a job - to no response.
So it was with mixed feelings when a few weeks ago I saw the shop windows plastered with large CLOSING DOWN posters. That'll learn 'em I thought... but it didn't stop me feeling a bit sad too.
4 comments:
I used to go into Claude Gill all those years ago when I worked round the corner in St James' Square. Borders was a great shop but it irritated me by only having tills on the ground floor. The closure of a shop like that is a sign that the 'recession' is real.
hello, i used to work at Claude Gills, Oxford street in 80´s. I will be deeply shocked and sorry to not to find any of its branches in Westend. My employer at the time was Tony Miles and Cliff something. anita
I spent a brief period working at Claude Gill Books in Piccadilly after leaving drama school in 1980. If you are Chris Voisey, I very definitely worked there at the same time as you.
Wow! Hey Martin!
The past is never past on social media... another CG staff member, Brian Perkins, caught up with me on Facebook not long ago.
Hope all is good with you M
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