Requiem for a Bookshop

Yesterday afternoon I was out at Christchurch Airport. Now admittedly the terminal has been in upheaval for months as the airport company complete their big revamp, so I've become used to change—but I was completely devastated to walk into the domestic concourse and find that the wonderful Christchurch Airport bookshop was gone.

An airport bookshop, I hear you query—aren't they usually lacklustre and meagre? To which I reply: yes, usually. But not this bookshop. This was a real bookshop with selection and range and staff who—if they weren't run off their feet—would actually ask me what I was interested in/looking for/liked and would almost always have some suggestions for me to consider. I have bought so many books there over the years: Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass (although it was the edition published as Northern Lights); Irene Nemirovsky's Suite Francaise; Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveller's Wife; Geraldine Brooks' People of the Book; and Cormc McCarthy's All The Pretty Horses, to name just a few.

And yes, there was a 'bookshop' in its place yesterday, but only offering the usual airport fare of magazines, other assorted merchandise and one meagre row of actual books along the back wall. Needless to say, my money remained in my pocket.

I know that some people out there may say: "but you don't need actual books and bookshops anyway when you could have an e-reader and travel with your library on the plane."

While I don't discount the value of this, especially when travelling for a long time, I do think it misses the essential experience of bookshop, which is the tangible reality of being in the same space as all those new possiblilties for book choice. And as the potential purchaser, I don't have to know what I'm looking for—I can just move from one book to the next since they are physically collected together in that one space. The other aspect of 'possibility' about being in a good airport bookshop is having book selection become part of the 'journey': having the circumstance and venue of travel encourage trying something new, whether a new author or new genre.

But looking at what is now on offer at Christchurch airport, as I did yesterday—well, I suspect book selection adventure is not an experience I'm likely to have there again, certainly not in the immediate future.

Haere ra Christchurch airport bookshop: I already miss you.