Ottakers (Shop) > Reviews (30)

Ottakar’s - A bookworm's best friend

Back in the heady days of 2000, I fell in love. What’s this got to do with a bookstore? Well, keep with me and I’ll explain. Back in 2000 I moved in with Mel, who had lived in Chelmsford all of her life. I’d been brought up in Welling, Kent, a small town on the border of Kent and London, a twenty minute drive from the newly opened Bluewater shopping complex, and about half an hour from the slightly older Lakeside complex. Although I’d grown up reading books, I had usually taken advantage of the local library, which Bexley council had spent a lot of money in funding. On the rare occasions that I wanted to buy a book, I generally headed to WHSmith, who seemed to keep most of the newer titles in stock. To be honest, I’d never paid any attention to a dedicated bookstore, let alone heard of most of them. One of those that I had never even heard of was Ottakar’s. To cut a long story short, Mel’s best friend, Karl, works in Ottakar’s in Chelmsford, and it has been the various trips into town, popping in to see Karl that my fondness of this store has grown.

* A Brief History

Ottakar's began just sixteen years ago, in 1987, when its current Managing Director, James Heneage raised venture capital finance with Philip Dunne, Chairman, to open three branches in Brighton (now closed), Banbury and Salisbury, on the belief that there might be an opportunity to establish a chain of bookshops offering high levels of range and service across the market towns of England.

At the late end of the 80’s, the idea of a national chain of bookshops was a relatively new one. Although Waterstone's and Dillon’s were fairly big bookshops, they seemed to operate only within the major cities. This meant that, these chains apart, the book trade comprised of just a series of regional chains (such as Blackwell’s), W H Smith and a large number of independent booksellers which existed in every town, large or small.

Acquiring a small chain of shops in the West Country in 1990, the company grew slowly, and it wasn't until 1992 that it had sufficient evidence of a successful formula to persuade a refinancing of the company from new backers, Foreign and Colonial Ventures, with a view to rapid expansion. This expansion not only encompassed different types and sizes of town but also brought Ottakar’s into Wales and Scotland.

The chain now has over ninety branches from Elgin to Truro and from Aberystwyth to the Isle of Wight, and floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1998.

* Chelmsford

The sizes of shops differs greatly, and though some are small shops, serving a small community, there are more recent ones which are much larger and offer coffee shops, seating areas and space for events such as book-signings or children's activity sessions. The Chelmsford store is based over two floors, with a small Costa coffee bar upstairs which is an ideal retreat for a quick cuppa and a start to the reading of your newly purchased book. Although the store looks, from the outside, fairly small, it’s appearance is deceptive, with the store spreading back a fair way, and every conceivable space being piled top to bottom with books.

The staff are friendly and show a passion for the books that they sell, and are always able to offer advice if you need some, or are able to suggest a book if you have a genre in mind. They are quick to point out (should you ask) which books aren’t so good, even though this may mean a loss of sale. In my view, this is a high level of customer service, which goes a long way to them retaining my custom. After all, I’d rather they told me if they believed a book to be poor, rather than just selling me the book and leaving me to effectively waste my money.

The top twenty bestsellers are always displayed towards the front of the shop, alongside a bookcase dedicated to staff recommendations, where books are for sale showing a brief hand-written synopsis by a member of staff, stating why they enjoyed the book, and the reasons that they recommend it.

* - Stock

With a large stock of books kept on site, with the third floor given over to mainly being a stock room, it’s unusual to find any recently published book out of stock. Having said that, on occasions when a book isn’t available, the staff always offer to order the book in, which can be handy.

* - Book Signings

Chelmsford is constantly advertising various book signings, with recent signings being Richard and Judy, and Esther Rantzen. Ok, not huge literary names I’ll grant you, but a signed book is always a nice present. In the past few years, being a West Ham fan, I have been lucky enough to get books signed by Paolo Di Canio, Stuart Pearce and Geoff Hurst, which I wouldn’t normally have done, even though I would normally have bought the books, which brings me onto another good aspect of the store. Ottakar’s allow you to pre-order signed copies, which means that, if you can’t get to the store on the day of the signing, or if you cannot be bothered to queue up, you can pop in a couple of days beforehand and ask one of the staff to pre-order a signing for you. Very handy indeed!

I can say from experience, having a Martina Cole book signed by the author as a present for my mum, that it’s something worth doing. My mum was absolutely over the moon when she unwrapped it and saw the inscription.

* - Online Sales

Ottakar’s, strangely, does not offer an online service. They are quite open with their reason for this, stating on their website that the service was not as popular as they first believed it would be. They therefore dedicate their website, ottakars.co.uk to providing informative and entertaining content, articles and other interesting bits. You can also contact stores via email.

Overall

A wide range of books, helpful staff, a book ordering service, a book-signing service and an in-house coffee shop. This is definitely one of the better stores in town, and to my mind seems keen not only to entice you in, but almost asks you to stay. You certainly don’t feel rushed to buy anything, as you do in some shops, and you won’t get hassled by sales staff. Based on my experience of the Chelmsford branch, this is definitely a 5-star for me. The only downfall perhaps being that you cannot order online, but the opportunity to email the branch makes up for this in some way.