Student life requires budgeting, which often involves purchasing daily essentials in cheap pound shops or from chains like Morisons, Wilkinsons and the like. Unfortunately Oxford does not have many of these, The Works is about the only cheap shop there is – though there are two or three of these (on in the Westgate Centre next to Sainsburys, one on Cornmarket Street and maybe one on the High Street). I don’t know how many branches there are nation wide; but I know there’s also a branch in Colchester, which is much the same.
What do they sell?
The Works is primarily a cheap book shop, but also sells stationery, art equipment and other bits and pieces from time to time. The books tend to be slightly obscure, but are often going cheap. There seem to be a lot of biographies of D-list celebrities, for example Ulrika’s Johnson’s ‘Honest’ hardback – was £16.99, Works price £2.99. These kind of discounts are quite common, and sometimes I wonder how they do them (especially when books bear previous higher prices from other shops). The books
are often those that haven’t sold well or are now out in paperback, so The Works seems to do a lot of overstock clearout, rather than ‘fell off the back of a lorry’ or second hand books.
Big sellers like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and the like are all present and correct (generally retailing at a slight reduction, e.g. £4.99 or £5.99). I was able to pick up ‘About A Boy’ for £3.99 for my mum’s birthday last year, and there’s also a regular supply of unheard of paperbacks for £1.99 each – a bit pot-luck I guess, but maybe worth taking a chance for a cheap holiday read when you know you haven’t lost much, and might be able to get your money back second hand anyway!
A lot of produce is ‘hit and miss’ – things come in and things go, the nature of stock clearance being such you can’t be sure any particular product will be there next week, or ever again. At the moment, I’ve just been browsing Oxford’s store and seen a nice-looking complete Shakespeare (hardback) £5.99 and a complete ‘Chronicles of Narnia’ set for £6.99. In the past I’ve bought complete Oscar Wilde for £1.99 and the five volume Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy trilogy for £9.99.
Regular stock includes penguin popular classics (99p, the same as most places), military history, children’s books, reference and art books. The reference selection isn’t comprehensive, but if you want any old cheap cookbook or gardening manual can be handy. You can pick up a decent hardback encyclopaedia or dictionary for under a tenner too, if you feel the need.
And apart from books?
As I mentioned, they tend to stock a small range of art materials – these vary a bit by store, but there’s often at least some paints, and maybe brushes, canvas, easels and the like. There’s normally a minimal stationery selection – pens, pads of paper and ring binders. In both cases, they sometimes have various little gadgets like paint brush holders, CD cases and manual paper shredders too. Plus there are some silly touristy things, like Union Jack mugs, maps (including cheap AA road maps) and tacky gift ideas, like those bears with names on.
Produce aside, what do I think of it?
Well, to be honest, stores tend to be poorly laid out, but that’s how these shops are. Things tend to be vaguely grouped together (e.g. all DIY manuals in one place), but with no regular stock, individual books can be jumbled around. It’s not somewhere I go with anything specifically in mind (unless it’s something I saw the other day), but I periodically browse in and occasionally pick up a few cheap books.
It’s hard to comment on the almost non-existent staff service. The tills are always manned, and sometimes there are people stocking shelves, but there are rarely many staff about. It’s not the kind of place you’d have to ask questions, and with the stock turnover I wouldn’t expect them to be experts in their produce. On one occasion where I was over-charged, the staff were able to resolve the matter satisfactorily though.
I wasn’t entirely sure about using my credit card here at first, but regularly have done with no problems. It shows on my bill as ‘Booksale Ltd’ which I think is the parent company.
Overall comments
The Works is not a great bookshop – to be honest, a lot of the stuff there’s tack. Nor does it offer a wide range of cheap essentials. It is, however, the kind of place I like to browse every now and then for books or present ideas, and where you can pick up some good bargains.
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Excellent op i love these shops for tacky presents
shaoli2 25.07.2003 19:52
In Italy you can find interesting books by 'The Remainders', they also sell new books, but at a cheaper price.
Collingwood21 12.07.2003 20:34
I rather like the Works - just the other day I got a hardback copy of an Edward Rutherford book for just £2. I also noticed that they were selling student diaries for £1, when my union shop was selling the exact same thing for a fiver!
Advantages: variety of fresh aromas, scents, candles, 3 for 2 offers, FREE Gift wrapping Disadvantages: limited stores in UK, US chain
Connoisseur_Haggler 25.12.2000 (28.12.2000)
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Review of Bath & Body Works (Shop)
Advantages: Loads of products to choose from, staff is friendly and helpful Disadvantages: small space can makes me claustrophobic, staff can be too helpful at times
Pelenya 25.02.2002 (25.02.2002)
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Review of Bath & Body Works (Shop)
Jun 22nd, 2003
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