Are Gen Z Bookworms Bringing Back The Bookshop?

Gen Z might be the first fully digital generation, but it looks like some are discovering that nothing feels, looks or reads as good as a real book.

Gen Z Is Bringing Back The Bookshop – Here’s How

For all the pleasure they have given me, for years it’s been bruising to love books and bookshops. Barely a month went past without news of a beloved spot disappearing from the map. Everyone can name that favourite world-within-a-world they can’t believe isn’t there anymore. ‘You didn’t really imagine New York would have to do without those places,’ says designer, writer and expert library creator David Netto. He mourns the demise of his teenage favourite, Archivia, the architectural specialist bookshop, and the legendary Books and Company.

In London, this trend seemed typified by the demise of the Travel Bookshop in 2011. Along with other writers (and the even louder voice of Alec Baldwin) I campaigned for that one – if the most famous bookshop in the world couldn’t stay open, what chance did the rest of them stand? As a critic, it’s become second nature to gently remind people to buy from a physical bookshop if they can, or to bookmark the Bookshop.org website if they’re online.

Generation Bookworm

And yet, it’s possible that the bookshop as a romantic lost cause might now be a thing of the past. Generation Z may not have seen Nora Ephron’s You’ve Got Mail (1998), set when email was itself a novelty and the indie owner (Meg Ryan) is romanced by the baddie with the big chain of bookstores. They probably consider Notting Hill (1999), with Will’s struggling bookshop, a curiosity – not least because it was almost always empty. The new book lovers are too young to remember a world pre-internet and yet they seek out books like we might seek vinyl, to be cherished, and consider their bookshop a place to hang out in a way that passed by Kindle-clutching millennials. They don’t drink much, but they might have a glass of wine in a spot like BookBar (166 Blackstock Rd, London N5 1HA) (there’s even a resident DJ, and a second location – in Chelsea – will open this spring) while they add to their collection of prized signed editions. Special as it is, this booming bookshop, bringing ‘people together through books’, is part of something wider and beautifully hopeful.

In recent years, independent bookshops in the UK have reported startlingly good results. Foyles has reported an increase in revenue over the past year of 101 percent. After a 20-year decline, independent bookshops are now in a period of growth. How extraordinary that the digital natives should be the ones to drive this renewed appreciation of printed matter, and to find so many ways to connect meaningfully with themselves and each other, through books and book collecting. A great example is Kaia Gerber’s Library Science book club (co-founded with writer friend and former Teen Vogue assistant Alyssa Reeder), which recommends great ways to spend time offline. The pair talk about books and recommend new writing, as well as sharing their love for cult writers such as Joan Didion.

The Rise Of Bookish Accessories

Whereas the ‘Books are my Bag’ campaign tried to swim against the tide with its slightly scruffy bag and slogan, now there are innumerable chic bookish accessories. At Maison Assouline (196A Piccadilly, London W1J 9EY), another of London’s most beautiful physical bookshops (designed by British designer Guy Oliver), as well as their books, analogue fans covet clutch bags by the Italian designer Maria Marigliano Caracciolo. They are indistinguishable from leather-bound volumes and can be personalised to the specifications of her geeky, yet glamorous, jet-set clients. Alighieri Jewellery even celebrates the lowly pencil as a must-have accessory. Designer Rosh Mahtani has created a pendant pencil holder so that it can be worn on a chain to always catch your latest ideas or annotations. Dante (after whom the brand is named) forbid, you send yourself a text or a voice note.

Someone who has got to know this pencil-toting demographic well is Joanna Reynolds, chief executive of independent publisher The Folio Society. Their new customer base has expanded by a fifth. For the first time, customers under the age of 25 exceed those over 60. This generation, she believes, knows ‘the connection between reading and wellness’ and ‘values space and time away from screens’. And this seemingly very traditional British company is buoyant under her leadership, a digital presence being key to this – it has more than 250,000 followers on Instagram. Catch, if you can, Folio’s centenary edition of The Great Gatsby with its sumptuous new illustrations by Yuko Shimizu.

To this generation, agrees rare books and atlas expert Daniel Crouch, there’s no stigma to buying special multiples of printed material. For his young collectors, the iPhone put maps in everyone’s hands but also nurtured a connoisseurship for the real thing.

Gen Z Book Collecting

For serious young book collectors IRL, the Rare Books San Francisco fair is the book collector’s equivalent of Art Basel Miami Beach. Young collectors come from the worlds of tech, finance, and media with real passion and real money to spend. To specialist Dr Matt Wills (recently there with Peter Harrington’s annual stand), they ‘bring a lot of energy and enthusiasm to the collecting spirit’, from their interest in more diverse authors (witness their enthusiasm for Ursula Le Guin and Octavia E Butler) to the high standards of preservation for which they’re willing to pay. Popular areas include nostalgia books from their childhood, from those of Tolkien to the classically disaffected The Catcher in the Rye. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is a great example of a collectable title in demand, with an element of nostalgia but also a powerful contemporary resonance, as is Roald Dahl. ‘Our young collectors are quite plugged into the wider world in their careers, so this filters into their collecting,’ says Wills.

Harrington is a must-stop for the American interior designer Netto, who looks forward to a time when these young, impassioned collectors build libraries of their own. Books have been a leitmotif of his work for 20 years (as shown in his new book for Vendome), ‘because they are the most beautiful things in a room.’ He recently bought his college-age daughter, a big F Scott Fitzgerald fan, his short stories to treasure, a perfect gift because ‘rare books live with you as friends, for your whole life’.

Before my life as a journalist, my first jobs as a student gave me heady lessons in the magical power of book collecting. At USC, Columbia, I worked as a research assistant to the Scott Fitzgerald authority Professor Matthew J Bruccoli, who wrote the classic biography Some Sort of Epic Grandeur. Bruccoli built the largest collection of Scott Fitzgerald materials outside of the archive at Princeton and even owned a chaise longue that had belonged to Zelda Fitzgerald – even better, he let students (carefully) lounge on it in the true spirit of the flappers and philosophers.

Little wonder the total thrill and time travel of literary discovery – or of what you might turn up, whether in a legendary book dealership, a Mayfair auction house or even a sleepy branch of Oxfam – has never left me. ‘Back to literature’ says Library Science’s bestselling tote – I never left.

Bookshops & Booksellers To Know

• Bookshop.org: An online bookstore supporting independent bookshops.
• Foyles: A renowned UK bookseller with a rich history. foyles.co.uk
• Maison Assouline: A luxury bookshop and publisher known for its beautifully designed books. assouline.com
• Peter Harrington: A leading rare bookseller in London. peterharrington.co.uk
• The Folio Society: Publisher of high-quality illustrated editions. foliosociety.com

Book Collecting & Literary Culture

• California International Antiquarian Book Fair: A major event for serious book collectors. abaa.org/cabookfair
• Society of Illustrators: Hosts exhibitions, including the upcoming celebration of The Great Gatsby. societyillustrators.org
• Library Science Book Club: Kaia Gerber’s Instagram-based book club with literary merch. libraryscience.net
• Alighieri Jewellery: Designer of literary-inspired jewellery, including the pencil pendant. alighieri.com
• Maria Marigliano Caracciolo: Designer of book-shaped luxury bags. bym.design