I ATTENDED the meeting at the Boniface Centre (June 27) to discuss the idea of transferring the ownership of Crediton Bookshop into a not-for-profit company, to be financed and run by a group of local individuals.

Proprietor Jill Holden has announced her intention to retire after running her much-admired shop for 30 years.

Clearly, there are many of her customers who would like to see the bookshop continue.

I was curious to discover what is it about a bookshop that merits involvement by members of the public – when other retail enterprises don't seem to warrant the same community investment.

The recently closed Record Shop or Ivor Coram's shoe shop (about to cease trading?): wouldn't they, I asked, justify a similar effort to keep them going?

As one person said at the meeting: "Books are about everything in the world. Shoes are just about shoes."

I beg to differ, actually: most of us are very particular about what shoes say about us. They are very expressive things. They even have soles (sorry)! What's more, everyone in the community needs them.

Joking apart, many people would lament the closure of the bookshop - even the children's author Michael Morpurgo has sent a message of support.

An independent bookshop is a comforting haven, offering customers the promise of new knowledge, delight and intellectual stimulation - as well as being an attractive source for gift-giving.

But the traditional bookshop has become old-fashioned. There are other providers of reading material – libraries, second-hand bookshops, charity shops, on-line stores and e-books. And not counting TV, DVDs and the internet providing plenty enough sources of information and entertainment.

So what can possibly justify the effort to sustain Crediton Bookshop? What, in essence, is so "special" about a bookshop?

The value, if any, of keeping the bookshop must therefore lie other than in the product itself.

There must be some indefinable cultural benefit, an aura around a physical bookshop that needs to be developed by whoever takes it over.

What is a bookshop associated with? Conversation, debate, education, learning, entertainment?

To my mind, a forward-looking new ownership would combine the core book-selling role with many different activities that involve community participation and self-improvement.

Supported by an active club of paying subscribers, I would imagine.

Otherwise I fear that this well-minded initiative will be no more than a nostalgic yearning for an era that is now nearly past.

Paul Vincent

2 Western Villas

Western Road

Crediton