THE BOOK DEPOSITORY IS DEAD!
The Book Depository
2004-2023
The Book Depository, that most wonderful of online emporiums, is closing its electronic doors on April 26th.
This is a terrible to blow to me and many other expats, for it has become the sole source of obtaining literary sustenance these last couple of decades.
I’ve lived in non-English-speaking countries since 1989, and being an avid reader, getting hold of books was always difficult, with infrequent trips back to the UK invariably involving suitcases stuffed with newly-purchased tomes got from Waterstones (a high-street book shop).
There were also English-language book shops in the overseas places I lived in: I remember well the cluttered, disorganized mess in central Munich where the rude American owner would accost you with the cheery greeting “are you going to buy that?” about thirty seconds after you picked up any book. Good memories!
Here in Japan too there were places where you could obtain your Penguin Classics and the like. Even Hiroshima had a shop or two with a few shelves of imported tomes. Limited choice, but something at least.
Then the interweb appeared and soon there was a small online concern specifically designed to shift books. What was it called now? Named after some big river, as I recall.
Later, in 2004, the Book Depository was born. UK-based, but shipping all over the world, this was a revolution. What made it so good was its enormous stock - I mean, you could get absolutely anything there, which was perfect for someone like me with a penchant for the more obscure literature. Even better, the cost of postage to anywhere in the world was already factored in to the price of the book - no horrible shocks at check out!
In 2011 the inevitable happened - Amazon bought it. This was a worrying development. These huge companies have a habit of buying out the competition, then killing them. But nothing changed, and the wonderful service continued. Until a couple of weeks ago when it was suddenly announced by Amazon that it would be closing it on April 26th. A cost-cutting measure by a greedy company that had got too big for its boots, had expanded too far and now needed to restructure. “We’re losing money. What to do? Oh yeah, let’s kill stone dead that minor wing of our empire that disseminates culture and learning throughout the world.”
The thing is, there aren’t any alternatives. You can still buy books on Amazon, but not with the same amazing selection. There’s Kindle too, but that’s not for me. Kindle is for trashy science-fiction doorstoppers that I don’t want cluttering my limited shelf space. For anything else, it’s real books or nothing.
I tried going direct to some of my favorite publishers, but that doesn’t work either. Take New York Review Books, for example. Sure, I can buy their books online from them. But the shipping costs to Japan double the price of a book. It just isn’t doable.
Well, I put in a couple of big last orders and now have enough unread books for a year and a half. After that, I have no idea what I’m going to do.
If you know of any alternatives, let me know.