THERE once was a very good bookshop on Edinburgh’s George Street. Indeed, until its closure in May 2006, it was probably the best bookshop in Scotland’s capital.
The bookshop was called Ottakar’s and it was situated in a landmark retail unit at 57-59 George Street. The shop was bibliophile’s delight, it cared about Scottish literature and was a massive improvement on the James Thin’s and Edinburgh Book Shop stores that earlier occupied the site.
I wrote a story in March 2006 saying that this bookshop was facing imminent closure, not because of a lack of demand for its books, or because of any troubles at the parent company Ottakar’s, but simply because the owners of the building — the Unilever Superannuation Scheme — believed they could make more money by redeveloping the building and renting it to deeper-pocketed fashion operators.
Well they have now achieved that. According to an item on commercial property news website ComPropScotland, the redeveloped site has achieved “a record retail rent for the thoroughfare” after having been let to the ‘preppy’ US clothes store, Brooks Brothers.
Pam Over, CKD partner and project supervisor, told Jim Dow at Compropscotland: “Following our appointment as project manager we assembled a team which worked together to transform an historic building with small rooms and complex floor levels into modern retail and office space. There were numerous physical and architectural constraints but we worked with Historic Scotland and were able to achieve modern shops and offices while retaining the essence of a period building.”
The ComPropScotland story says that the redevelopment project was completed substantially on time and within the £2.5 million budget. The main 7,500 sq ft shop was let to Brooks Brothers at a record rent for George Street that equated to £147 per sq ft.
Over added: “All the space, apart from a small suite of mews offices, was let prior to practical completion. The proprietors have achieved a doubling of the investment value in their property. It has been a win, win, win outcome by the application of the skills of a creative team and a very supportive client.”
Well treble wins also sometimes mean there are losers.
In this instance, they are anyone who likes books and culture, and who happens to live or work in central Edinburgh. Waterstone’s, I’m afraid, just doesn’t come close, given the chain’s ‘pile ’em high sell ’em cheap’ approach to bookselling and ruthless attitude towards the publishing trade. And in my view, the last thing Edinburghers needed here was yet another fashion emporia.
Well I’d just like to say “thank you” to the Unilever pensioners and to estate agents CBRE (who I am assuming acquired the building from the Unilever’s pension fund at some stage during the development process, for doing your bit to further undermine the cultural life of Scotland’s capital.
This blog post was published on 25 October 2007