The Children's Bookshop in Christchurch

The New Zealand book blog Beattie’s Book Blog, run by a former Penguin NZ publisher Graham Beattie, has always been a favorite of MobyLives for its fairly indomitable outlook on the book biz in a very tough market … but, as a heads up from Shelf Awareness notes, Beattie’s newest post reminds us that there are problems in book retail, and then there are problems — Beattie’s newest post is a letter from a bookseller in Christchurch.

Mary Sangster of the Children’s Bookshop writes:

“The shop is a mess. 70-80% of the stock seems to be on the floor plus there is about 6 inches of waste water through–what type of waste who knows, although I did see the storm water drain at the back of us burst…. By fluke, there was only one staff member downstairs in the shop at the time of the quake and she and the customers all got out okay. The customers were shaken and Liz a bit bruised, but otherwise okay.

“The rest of us were upstairs having the time of our lives. Sheila and I were in the tearoom with only a flimsy trestle table so we headed to safe spots. Mine moved as I reached it and I was tossed around with a filing cabinet and some other stuff. Sheila managed to hang on to something, she can’t remember what. The other two staff made it under their desks, then we had to move stuff to get them out again. One, it was even a matter of climbing over fallen book cases to get to her.

“The long and the short of it is that we got all customers and staff out safely with minimal injuries–Liz a few bruises, me bruised bones in my legs so I’m on crutches now, everyone severly shaken but alive and breathing…. Thank you everyone for the kind messages that we have received–if you want to contact us, I’ve started a new temporary email address–[email protected]. We at the Children’s Bookshop, and all the book sellers in Christchurch really appreciate the support.”

The website Booksellers NZ, meanwhile, is posting the latest on the situation for other booksellers in Christchurch.