What's to come for October Books in 2025

October Books has been serving the Southampton community for over four decades, a lot longer than many of our current team members have been alive! We were lucky enough to review some of our past history with Ian, Glyn and Bobby, Joey, Amelia, Rosie and myself recently, with the help of local facilitator Stephen Cross. Some themes emerged here which we will be carrying forward in 2025.

October Books is a place-maker. Since our beginnings in Onslow road in 1977, the shop has been somewhere that has attracted like minded people and a community has grown up around it. We want to grow and provide nutrients to this inbuilt ability in 2025 (see this report from The Booksellers Association if you want to read more on the topic). 

October books provides a diverse array of products and services, we are a 'proliferation of niches'  (thank you Rosie for that description). This makes us really resilient. Something very important in this ever changing and uncertain world. 

Another recurring theme over the years of the shop was that we don't necessarily acknowledge that salaries are a way of valuing the team. We have lost some great team members as they have had to move on to better paid roles. We have moved from the minimum wage to the Real Living Wage in recent years, but my personal feeling is we need to make improved wages a priority for future resilience. 

So, what does this all mean to you our readers? Well, we would love for you to be more involved in the business and our place (not just our building but the High Street as well). So, let us know if you have skills to offer or other support you can give in creating a better place for all. 

We also want to shout a bit more about ALL that we do, so let us know if you would be interested in writing about a particular topic that you know we support. We are looking for someone to write a short piece for LGBT history month for example, about our story of LGBTQ+ community support over the years. Drop us a line if you are interested. 

All the above actions will improve our recognition in the city and beyond, so improving our sales so that we can in turn pay a decent wage. It is all connected you see. 

The New year is full of challenges and uncertainty but we want to be a place of joyous possibility. Come join us.