Quench St Albans
SAD NEWS has emerged this week as Quench Bookshops have conceded defeat in St Albans, with the shop scheduled for closure on December 31st this year.
Reasons given for the shop’s demise include, amongst other factors, the current economic climate, shop relocations and name changes, and the inevitable “competition from the internet” as customers find online shopping “easier and sometimes cheaper”, the net result of which has been decreased footfall rendering the store economically unviable.
Guy Marshall, who moved with the store when it was taken over from the St Andrew’s chain in 2009, and has been selling Christian books in St Albans for 30 years, will be taking this opportunity to retire from the shop — but not necessarily from his other involvements: he plans to take a break, after which … watch this space.
Guy, I salute you and look forward to seeing where you go from here: may the Lord bless you and keep you.
QUENCH – ST ALBANS
It is with great regret that we have to tell you that the St Albans branch of Quench will cease trading on 31st December 2011.
Several factors have contributed to this sad outcome, the economic recession in the country, the various moves the shop has made over the past few years and associated name changes, the reduced amount of space we have at Holywell Hill compared with our previous stores, the lack of convenient parking close to the shop and of course competition from the internet where customers find it easier and sometimes cheaper to shop on-line. The net result is that far fewer customers visit the shop and this has made this retail store uneconomic to run.
Please delete my name and Branch details from your database for any future mailings and correspondence. After 31st December emails to St Albans will not get a response or be seen, so please remove our email address from your list of Contacts.
The Quench Head Office is the Maidenhead branch and will handle any queries at maidenhead[at]quenchshops.com
Thank you for all the service you have given us over the years.
Guy Marshall
9.12.11
- Report in the St Albans & Harpenden Review, 19/12/2011: Quench, Bon Marche and Dash to go
December 10, 2011 at 10:15 am
Deeply sad news for the St Albans area and those for whom this effects.
I grew up visiting Guy’s shop over the years as that’s where my family is from and know my uncle Steve will certainly miss it.
However there used to be a rather good inshops (which always seemed a posh way of doing an indoor market!) by the library, not sure if it’s still there as it’s been a good few years since I’ve made it into the city centre on flying visits to folks, but if it is I think it might make for a wonderful location for a nice Christian book & supplies stall
I wish Guy a wonderful retirement and also look forward to seeing his future plans – I feel priviliged to work with him on the http://www.goodbookstall.org.uk board and am very glad he is continuing with that and other booktrade commitments as he is an invaluable resource to us all.
December 10, 2011 at 1:53 pm
I echo Melanie’s thoughts and do hope that St Albans can find a way to maintain some Christian books presence. Sincere good wishes to Guy in his retirement. It has been a privilege to work with him on The Goodbookstall and let us also give thanks for his work with the Booksellers Association supporting Christian Bookshops.
December 10, 2011 at 2:11 pm
Thankfully this doesn’t leave St Albans completely bereft of a Christian bookselling presence: there are the St Albans Abbey shops, albeit much more gift than book oriented, and the Diocesan Resource Centre. In real terms it’s quite remarkable that a relatively small town has kept three dedicated Christian retailers going for so long.
December 11, 2011 at 5:30 pm
I’ll have you know that St. Albans, rather like Lincoln, is in fact a City – albeit neither are major metropolis’s and do seem more like towns most often, but nontheless they are respectful and honorable cities of old!
December 11, 2011 at 7:20 pm
I stand corrected, Melanie, although being a city doesn’t mean it isn’t a town as well
… but yes, the Cathedral’s a bit a giveaway, isn’t it?
December 10, 2011 at 8:34 pm
This is indeed sad news. Guy has been on the leadership of many of the key groups in the christian book trade for a number of years and will be greatly missed. Down the years we drew inspiration from the Crusaders shop that he ran for many years.
It has been great working with you Guy on some of those committees and I pray that the things that you do in these coming years will give you the same satisfaction as seeing lives changed and inspired when you have sold someone a book or Bible.
December 20, 2011 at 10:44 am
Report in the St Albans & Harpenden Review, 19/12/2011: Quench, Bon Marche and Dash to go
December 21, 2011 at 12:30 pm
[...] CLOSING seems to be the theme of the month with Quench, St Albans, having announced closure at the end of the month (now also reported in the St Albans & Harpenden Review, 19/12/2011: Quench, Bon Marche and [...]
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[...] I’m aware of a number of shops that have ceased trading (Chelmsford Christian Bookshop and Quench, St Albans are two examples) but I haven’t updated their entries yet, simply due to the constraints of [...]
February 14, 2012 at 12:00 pm
[...] only a limited library service in its place once shop stock has been sold off. Following the recent closure of the St Albans branch of Quench, this leaves the St Albans Abbey Bookshop and Gift Shopas the City’s sole surviving Christian [...]
February 14, 2012 at 12:02 pm
[...] only a limited library service in its place once shop stock has been sold off. Following the recent closure of the St Albans branch of Quench, this leaves the St Albans Abbey Bookshop and Gift Shop as the City’s sole surviving [...]