IN MADRID – From Hamlet to Much Ado About Nothing, even the works of Shakespeare have been caught up in the trade war over Brexit as ordering an English book abroad costs much more because of customs charges.
Enter David Price, stage left, as the saviour of lovers of literature in Spain who will open Madrid’s first bookshop dedicated purely to English literature.
Mr Price, a former banker whose store Secret Kingdoms is to open its doors on 20 June, admits that the timing of the new bookshop was fortunate.
After Brexit, ordering Shakespeare’s Sonnets or the works of Shelley from a UK supplier means that extra customs charges and VAT are added to the overall cost.
“There are other bookshops in Madrid which have some English-language books but I have noticed that their stock is less. I suppose you could say that the timing of my bookshop was serendipitous,” Mr Price told i.
“I do feel that there is a certain niche in the market because it is more costly to get English language books because of Brexit.”
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Mr Price knows only too well about the extra charges which come as nasty surprises when books – or any goods – are now sent from the UK to Spain or other European countries.
“My brother-in-law ordered lots of lovely presents for us but when they finally arrived at our doorstep the customs wanted €36 (£30) extra.”
Fully prepared for the bureaucratic minefield ahead, Mr Price will order most of his books from the UK at first and abide by new British customs regulations.
When they arrive in Spain, he has hired a logistics company to deal with paying Spanish customs what he owes them.
“Hopefully, there will be a living wage left over from that,” said Mr Price, who is originally from Staffordshire but has lived in Spain since 1998.
He said he has found many of the 9,000 Britons who live in Madrid and 10,000 Americans have told him that they would be interested in patronising Secret Kingdoms.
Gardners Books, Britain’s biggest book wholesaler, is also opening a new warehouse in Paris, which should make locating stock easier for bookshop owners in Europe like Mr Price.
Mr Price said that after a career in banking he was looking for a new challenge and hit upon the idea of opening a bookshop in the Spanish capital.
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