Thrift shops run by community organizations often are a good source of inexpensive books for one's private library, especially if one is an accumulator rather than a collector. In the United States, such shops generally do not have much of a negative impact on the sales of local independent booksellers, since such shops are widely dispersed, run by numerous different organizations, and generally not particularly well stocked in terms of books.
This, however, certainly is not the case in Great Britain, where Oxfam operates over 100 specialist bookshops that generate over U.S. $32 million per year, making Oxfam the largest retailer of second-hand books in the United Kingdom (in fact, in all of Europe). Understandably, local UK booksellers view this situation as unacceptable, even if they otherwise are supportive of Oxfam's mission (to "fight poverty and injustice" worldwide). The Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association (PBFA), the UKs largest trade association for secondhand booksellers, notes that Oxfam's books "are donated by the public, they get very advantageous rates for their property, their volunteers - except for their managers - are unpaid, and they get charitable status as far as tax is concerned, which of course is a great help when you're running a business:"
For its part, Oxfam disagrees that it is responsible for the woes of local UK booksellers and stresses its mission to "to raise funds in order for it to help people who [are] living in extreme poverty." BBC News covers both sides of this contentious issue at some length in a recent online post.
Since The Private Library has a number of UK subscribers, we would be interested in hearing of any personal experiences any of our subscribers may have had with this issue....
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