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It's so nice next door
By W. Christian Schmitt
Between 1950 and 1975 there was the legendary series of events "Darmstadt talks". To be shortened, it was about bringing relevant topics closer to relevant issues such as problems in public discussions. That is why the "Darmstadt table talks" should also be done, where those who have their say in different places make their contribution to preservation and further development of our society. This time the journalist and publicist W. Christian Schmitt, together with cameraman Werner Wabnitz, is a guest at Judith Kautz, owner of the Bessunger Bookstore.
If you can, you have to be one of the means of life. Because they very often report “about life”, are vital for some contemporaries. You inform and maintain not only, you can also be Lebenshilfe. Just think of the desire to take at least your favorite book on a lonely island. Books let other experiences of others. Books are often bumpy of experienced. And: booksellers are those who enable the acquisition of such reading food.
Judith Kautz is a representative of this very special guild, which has been changing for some time - like so much in this republic and in retail. That is why we have agreed with her in her living room to learn first -hand how "the book to the reader" comes today, in times when Amazon & Co. are increasingly trying to determine the "rules Inpatient bookstores make it difficult to survive.
Judith Kautz sits directly opposite me, who, after graduating from high school, knew how to proceed as how to proceed and first wanted to become a landscape gardener. But not only the father, a respected architect, advised against it. So she started studying in Hamburg and Frankfurt and ultimately with a master's degree. And now? Earning money was announced. First as a secretary "in a developer society". And by the way, a mini job that let her get closer to what she does today. At Mechthild Steiger-Kühn, the then owner of the Bessunger Bookstore, founded in 1978, helped out and became a career changer when it comes to bookstores. Much later it turned out that (on January 1st, 2019) she was able to take over the Eleonore and Alfred Hofmann bookstore and the boss became (also) about around 4,000 books that she can offer her customers at hand today.
We are in the middle of a conversation, which is about worries, needs, but also joys. A distinction from other cities in terms of culture on site, which is what Darmstadt is. It is about the role of book trade yesterday, today and tomorrow in this lovable provincial capital, which has so much: the German Academy of Language and Poetry, the annual Büchner Prize, the Literary March, the Mathilden and Rosenhöhe, the basement club And the literary house etc. etc.
There are no longer the bookstores in the city of the city like Schlapp, Megede, the Gutenberg or the Lichtenberg bookstore as well as several more. But the smaller shops that have merged in a relaxed form to enable one or the other cultural event in terms of book. How do you find out about the book, I ask Judith Kautz, “when industry leaves such as book reports or book market had to set their appearance and the stock market leaf for the German book trade, which appeared twice a week in the past, only every 14 days in the Bookstore came? ”. The bookseller in the Darmstadt cultural scene (she used to be active in the Darmstadt literature initiative, today she is a member of the board in the basement club, and this for more than ten years) has been anything but pessimistic despite many adversities: “The book market as a whole has become confusing , But many small, niche and district bookstores have good chances of survival ”. Because they are and stay close to the wishes of their reading customers.
And then of course we also talk about bestseller lists and, like first, the publishers affected by it. Judith Kautz does not think too much of such "sales aid": "I am the first to remove such book stickers - if they are not already part of the book cover". Customers want to be advised, she says, referring to the focus in her bookstore, which ranges from children's and youth book to fiction to crime novels ("I also like to read them") and many regional titles.
Finally, we read on your website: “In our small but fine business there is a wide range ... The strength of the Bessung bookshop is personal and individual advice. It is considered a meeting point for young and old in the district ... ". This is exactly how we felt it: small, fine and right next door.
Judith Kautz born 1965) was born in Darmstadt, graduated from high school in 1984 on the Schuldorf Bergstrasse. Then study of English in Hamburg and Frankfurt/Main; Completion with Magister Artium (main subject of English, part-time subjects of American studies and children's and youth book research). January 2019 Takeover of the Bessunger Bookstore as the owner.
