“Latest statistics reveal that in 2007 the “indies” made a remarkable comeback. According to annual figures from the Booksellers Association (BA), the decline in the number of independent booksellers was halted last year after numbers had plunged in 2006, when indies were closing at a rate of almost two a week. Yet 81 new independent bookshops opened in 2007, more than making up for the 72 which closed the same year.”