IT seems to be all but written: the slow and steady closure of book shops throughout Britain.

The march of the e-book was unstoppable, printed books were so yesterday and the extinction of the traditional bookstore an inevitability.

And yet like so many prophesies of what technological change will bring, reports of the death of the bookstore seem now a little premature.

As this paper reports today, a new branch of bookstore Waterstones has opened in Ringwood, bucking the trend for national closures.

And while there is no denying several stores for the company, and many others, have closed in recent years, the fact that a new shop selling the printed word has opened would appear to underscore the belief in some quarters that not everyone is rushing to dump the paper and hardbacks and take their reading in electronic form.

This paper understands this phenomenon well. A few years ago the death of the newspaper was reported with certainty, and yet here we are and are likely to remain.

In truth there are many who still enjoy reading on paper, whether that is in the form of periodicals, magazines, newspapers, journals or books.

And while publishers will continue to adapt and make the electronic genre as much their own as the printed word, we will continue to serve those many millions who love the feel of paper in their hands and enjoy a good read.