| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail Bookshop |
| Founded | Old Brompton Road, London, England in 1982 |
| Founder(s) | Tim Waterstone |
| Headquarters | Brentford, England, UK |
| Number of locations | 296 stores (2011)[1] |
| Area served | UK, Ireland, Belgium, The Netherlands |
| Key people | James Daunt |
| Products | Books |
| Employees | 4,500[2] |
| Parent | A&NN Capital Fund Management |
| Website | www.waterstones.com |
Waterstone's is a British book specialist established in 1982 by Tim Waterstone that employs around 4,500 staff throughout the United Kingdom and Europe.[2]
As well as the Waterstone's brand, the group owns the London bookseller Hatchards, founded in 1797 and Irish store Hodges Figgis, founded in 1768, retaining these names due to their historical connections.
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Waterstone's state their mission as follows:
to be the leading Bookseller on the High Street and online providing customers the widest choice, great value and expert advice from a team passionate about Bookselling. Waterstone's aims to interest and excite its customers and continually inspire people to read and engage in books.[2]
An average sized Waterstone's store merchandises a range of around 30,000 individual books, with 200,000 titles in the largest store.[2]
The chain was founded by and named after Tim Waterstone after he was made redundant by W H Smith. In 1989, W H Smith took a share in the chain, and Tim Waterstone sold out to them in 1993. In 1998, Smiths sold the chain for £300m to HMV Media (now HMV Group plc), a new venture in which EMI was a major shareholder and which already owned the rival Dillons chain. In 1999 the majority of Dillons stores were rebranded as Waterstone's with some sold to rival Ottakar's. In 2006, Tim Waterstone attempted to buy back his business from HMV, but later withdrew his offer.[3]
Waterstone's launched the Waterstone's Books Quarterly magazine in 2001 containing book reviews and author interviews.
Gerry Johnson was appointed managing director of Waterstone's in September 2005.[4] He oversaw some crucial developments in the company, such as the relaunch of the chain's internet operations and a restructuring of its supply chain. Waterstone's online operations were franchised to Amazon.com in 2001. However, in September 2006 it independently relaunched its internet retail site, Waterstones.com.[3] In 2006, the chain began to pilot a loyalty programme in South West England and Wales. The scheme was then expanded nationally, to its stores across the United Kingdom as well as those in Europe and Ireland. In 2007, Waterstone's commissioned a redesign of its stores to be piloted across the country, beginning with its store in Manchester's Arndale Centre, in an attempt "to attract more footfall and provide a more compelling brand experience to their customers."[5] The redesign was implemented in a small number of stores.
From September 2008 a new 150,000 sq ft (14,000 m2) warehouse and distribution centre in Burton-upon-Trent began to supply all Waterstone's stores and Waterstones.com orders. Existing direct-to-store deliveries from suppliers were replaced by the centralized "Book Hub" - which would "receive merchandise and sort by section an estimated 70 million books per year, and deliver them directly to store"[6] in addition to dealing with book returns, with an on-site pulping system. After a consultation in January 2009[7] redundancies were made despite initial comments that the new system would allow these staff "more time on the shop floor serving customers."[8]
Waterstone's was the first bookseller in the UK to begin selling the Sony Reader in September 2008.[9] An agreement saw Waterstone's branches and Sony Centre stores stock the eBook reader exclusively for two weeks after its release, as Waterstones.com began to supply books in the recommended eBook (.epub) format.
In January 2010, HMV Media announced that Waterstone's like for like sales over the Christmas period were down 8.5 per cent on the previous year. It was also announced that managing director Gerry Johnson had left the business with immediate effect.[10] He was replaced by HMV group development director Dominic Myers, who was managing director of the British academic bookselling chain Blackwells.[11] Myers, an Oxford English graduate, joined HMV in 2006 to oversee the integration of Ottakar's into the Waterstone's chain. In response to the decline in sales, Dominic Myers implemented a three-year plan in which stores will be tailored to their local market alongside a "rejuvenation"[12] of the company brand and an increase in range. Alongside these changes, Waterstone's implemented new branding in May 2010, developed by agency VentureThree.[13]
From 2003 until the end of 2009, Waterstone's sponsored charity was Dyslexia Action UK, helping to raise awareness and understanding for Dyslexia.[14] From 2010, Waterstone's moved to support the Rainbow Trust which provides support to children with life threatening and terminal illnesses and their families.[15]
On 5 January 2011 HMV Group announced that profits would be at the lower end of analysts' forecasts due to falling sales, resulting in the share price falling by 20 per cent[16] and an announcement of the groups intention to close 20 Waterstone's stores, as well as 40 HMV stores, mainly in towns where the company operates at multiple locations.[17]
On 6 February 2011, two Waterstone's stores in Dublin, Republic of Ireland closed. However stores in Cork City and Drogheda were unaffected along with Dublin's Hodges Figgis.[18]
In May 2011, HMV announced the sale of Waterstone's to A&NN Capital Fund Management, a fund controlled by Russian businessman Alexander Mamut for £53 million.[19] The takeover has been welcomed by Children's book publishers as a step forward to re-establishing a proper physical presence, and that the anticipated store closures will help sales focus.[20] Mamut appointed James Daunt as managing director.[21]
On 29 June 2011, The sale of Waterstone's to A&NN Capital Fund Management for £53 million was completed and was approved by the vast majority of shareholders at an emergency general meeting.[22]
Waterstone's announced that, from September 2011, its 3-for-2 deal on books, which had been in place for the previous 10 years, would be dropped. It is to be replaced with a new book pricing structure.[23]
As of November 2011, the decision was made to close the Waterstone's store in Milton Keynes, Midsummer Place, joining Dorking, Lancaster University, Harrods, Gateshead and Norwich Arcade in a second wave of store closures. [24]
In September 2005 Waterstone's parent company HMV Group began attempts to buy rival book chain Ottakar's. This alarmed publishers and authors who hoped the Office of Fair Trading would refer the takeover bid to the Competition Commission. They did so on 6 December 2005. On 30 March 2006 the Competition Commission cleared Waterstone's for takeover of the Ottakar's group stating the takeover would "not result in a substantial lessening of competition", and is "not likely to affect book prices, range of titles offered or quality of service." Through extensive research they also found that "contrary to widespread perception, Waterstone's, like Ottakar's, operates a book-buying system which mixes central and local input on stock selection." [25][26]
On 31 May 2006, Waterstone's announced that it had successfully negotiated the takeover of Ottakar's. HMV chief executive Alan Giles said: "A combined Waterstone's and Ottakar's business will create an exciting, quality bookseller, able to respond better to the increasingly competitive pressures of the retail market." Ottakar's chairman Philip Dunne said: "Over the last year the book market has undergone a significant change with new levels of competition from the supermarkets and online retailers impacting all specialist booksellers and in particular those with insufficient scale to compete on equal terms."[27]
Following the takeover, HMV announced that they would be rebranding every branch of Ottakar's as a Waterstone's. In July 2006, a conversion programme was initiated and within four months, every Ottakar's store had been relaunched as a Waterstone's with the loss of 100 jobs.[28]
Increasing its presence within London, Waterstone's took over eight Books etc. stores from Borders UK in August 2008.[29] The stores in Fleet Street, London Wall, Holborn, Wandsworth, Uxbridge, Finchley Road, and Canary Wharf were rebranded and merged into the Waterstone's chain.
Waterstone's has been awarded for its retail achievements and the expertise of its staff. At the beginning of 2008, Waterstones.com was awarded a silver badge for the Best Books Website category at the BT Online Excellence Awards.[30] In a survey of 96 British chains in January 2009, Waterstone's scored 69% for a Which? customer satisfaction survey on "products, price, staff and shopping environment and whether they would recommend the shop to a friend" - placing the chain in joint eight position.[31]
In 2008 the company "was lauded for the success of its loyalty card, Writer's Year promotion, online growth and its Get Selling bookseller training."[32] at the Bookseller Retail Awards.
Waterstone's continues the Ottakar's Children's Book Prize under its own brand. Since 2005, the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize has attempted "to uncover hidden talent in children's writing" by awarding authors with no more than two previously published books (adult or children's fiction).
Waterstone's is also the main sponsor of The Children's Laureate, previously sponsored by Ottakar's.
Waterstone's has around 300 academic and high street shops in Europe including the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland (including Dublin, Cork and Drogheda), and in the Netherlands and Belgium (including Amsterdam and Brussels). Its flagship store on Piccadilly is the largest bookshop in Europe.[33] The main academic branch is located on Gower Street, between University College London and the University of London Union, and is the largest academic bookshop in Europe.[2] Other large "superstores" in the UK include Glasgow's Sauchiehall Street, Bridlesmith Gate Nottingham, Deansgate Manchester, and Milsom Street in Bath.[2]
Waterstone's has acquired a reputation for its sympathetic re-use of buildings of architectural and historical interest. Some branches reusing these historical buildings include:
In November 2008, Waterstone's cancelled a book-signing event by poet Patrick Jones at its Cardiff store.[38] Christian Voice had described the book as "obscene and blasphemous" and commented "Just the knowledge that we were on our way has put the fear of God into the opposition."[38] Jones said he was not going to be "beaten down" by religious activists and signed copies for a small group of people in the street, arguing "There shouldn't be censorship of this sort."[38] Waterstone's said the event was cancelled "to avoid potential disruption to our store," saying that the safety of its booksellers was its main priority, and pointing out that the book remained on sale throughout its branches.[38]
In October 2009, Waterstone's banned internet access to the trade magazine and its website, The Bookseller.com, from all stores. According to the store intranet, Gerry Johnson claimed this was due to the magazine not being needed to run "daily business activity" at the company and could be "misleading".[39] However, others have suggested that this was due to an article printed by The Bookseller which ran negative publicity on the performance of the new "Book Hub" central distribution centre.[39] Following the departure of Johnson from the business, Waterstone's reversed this decision.
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