Waterstone's Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Waterstone's is a chain of British bookshops. Its first branch opened in 1982 and it specialises in academic titles. Its two flagship stores are at Piccadilly Circus, and on Gower Street, between University College London and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. The Piccadily Circus store is Britain's largest bookshop whilst the Gower Street store has a large well-stocked secondhand department.Waterstone's is reportedly the largest retail bookseller in UK. It has around 200 shops, most of which are quite large, and had sales of £406.2 million in 2002-03.
The chain was founded by Tim Waterstone after he was sacked by W H Smith. It brought modern marketing techniques to the sale of highbrow, academic and literary books, providing a "browser friendly" atmosphere, with knowledgable booksellers, a wide range of titles, and smartly-designed shops.
In 1989 W H Smith took a share in the chain, and 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 all Dillons stores were rebranded as Waterstone's. Waterstone's had started selling books online, but in 2001 franchised its Internet operations to Amazon.com.
In recent years, Waterstone's has been under more pressure from other chains: Ottakar's, which has many small shops; Borders, with large shops and huge depth; and Blackwell's in its academic heartland. HMV has responded with a "more aggressive and commercial focus... without compromising on the unrivalled range authority for which the chain is renowned." Nevertheless the current management has been criticised for concentrating on fewer, bestselling titles at the expense of range. Robert Topping, manager of the Manchester branch, became a high-profile sacking when he resisted these changes. Tim Waterstone, who had returned to the chain as chairman of HMV Media in 1998, was apparently also unhappy with the management and made moves to buy the chain back, wihout success. He was suspended as chairman and subsequently left the company in early 2001.
As well as the Waterstone's shops, the firm owns the London bookseller Hatchards, founded in 1792. The Gower Street shop first opened as Dillons in 1936.
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