The Guardian: Waterstones buys Foyles 'in face of Amazon's siren call'
I'm hoping more people turn their backs against Amazon. The Guardian
Takeover will make business better able to ‘champion pleasures of real bookshops’
Waterstones is buying the historic family-owned book chain Foyles in a surprise deal.
James Daunt, the managing director of Waterstones, made a pointed reference to the competitive threat of Amazon as he announced the deal. He said the takeover would make it better able to “champion the pleasures of real bookshops in the face of Amazon’s siren call”.
He said: “We are honoured to be entrusted with the Foyles business, and greatly look forward to joining forces with the Foyles bookselling team.”
The sale brings down the curtain on one of Britain’s most famous bookselling dynasties, with Foyles most famous for its Charing Cross Road branch in London, which in 2014 moved into the former St Martin’s School of Art building.
The value of the deal has not been disclosed. Foyles was controlled by its Monaco-based chairman, Christopher Foyle, the grandson of one of the founders.
“My family and I are delighted that Foyles is entering a new chapter, one which secures the brand’s future and protects its personality,” Foyle said. “I look forward to witnessing the exciting times ahead for the company founded by my grandfather and his brother 115 years ago.”
In recent times Foyles has struggled to turn a profit amid challenging trading conditions on the high street. The retailer posted a loss of £88,791 for the year to 30 June 2017 after the number of shoppers visiting its stores declined after the terrorist attacks in London and Manchester.
The rise of Amazon has had a dramatic impact on the high street book trade, with the number of independent book shops halving to 858 since the US retailer’s UK launch two decades ago.
With 283 shops Waterstones, which also owns Hatchards, is Britain’s biggest book chain. It was recently sold to the hedge fund Elliott Advisors. In addition to Charing Cross Road, Foyles, which was founded in 1903, has three other shops in London – Royal Festival Hall, Waterloo and Westfield Stratford. It also has branches in Bristol, Birmingham and Chelmsford.