Waterstones Opens First New Store in Six Years

Shelf Awareness

On Saturday, Waterstones opened its first new store in six years, in Ringwood, Hampshire, a store "designed for the 21st century" and part of "the bookshop's fight-back in the digital age," as the Independent put it.

Managing director James Daunt said, "We've got to a point where we can start moving forward and indeed need to. This is the first with others to follow…The model of old, rather unattractive, stores crammed with books, spaces that were intimidating rather than appealing, is in the past." The new store, he continued, is designed--with cafes and children's playing areas--to make sure people want to meet, socialize and stay in the shops.

"The book shop should be a social place," Daunt added. "We need to create much more interesting, vibrant and appealing environments."

This week, Waterstones will open a renovated store in York, and will soon open in Lewes, East Sussex, another area, like Ringwood, that doesn't have a bookstore. Waterstones has some 275 stores, most of which are in the U.K.
Noting the difficult bookselling market in the U.K., with severe competition from Amazon, grocery chains and others, Daunt said he's taken heart from a predicted leveling off of e-book sales, and said that there is still a place for a physical bookstore. "You've really got to be good," he said. "But if you are good and imbedded in a community, provide a good service and people want to come you will do very well."