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Blackwell's, Foyles and Argos will sell Barnes & Noble’s Nook in the UK from October.
On Tuesday (28th August) B&N revealed John Lewis would be its UK “premier retailer” for the nook and now the US company has announced partnerships with its first booksellers in the UK – Blackwell's, which has a UK-wide spread with 60 stores – and Foyles based in London and Bristol, with six stores. Argos, with 700 stores, will also stock the Nook Simple Touch and Glowlight devices.
David Prescott, managing director of Blackwell’s Bookshops and Online, said: “Blackwell’s is delighted to announce our partnership with Barnes & Noble to bring Nook to the UK. It was critically important to us that we found a device partner who understood the specific needs of our customer groups. Barnes & Noble’s bookselling expertise, academic heritage and market leading Nook reading devices made them the outstanding choice for Blackwell’s customers.”
Sam Husain, c.e.o. of Foyles, said the Nook was “ideal” to be sold by a bookshop because B&N, itself a book retailer, had developed it. He said: “Foyles is always looking for new ways to recommend books to our customers and with Nook, our booksellers now have superb hardware at hand to do so. Nook is a market leader in e-book technology we are delighted to now be able to offer to our customers.”
Andy Hannan, Argos trading director, said: “As a leading retailer of technology products in the UK, our team of experts are always focused on the best new products, so we are delighted to partner with Barnes & Noble on the launch of Nook,” said. He added that the device would be “one of the must-have gadgets this Christmas.”
B&N said the retailer partnerships were “an important component” in rolling out the Nook in the UK and took the expected number of UK retail outlets to 800.
Jamie Iannone, president of digital products at Barnes & Noble, said: “Argos built its brand on choice and convenience, and with 90% of the population living within 10 miles of an Argos store, this literally brings the Nook experience close to home for millions of UK consumers. Blackwell’s has built a reputation on its wide selection of titles and extremely knowledgeable staff, much like Barnes & Noble, and we’re delighted to continue in our dedication to the education space. As London’s largest independent bookshop chain, Foyles is a trusted name in books and literature in the UK, so we’re pleased to work together to bring Nook and our expansive digital catalogue to people passionate about books and reading.”
Argos will “prominently promote” the Nook through its online and telephone catalogue, B&N said.
B&N will launch its website www.nook.co.uk in October.