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Foyles will move into profit this year and is increasing its range and sales "without resorting to multi-buy promotions", the http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4d985604-6aab-11df-b282-00144feab49a.html" target="_blank">Financial Times reports.
At Christmas, like-for-like sales rose 19% and in the financial year ending in June 2010 Foyles forecasts its first net profit under the new management, the paper said. Last year sales totalled £22.6m ($32.6m).
It is not known when the chain last made a profit because from the 1970s until 1999, when Christina Foyles’ nephew Christopher took over, auditors queried the accounting systems.
The paper highlighted that though the shop pioneered discounting in the 1920s, it was now focusing on "attracting customers looking for a large range and recommendations from staff".
“I disbanded any centralisation so we’re more a number of specialist bookshops under one roof,” chief executive Sam Husain told the paper. “People bemoan the fact that there are no longer lots of specialist bookshops along Charing Cross Road but here you have them and each has their own manager.”
Husain also noted the challenges facing all bookshops, particularly those the size of Waterstone's. “Dominic Myers [managing director] is saying the right things but it’s not easy to implement. It will be a challenge at their distribution hub,” he said.