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Former Borders UK chairman Luke Johnson has warned that high street bookshops are finished, according to a piece on Deadline London. Johnson, who had an unsuccessful time as a high street bookseller, is reported to have said to the BBC: "I bought Borders thinking we could turn it around. I believed wrongly we could reverse the downturn in high street book sales. It’s a great sadness that we couldn’t. In my opinion, the high street book store is doomed."
Johnson's stark view is tempered by a number of publishers spoken to who agree that "the one-size-fits-all bookstore doesn’t have a future. But there is still room for independents that know their customers". Christopher MacLehose, who is described as the British publisher of Steig (sic) Larsson, believes there is hope for Waterstone's under its new local strategy: "I’m utterly convinced that if you take the high street out of the bookseller, the future is still there."