News: retail

Mackay joins AwesomeBooks

Simon Mackay, formerly of Edinburgh Book Festival and W H Smith, is joining Oxfordshire-based AwesomeBooks in the newly created role of head of books.... Read more

Mostly Books podcast to return in new year after publisher support

Mostly Books has lined up a second series of its podcast, featuring a host of authors talking about their favourite books. Read more

Bookshops delighted with December reopening

So-called "non-essential" retailers, which include bookshops, will be allowed to reopen when England's lockdown ends on 2nd December, Boris Johnson has announced. Read more

Lockdown drives 'explosive' online sales across formats, says BookStat's Abbassi

The past six months have seen “explosive” online sales with print books up by 45%, e-books by 30% and audio increasing 28%, according to figures... Read more

Stanfords smashes fundraising target to secure future

Travel specialist Stanfords has smashed its £120,000 fundraising target to secure its future until at least spring 2021 after a deluge of donors came forward. Read more

Retail shifting towards ethical spending, Bookshop.org's Vanderbilt says

Customer behaviour is shifting towards ethical consumerism while online becomes much more than a “hits business”, Bookshop.org's UK m.d. Nicole Vanderbilt has said.... Read more

Halls hails Bookshop site as 'game-changer' for indies

New retail website Bookshop.org has been hailed as a “game-changer” by Booksellers Association m.d. Meryl Halls while its founder has said more features are on... Read more

Non-essential retail to close in 11 areas of Scotland

Eleven areas in Scotland are being moved to tier four restrictions, meaning all non-essential shops have to close, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced.... Read more

BA Conference moves to September 2021

The next Booksellers Association Conference and Gardners Trade Show will take place on 12th and 13th September 2021 at Jurys Inn Hotel and Conference Centre, Hinckley Island.... Read more

SelfMadeHero launches Draw Your Bookshop lockdown campaign

Graphic novel publisher SelfMadeHero is launching a social media campaign calling for artists to support bookshops with a drawing of their favourite store. Read more

Total book sales fell 11% in first-half, PA stats show

Total book sales across the industry fell by 11% in the first six months of 2020, despite a big increase for fiction and a surge... Read more

National Book Tokens' hidden book brainteaser returns

National Book Tokens’ annual brainteaser the Hidden Books Game has returned for its eighth year, giving participants the chance to win a year's supply of books.... Read more

WHS makes loss in pandemic year as revenues plunge

W H Smith made a headline loss of £68m in the year to end August 2020, according to its preliminary annual results released today (Thursday... Read more

Daunt warns 'Today' programme of Christmas threat to indies

Waterstones m.d. James Daunt has reiterated his claims bookshops should be considered essential retailers and warned some indies will go out of business if they... Read more

Online retailer Bookshop.org generates £100k for indies in nine days

Online retailer Bookshop.org has generated more than £100,000 in profit for indie booksellers in just nine days of trading, with 25,000 customers using the website.... Read more