You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
The media have issued a bleak prognosis for the future of Waterstone's, in the wake of yesterday's news that Gerry Johnson had left the company, on the same day it reported a drop of 9% in sales during the 10 weeks to 2nd January.
Boyd Tonkin in http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/boyd-tonkin-chain-is-... target="_blank">The Independent warned that "the book chain's likely future looks as slim as one of those volumes of poetry that you won't find in its celebrity-heavy outlets". He also described the sales decline, happening simultaneously with Borders UK's closure, as "worse than carelessness". As a result, Johnson's replacement Dominic Myers, faces the problem that "too many people no longer want Waterstone's as the leading character in their own romance with the printed page".
Tonkin added: "If bricks-and-mortar bookselling in Britain does have a continuing story to tell, it will need a fresher hero."
According to Andrew Hill, writing in the http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/07886bbc-0175-11df-8c54-00144feabdc0.html" target="_blank">Financial Times: "Mr Myers will have his work cut out." Hill warned that booksellers were in general being hit by "the onslaught of cheap product from Amazon and supermarkets", adding "the arrival of electronic books adds a further plot twist".
However, he argued Myers' position was "not a Harry Potter-esque poisoned chalice". Citing Pricewaterhouse Cooper research, he claims "there is a place for specialist bookstores: browsing isn't dead; nor are independent booksellers such as the fabulous Lutyens & Rubinstein, which select books themselves and don't discount. Waterstone's has a strong brand and, with about 25 per cent of the market, just needs to convince the literati to return. This is not yet the end of the story".
Michael Holroyd, president of the Royal Society of literature, wrote in http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jan/14/waterstones-michael-holroyd-... target="_blank">The Guardian that the long-term problem with Waterstone's was that it "had no real interest in books and was not looking to the future". He added: "Its policy of looking backwards and following what sold well last year or the year before has now hit the buffers.
"Celebrity books sold badly last Christmas and their sales dipped steeply. It is no surprise to hear managing director Gerry Johnson has left the sinking vessel. And it is too late now, I reckon, for his replacement, Dominic Myers, to call on Tim Waterstone."