Waterstones - the Uk's principal high street book retailer - has new owners. There's talk, naturally, that changes will be made. What changes should they make? (There's talk they might try and emulate the spirit and approach of the local (helpful, knowledgeable ) independent bookseller.) Or is the cause hopeless..given Amazon (et al), the supermarkets and the shift to electronic publishing? Right now I barely use Waterstones. They have two largish stores in Plymouth but the books I want are rarely in stock (so I use Amazon), and if I fancy a little browsing/ serendipitous purchasing, there are some lovely second-hand shops hereabouts.
I just read a Guardian article about this. The new owner is Daunt, who owns Daunt books, and just looked round the Daunt books website, and oh wow, if Waterstones is going to turn similar to that I definitely support it. (You can take a tour on the website of the Daunts bookshop). I don't use Waterstones that much, I'll admit. I use the library more, and occasionally second hand/charity shops. But at least once a year I buy at least three books from them taking advantage of the 3 for 2 offer. I think it depends on the branch on what could be improved. I think there should be more seating so people can actually sit down and read. You can do that in the one here, but not in either of the ones at home. Also, when I walk into Waterstones there's the e-book display (I give it evils every time. Yeah, I know I'm a writer so should embrace it), so maybe they could use that as a more marketing ploy to get people inside the bookshop. But really, it'd be awesome if the bookshop were just shelves and shelves of books with some nice sofas or chairs to sit on.
Ah man....I love Waterstones Hope it doesn't change to much! That place is like my sanctuary... I'll need to read up on this....doesn't help that im in Germany at the moment.
