Reading is in for 2025. Nothing’s cooler than sitting on a train, mysteriously reading a book no one’s heard of, or being able to make polite conversation with your hairdresser about what you’ve been into literature-wise recently.
Books are having a renaissance right now, and no one is happier about it than Waterstones, the UK’s biggest chain of bookshops. There are currently 311 branches of the store across the country, but that’s not enough for boss James Daunt, who says the business is aiming to open up at least 12 new locations in the coming year, with the possibility of even more.
This is continuing on an upward trajectory from 2024, which included the brand returning to Oxford street after nearly a decade. It also comes after what Daunt described as an ‘exceptional’ festive period, saying that ‘it was a solid Christmas that came late because of the fall of the calendar’.
The fact that December 25 was on a Wednesday meant that last-minute shoppers headed out in droves over the weekend prior, making it a particularly good end to the year for retailers.
Although some companies, such as Shoe Zone, have warned that the government’s October budget will force them to raise princes and halt plans for expansion, Daunt isn’t worried. Instead, he says that Brexit regulations remain ‘the biggest pain’, but evidently things are still going pretty well.
All in all, it’s no surprise that Waterstones is ready to venture onward. A total of 12 new locations hit our high streets last year, a number which the group would, in an ideal world, beat in 2025. No locations have been named yet, but based on last year’s expansions, which covered both major cities and smaller towns, anything is possible. If there’s no Waterstones in your town, you could very well be next, so ready that wish-list and prepare.
On the high street with Time Out
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