Waterstones’ deal designed to resist ‘Amazon’s siren call’

Bookshop Foyles is to end more than a century of family ownership after agreeing a sale to Waterstones.

The chain was founded in 1903 and today has seven stores, including one in Grand Central, Birmingham, while Waterstones operates 283 stores and owns booksellers Hatchards and Hodges Figgis.

Waterstones’ managing director James Daunt said: “Together, we will be stronger and better positioned to protect and champion the pleasures of real bookshops in the face of Amazon’s siren call.”

Bookshops were one of the first sectors to be disrupted by the arrival of online shopping and, in particular, Amazon. But Waterstones has enjoyed something of a revival in recent years and in 2016 recorded its first profit for several years.

Daunt added: “It is an exciting and invigorating time in bookselling as good bookshops are rediscovering their purpose in the fight back against online and e-reading.

“At Waterstones, we see our future as responsible stewards of shops that strive to serve their customers each according to their own distinct personality. This is nowhere more important than with those shops – Hatchards, Hodges Figgis and now Foyles – that have such singular heritages.”

Christopher Foyle, grandson of co-founder William Foyle, said: “My family and I are delighted that Foyles is entering a new chapter, one which secures the brand’s future and protects its personality. I look forward to witnessing the exciting times ahead for the company founded by my grandfather and his brother 115 years ago.”

The transaction is expected to complete before the year end, and the terms are not disclosed.