Why Waterstones is opening unbranded high-street stores
Waterstones has begun “acting as an independent” with the recent opening of three new stores, none of which carry the book seller’s brand name.
Southwold books
The stores in the towns of Rye, Southwold and Harpenden bear different names, such as ‘Southwold Books’ with the only hint that they are owned by the chain appearing in the form of handwritten notice. The move has caused disgruntlement among some locals who believe Waterstones is hiding behind the guise of being an independent store to avoid a backlash.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, managing director, James Daunt defended the decision and said that as the stores are so small it would be “rather silly” to brand them as Waterstones as they have a different offering to its regular shops.
“If you want to enhance a high-street you need to act as an independent and you will be much better if you do so. Part of the reason we do it is to convince our own booksellers that they have autonomy, which they do have, but when you come from a world of HMV and WH Smith which are our prior owners there is a sense that you have to be the same everywhere, which is nonsense.
“It would be rather silly to call ourselves Waterstones because we don’t accord to the things that a big Waterstones is….we have to curate very small things and they should have a distinctive personality so to all intent and purposes they are an independent bookshop. We don’t pretend we are not part of Waterstones.”
Daunt added that the homogenisation of the high-street, such as seen in the supermarket sector, will only accelerate when the government this year revaluates business rates, which he said was “very much to the detriment of our communities and to the interest of our high-streets”.