The Guardian reports on how Waterstones, the UK's leading chain of bookstores "came back from the dead... with a mixture of tough love and an unshakeable belief in the power of the physical book... declaring that his managers would be given back responsibility for their own stock, because what sold in Hampstead might not go down well in the Highlands."
A radical move was to no longer do business through sales reps and no longer sell window space (a loss of 27 UK Pounds a year, approx $34 USD). "Instead, a small team of buyers in close consultation with Daunt himself would select titles to feature as books of the month across all the stores, while individual managers were free to tailor much of their stock to their customers' tastes."
The Guardian goes on to focus on one of the stores most successful books, The Essex Serpent> by Sarah Perry, which will publish in the USA in June.
A radical move was to no longer do business through sales reps and no longer sell window space (a loss of 27 UK Pounds a year, approx $34 USD). "Instead, a small team of buyers in close consultation with Daunt himself would select titles to feature as books of the month across all the stores, while individual managers were free to tailor much of their stock to their customers' tastes."
The Guardian goes on to focus on one of the stores most successful books, The Essex Serpent> by Sarah Perry, which will publish in the USA in June.