Waterstones set to open five new branches this year
Managing director James Daunt says company is ‘making good money’ and has plans to open a further 10 to 15 shops in 2018
Waterstones is to open five new bookshops in the run-up to Christmas and plans up to 15 more for next year, according to managing director James Daunt. The news comes after reports that the chain’s Russian billionaire owner was considering the sale of the high street bookseller for an estimated £250m.
The new stores, in St Neots, Deal, Weybridge, Epsom and Blackheath in London mean that Waterstones will have opened 20 new shops since 2015. The chain was sold by HMV to Alexander Mamut in 2011, for £53m. Mamut, who installed independent bookseller James Daunt as managing director, appointed NM Rothschild in October to look into the sale of the chain.
