Bookselling business

In 2009, two bookshops a week were closing in the UK and the days of physical books seemed numbered. Now, indie stores are booming. What explains the turnaround - and can it be sustained?

Waterstones managing director and Barnes & Noble c.e.o. James Daunt has hailed the "wonderfully robust" market as sales and footfall increase in the UK and US, but has said he expects book prices will increase due to rising costs.

"Booksellers are constantly giving their patrons extraordinary bargains. In London recently a copy of an early edition of Keats' Poems, originally bought from a dealer for 2s was sold for £140, and a first edition of Burns' Poems bought in Edinburgh for 1s 6d brought £350."  Read more

After soaring 18.9% in the first half of 2021 over the comparable period in 2020, unit sales of print books retreated in the first half of 2022, dropping 6.6% from 2021 levels. According to NPD BookScan, total first-half print sales were 362.6 million, down from 386.6 million a year ago.  Read more

The e-commerce giant has increased its prices, while the number of independent booksellers continues to rise.