Kylie Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 Very interesting! I'm very pleased to see that book sales have increased a bit. Long live the book! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shirley Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 I am surprised that they are going to stop selling the Kindle as this is still a useful tool to lots of people. Also glad that books sales are up, I bought quite a few books during the summer but I still like my kindle as well. I was copying long live the book Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolf woolf Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 Digital distribution is currently a mess in a lot of services, when it should actually be easy and simple. In the stores one enters, pays and leaves with the bought items. Digitally I don't know whether I own what I buy, how many downloads I have, if it's to be modified by updates and how I can protect it while still having it compatible with the system. It's why I don't have anything digital, and I'd love to. I'd like to actually scan the barcode of every book I have and receive a digital copy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raven Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 I don't think my local Waterstone's has been selling Kindles for nearly a year now (they had some around Christmas last year, but for most of this year the podium they had for them has been covered with kids books and toys). Good to hear traditional books are seeing a bump (I just hope it wasn't all due to the 50 Shades spin-off!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyeseebooks Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 Waterstones maybe stopped selling them because doing so is a conflict of interest with the idea of selling books. And I think most people would find it easier to buy a kindle online than through a store. That's how I bought mine - tried it out in the store, then bought direct from Amazon. We used to have two Waterstones in our town but they closed one down a couple of years ago because it was "unprofitable". Now we have been reduced to one Waterstones (not massive) and WH Smith, which has a very poor selection - especially now half the book department has been turned into a post office! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyeseebooks Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 Good to hear traditional books are seeing a bump (I just hope it wasn't all due to the 50 Shades spin-off!). I hope so too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raven Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 Waterstones maybe stopped selling them because doing so is a conflict of interest with the idea of selling books. But if that is the case why did they start selling them in the first place? It's always been a bit of an odd fit, I'll grant you, selling the readers whilst not being able to sell the books to go on them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted October 8, 2015 Share Posted October 8, 2015 It's always been a bit of an odd fit, I'll grant you, selling the readers whilst not being able to sell the books to go on them. Was coming in here to say that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyeseebooks Posted October 8, 2015 Share Posted October 8, 2015 (edited) But if that is the case why did they start selling them in the first place? It's always been a bit of an odd fit, I'll grant you, selling the readers whilst not being able to sell the books to go on them. Was coming in here to say that!Hi! I can only tell you what happened in the Waterstones that closed down in our town. It used to be a Dillons Bookshop (do you remember those?) and when Dillons ran into trouble, Waterstones bought them out. In my opinion, the Dillons here was much better than the Waterstones we already had in town, and the building that housed it was, and is, big, beautiful, with large windows on all sides. You could tell when you spoke to the Dillons staff that they were passionate readers, but Waterstones got rid of most of them. Over a few years W cleared a large display table of books and replaced them with Kindles for customers to try. Then they cleared shelves near the main entrance of hundreds of books and replaced them with greetings cards, diaries, notebooks, etc. After a while, they stopped selling their own cards etc and put books back on the shelves, self-help, celebrity cook books, that sort of thing. But, they then cleared away all the books from a large room that opened out onto the side street, and leased out the space to Paperchase. Then, on the upper floor, they cleared away all the books save those on one wall, and leased out the space to Costa Coffee. I never went up there after that, so don't know whether the remaining books remained. Costa's and Paperchase were paying Waterstones for the use of their premises, and I'm assuming that Amazon probably gave W money, too, as there would be no point W giving Amazon free advertising space by stocking their items which they were selling at the same price Amazon charged online. No direct sales profit in it. I think, just my opinion, that it was all about money and W ran the store down, rather than help it to thrive, then closed it down. They kept their original store in the town but it is awful, in the basement of a shopping centre, no windows, access for people with mobility problems is very difficult because of the very steep stairs and no proper lift.. There is one of those open lifts with gates for people with wheelchairs and pushchairs, but they keep it locked. The customer has to shout over the balcony to try to get the attention of a member of staff to come and unlock it. The tills are in the centre of the large area below so you have to shout quite loudly to get anyone's attention - you can imagine how embarrassing that is for the customer who needs assistance. I never go in there now, it's too much hassle. Sorry, I think I went off topic a little, but I suspect Amazon was leasing the space or had some other financial arrangement with Waterstones. Edited October 8, 2015 by eyeseebooks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted October 9, 2015 Share Posted October 9, 2015 In the US Barnes and Noble and their own device, Nook. Isn't Waterstones large enough to have their own too? It's kind of moot though, as Amazon dominates the market. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
More reading time required Posted October 9, 2015 Share Posted October 9, 2015 Waterstones maybe stopped selling them because doing so is a conflict of interest with the idea of selling books. And I think most people would find it easier to buy a kindle online than through a store. That's how I bought mine - tried it out in the store, then bought direct from Amazon. We used to have two Waterstones in our town but they closed one down a couple of years ago because it was "unprofitable". Now we have been reduced to one Waterstones (not massive) and WH Smith, which has a very poor selection - especially now half the book department has been turned into a post office! If not for your later post describing the Waterstones, I could have sworn you must live in Coventry, as that's exactly what happened there! One of the Waterstones used to be an Ottakers & one used to be Dillons - both better than the Waterstones they became. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raven Posted October 9, 2015 Share Posted October 9, 2015 Same in Exeter as well, although both the original Waterstone's and the Dillon's that became Waterstone's are still open in this case. Of all of the book chains Waterstone's has absorbed, I miss Ottakers the most, there was a really good one in Tiverton that Waterstone's took over and then closed a few years back. The town really needs a good book shop, Smith's doesn't really cover that base anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyeseebooks Posted October 9, 2015 Share Posted October 9, 2015 In the US Barnes and Noble and their own device, Nook. Isn't Waterstones large enough to have their own too? It's kind of moot though, as Amazon dominates the market. I'm not sure that they are big enough as they seem to have a habit of buying out other book stores then closing them down - that's one way of reducing the competition. At least Amazon welcomes self-publishers and allows other traders to sell on their site. Must admit its ages since I bought anything from Waterstones. The Nook is also sold in the UK, WH Smith sells them instore. I already had a kindle when the Nook was introduced so haven't seen any need to change, although there's no reason why I couldn't have two e-readers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyeseebooks Posted October 9, 2015 Share Posted October 9, 2015 (edited) If not for your later post describing the Waterstones, I could have sworn you must live in Coventry, as that's exactly what happened there! One of the Waterstones used to be an Ottakers & one used to be Dillons - both better than the Waterstones they became.Seems to be a habit of Waterstones! I'd forgotten all about Ottakers and, yes, they were good too. There used to be a large bookstore on one of the more up-market out-of-town trading estates about 15 years ago, I think it began with a B but I don't recall the name now (it wasn't Barnes & Noble). I'll have to go and google. ETA - it was Borders, I actually remembered it just before googling. Edited October 9, 2015 by eyeseebooks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyeseebooks Posted October 9, 2015 Share Posted October 9, 2015 (edited) Same in Exeter as well, although both the original Waterstone's and the Dillon's that became Waterstone's are still open in this case. Of all of the book chains Waterstone's has absorbed, I miss Ottakers the most, there was a really good one in Tiverton that Waterstone's took over and then closed a few years back. The town really needs a good book shop, Smith's doesn't really cover that base anymore. It's good that you still have two stores open. I wonder whether Exeter not having any other large cities nearby might be a factor. It's sad about Smith's. When I was a child we always looked forward to going there but they seem to have lost their way a bit. I had an interesting conversation with one of the managers once. She told me they make more money per month from the 'top shelf' magazines (the ones with pictures of unclothed ladies inside) than from all the other products in the store combined. That really amazed me. Quite shocking really. Edited October 9, 2015 by eyeseebooks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madeleine Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 That's odd, I thought Smith's had stopped selling those sort of mags. I was in Exeter in the summer and went into the Waterstone's which you can walk through and come out opposite the cathedral, I did see the other store but assume that both stores can do OK as it's a university town? Is one more of an academic store than the other one? I also went to Sidmouth and saw they had 2 independent book stores, but no WH Smith which was interesting. Both shops had a pretty good selection too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raven Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 I've not been to Exeter for a number of years, but I believe both Waterstone's are general book shops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madeleine Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 I must admit I was very surprised when Waterstone's started selling kindles, it seems to have been a rather short-lived enterprise. Glad to see that "real" books are making something of a comeback, apparently the British Library crime classics have been massively successful, going to re-prints and selling really well. I think Kindles are a great idea for holidays, long train/plane journeys etc (as someone who's been charged excess baggage as she once took about 12 books in her suitcase!) but I don't have one myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted November 8, 2015 Share Posted November 8, 2015 Of all of the book chains Waterstone's has absorbed, I miss Ottakers the most, there was a really good one in Tiverton that Waterstone's took over and then closed a few years back. The town really needs a good book shop, Smith's doesn't really cover that base anymore. I miss Ottakers too. There was a fab one in Wells near where I live, and also one in Trowbridge, just over the border in Wiltshire. They had the *best* website too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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