Waterstones [was Waterstone's]

[litefoot]

All right, so they don't sell DVDs, but the occasional heads up could still be of interest.

I'll start the ball rolling with Peelie's Margrave of the Marshes - RRP £18.99, Waterstone's are knocking this out (not sure if this is just today, but they were stickered, so probably not) for £6.99 (it's £7 off RRP in WHS).

[Jackprussia]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(litefoot &#064; 10 Dec 2005, 11&#58;40 AM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
All right, so they don&#39;t sell DVDs, but the occasional heads up could still be of interest.

I&#39;ll start the ball rolling with Peelie&#39;s Margrave of the Marshes - RRP £18.99, Waterstone&#39;s are knocking this out (not sure if this is just today, but they were stickered, so probably not) for £6.99 (it&#39;s £7 off RRP in WHS).
[/b][/quote]

&#39;Margrave&#39; is indeed £6.99 at all our branches until the end of trading wednesday 14th. Our new &#39;offer of the week&#39; will start the next day.

We also have loads of good stuff at half price in many branches, including &#39;Space Race&#39;. I don&#39;t mean to advertise, but I&#39;m still very proud of the company I&#39;ve worked for over many years.

[Sean B'Stard]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jackprussia &#064; 10 Dec 2005, 3&#58;24 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
We also have loads of good stuff at half price in many branches, including &#39;Space Race&#39;. I don&#39;t mean to advertise, but I&#39;m still very proud of the company I&#39;ve worked for over many years.
[/b][/quote]
I&#39;m sure no-one will complain if you restrict contributions to "bargains" rather than the usual £3 off RRP "offers" fond to this and other similar retailers. Go for it&#33; [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img]

Any more?

[Jackprussia]

Our sale has now been on since boxing day: hundreds of half price titles, including the Dr Who Shooting Scripts book should anyone be interested here (perish the thought &#33, Paul Auster&#39;s new novel and &#39;Space Race&#39;. I&#39;m on holiday of course, delighted to be missing it all...

[Voltaire53]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jackprussia &#064; 10 Dec 2005, 3&#58;24 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
I don&#39;t mean to advertise, but I&#39;m still very proud of the company I&#39;ve worked for over many years.
[/b][/quote]

... but I&#39;m still not so sure about you taking over Ottakers to wipe out the opposition ...

[Jackprussia]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Voltaire53 &#064; 28 Dec 2005, 11&#58;40 AM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jackprussia &#064; 10 Dec 2005, 3&#58;24 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
I don&#39;t mean to advertise, but I&#39;m still very proud of the company I&#39;ve worked for over many years.
[/b][/quote]

... but I&#39;m still not so sure about you taking over Ottakers to wipe out the opposition ...
[/b][/quote]

It hasn&#39;t happenned yet, Voltaire, but I understand why some people feel this way due to the skewed and under-informed manner in which the media have presented this issue.

We have had loads of negative press in the last year, much of which I feel is unfair: after all, Waterstone&#39;s has changed the face of bookselling in this country for the better (I&#39;ve worked in the trade for 21 years for several chains and indies so I know my onions): 25 years ago there were very few large, range-heavy bookshops with knowledgeable, enthusiastic staff that provided pleasant browsing environments. We really developed the concept of the high street bookshop and Mr Waterstone himself attracted people like me who were well read and keen on books from small bookshops - he did this by offering us better money and conditions and the ability to buy in whatever we wanted to present to the public. Before W, most bookshops were tiny, ill kept backstreet businesses that frowned upon non-literary customers with staff frustrated by having no cashing flow with which to spend on interesting stock. Waterstone&#39;s has always been inclusive -they would never have given someome with left field tastes like myself a job if we were the grim, centrally controlled monolith the trade press and broadsheets project us as being.

Ok, some things have changed: like the vast majority of High Street retailers we now have front of store offers dominated by multibuys and money off and given the reality of the retail climate, we can&#39;t always stock obscure ranges that quite simply do not sell. However, we still have vibrant &#39;local recommends&#39; bays full of unusual items and section ranges that beat the pants off the vast majority of booksellers ( I have SF and cult books in my branch you won&#39;t find anywhere else within 100 miles), whether indie or chain. You have to remember that until 10 years ago, books were price maintained so the only competition was on service and range not price. Since publishers forced the end of the net book agreement, everyone in the trade has become more corporate. But staff at Waterstone&#39;s still have an astonishing amount of freedom to buy in what we would like to sell.

I can&#39;t speak for our board, but I think we see Ottakars as a natural acquisition: we acquired Dillons a decade ago as they were about to go into receivership, saved jobs and revitalised some neglected stores. If you look at who has been aggressively advertising on TV at Christmas in the book trade besides Waterstone&#39;s, you&#39;ll see who we really see as the opposition (not Ottakars).

In short, like it or not, Waterstone&#39;s has been a positive force in promoting books in this country and if we acquire Ottakars I think we&#39;ll improve them. We&#39;ll still have competition -there are plenty of Indies, Borders, Fopp etc etc not to mention the Internet.

[Tim S.]

It knobs me off slightly that we have TWO Waterstones branches here, within two minutes walk of each other, both of which carry exactly the same stock and offers. Such as a 3 for 2 on audiobooks, but no Dr Who at all in either branch.

[Andrew Smith]

In Newcastle there are two Waterstones within litterally 15 seconds walk of each other so I have you beat there [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif[/img]

I wouldn&#39;t we without either of them [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img]

[Ash Stewart]

And speaking of Waterstone&#39;s bargains: Dr Who Annual - 99p.

[Jackprussia]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tim S. &#064; 28 Dec 2005, 5&#58;03 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
It knobs me off slightly that we have TWO Waterstones branches here, within two minutes walk of each other, both of which carry exactly the same stock and offers. Such as a 3 for 2 on audiobooks, but no Dr Who at all in either branch.
[/b][/quote]

I think you&#39;ll find that most high street chains of all kinds carry identical offers throughout their branches countrywide, but I understand your point -watch out for clearance boxes though, as this is where the unique stuff tends to go.

I&#39;m not up to date on audiobooks (as my store is on a campus site where demand for audiobooks is tiny), but I would think that Dr Who titles are available to us - it could be that both stores might be sold out at present or that sales in the past have not been healthy in this area. It won&#39;t do any harm to ask to speak to the audiobooks buyer, I&#39;m sure they&#39;d be more than happy to hear your view.

Ash -glad you found the Who annual &#33;

[Andrew F]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jackprussia &#064; 29 Dec 2005, 10&#58;24 AM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
I&#39;m not up to date on audiobooks (as my store is on a campus site where demand for audiobooks is tiny), but I would think that Dr Who titles are available to us - it could be that both stores might be sold out at present or that sales in the past have not been healthy in this area. It won&#39;t do any harm to ask to speak to the audiobooks buyer, I&#39;m sure they&#39;d be more than happy to hear your view.
[/b][/quote]

I think it&#39;s usually a case of having a Who fan working on the inside - when I was looking after audiobooks in our branch, I started ordering in Big Finish stuff, which then did quite well. But the likes of Big Finish don&#39;t seem to do too much to promote themselves to the trade as far as I can see... which seems a little short-sighted, really. It really does rely on having someone who knows about them getting them into stock.

[Mr Magister]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Voltaire53 &#064; 28 Dec 2005, 11&#58;40 AM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jackprussia &#064; 10 Dec 2005, 3&#58;24 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
I don&#39;t mean to advertise, but I&#39;m still very proud of the company I&#39;ve worked for over many years.
[/b][/quote]

... but I&#39;m still not so sure about you taking over Ottakers to wipe out the opposition ...
[/b][/quote]

Ottakers in Guildford has something that the 2 Waterstones branches don&#39;t offer - a full-sized Dalek (since before the series revival was announced too)&#33;

[Voltaire53]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jackprussia &#064; 28 Dec 2005, 4&#58;48 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
In short, like it or not, Waterstone&#39;s has been a positive force in promoting books in this country and if we acquire Ottakars I think we&#39;ll improve them. [/b][/quote]

Hmm ... my brother works as a manager for Waterstones (for many years now) and he&#39;s told me that he&#39;s often visited Ottakers to get good ideas that Waterstones haven&#39;t though of yet so we shall see. Ottakers certainly have a more &#39;relaxed&#39; atmosphere than the &#39;all black shelves and associated academic feel&#39; that many Waterstones seem to project.

Oh, and for those of you complaining that you have 2 Waterstones locally ... we don&#39;t have any (in Portsmouth) and that is a lot worse ... no opposition for Ottakers at all except &#39;bargain book/remaindered&#39; type places.

[Jackprussia]

I think all good retailers borrow ideas from others: after all there are some great people working for Ottakars and very few new shopkeeping ideas under the sun.

Interesting to know there are other Waterstoners here (Hi Foxley &#33 [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif[/img]

[Mark Aldridge]

I like Waterstones&#33;

Although there always seem to be too many damaged books around. Especially when you see some special edition - £40 or something for a book with a creased spine and bent front page. Never reduced. Seems mad to me - would anyone ever buy it?

But I like them.