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Waterstones chief executive James Daunt plans to open dozens of new bookshops this year, according to the FT.
Daunt, who is also the boss of Barnes and Noble in the US, oversaw the opening of 57 stores in the US and 12 in the UK during the year and now plans to “do that or more in 2025”.
The news comes as Waterstones had a “successful” holiday season, which worked well for last minute shoppers who waited for the weekend before Christmas before buying their gifts.
Daunt revealed there was no clear best-selling genre this year, with sales across all categories.
He told the FT: “If you are in the ‘last minute’ game – and we are to an extent – then [..] it was a solid Christmas that came late because of the fall of the calendar. The last weekend and [December] 23-24 were exceptional on both sides of the Atlantic. It has been a good post-Christmas as well.”
Daunt also said that inflation was “really significant” for the business but still backed the UK government’s plan to increase national insurance costs.
Waterstones was sold to private equity group Elliott in 2018 by Russian billionaire Alexander Mamut. Daunt, who also controls his eponymous UK book chain Daunt Books, has run Waterstones since 2011.
