Waterstones has bought family-owned bookseller Foyles in a deal it says will champion real bookshops in the face of competition from Amazon.
The sale includes Foyles’ flagship store in Charing Cross as well as three further bookshops in London and outlets in Bristol, Birmingham and Chelmsford.
James Daunt, Waterstones managing director said the acquisition would help the bookseller fight back in the face of “Amazon’s siren call”.
Waterstones will add the 115-year-old Foyles to London bookseller Hatchards, established in 1797, and Dublin-based Hodges Figgis, which celebrated its 250th anniversary this year.
James Daunt, Waterstones Managing Director said: “We are honoured to be entrusted with the Foyles business, and greatly look forward to joining forces with the Foyles bookselling team.
“Together, we will be stronger and better positioned to protect and champion the pleasures of real bookshops in the face of Amazon's siren call."
He added that it was an “exciting and invigorating time” in bookselling as traditional shops battle with online and e-readers.
“At Waterstones, we see our future as responsible stewards of shops that strive to serve their customers each according to their own distinct personality,” he said
“This is nowhere more important than with those shops - Hatchards, Hodges Figgis and now Foyles - that have such singular heritages.”
Mr Daunt told The Independent that buying Foyles was part of a successful strategy of creating stores with their own individuality, a move that has helped Waterstones grow while many others high street chains are struggling.
"My way is to decentralise as much as possible. That creative tension is important."
Booksellers had to face up to the "extraordinary challenge" posed by online retailers much earlier than others did, he said.
"We knew you could buy everything Waterstones stocks online, so had to really justify why customers would come in store.
"We had to make it fun and worthwhile and an absolute pleasure and make people come away with a book that's worth more [than one bought online] because you've really invested in it."
Foyles chairman, Christopher Foyle said: “My family and I are delighted that Foyles is entering a new chapter, one which secures the brand's future and protects its personality.
“I look forward to witnessing the exciting times ahead for the company founded by my Grandfather and his brother 115 years ago.“
Waterstones operates 283 bookshops located across the UK, Ireland, The Netherlands and Belgium, employing over 3,000 booksellers.
Reports of the death of printed books at the hands of e-readers such as Amazon’s kindle appear to have been greatly exaggerated.
E-book sales declined in 2016 and 2017, while both hardback and paper book sales rose.
