Following the backlash of Waterstone’s three unbranded stores, the managing director has defended the book retailer’s decision, saying it will be good for “customers, town centres and… staff.”
Accused of posing as independent stores, the stores in Rye, Southwold and Harpenden, have opened with only a small notice in the window stating that the store is really owned by Waterstones.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, James Daunt said: “The vast majority [of people] have welcomed them greatly. They are very small shops in towns that had independents and very much wish they still had independents but don’t.
“We can’t open up great big Waterstones here but we can open up small ones. We are coming into quite sensitive high streets with predominantly independent retailers on them and we wish to behave as they do.”
Local competitors have complained of the new stores, saying people wouldn’t have welcomed the shops if they knew it was owned by Waterstones.
Many shopkeepers in the towns are blaming the arrival of national chains for pushing up rents and affecting business rates, which are estimated to rise by an average of 177 percent in the area over the next five years.
The cold reception to the new bookstores echo the reaction to Tesco’s 2013 decision to open a chain of coffee shops under the brand Harris + Hoole, which many customers presumed were independent.
Clive Sawyer, 66, who owns a gallery a few doors down from the Waterstones in Southwold, told the Mail on Sunday: “Waterstones has crept in under the guise of a nice, independent bookstore, which it simply isn’t. Ultimately, it’s the dishonesty I really dislike.”
James Daunt, who has a background in independent bookstores, has denied that Waterstones was using “subterfuge” to attract customers. He said he wants the company to have stores with their own identities.
“We don’t pretend we are not Waterstones. The idea that this is some type of subterfuge is ridiculous” he added.
Due to the success of the new stores, the retailer has plans to open more in the next year.