2015
Manager of the Year SPONSORED BY: BOOKS ARE MY BAG
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[ TH E
S H ORTLI ST ]
Carolyn and Katie Clapham are the mother and daughter team who have made Storytellers, Inc. in Lytham St Annes a beloved independent
Janette Cross ensured Foyles’ move along Charing Cross Road was not just a smooth ride, but a major industry event too
Rebecca MacAlister’s leadership at Blackwell’s Oxford flagship, since arriving two years ago, has typified the chain’s recent revitalisation
Marie Moser, owner-manager of The Edinburgh Bookshop, has doubled its turnover in just five years
WINNER: JEN SHENTON, WATERSTONES
FROM CHRISTMAS TEMP to the inspirational leader of one of its most visible stores, Jen Shenton’s rise through the ranks at Waterstones has been meteoric. The first female manager to win this award, she has led by example since taking the reins at the chain’s Covent Garden shop a year ago. As a first-rate bookseller herself, she has instilled a great culture of handselling and motivated her team to go the extra mile on customer service. The shop now has an energetic events programme—no mean feat given the competition to attract authors in central London—and its reputation as a destination for arts books has been restored. All this (and more) has substantially increased the shop’s sales over the past year—and it has also turned into something of a finishing
KEY STRENGTHS
school for other Waterstones booksellers, with Shenton now tasked with training shop-floor staff in the art of bookselling. “You get the feeling that Jen could make any bookshop in the country work. It’s not surprising she has made her way up the ladder so quickly,” said the judges. They particularly liked the way she had grasped the unique requirements of Covent Garden retail. “She’s got a terrific appreciation of the shop’s locale and demographics, and really knows who is coming through the doors.” In her work over the past few years, Shenton and her Covent Garden colleagues have personified the renaissance of the James Daunt-run chain as a whole. “She is a very good example of Waterstones putting faith in its managers—and she’s more than paid it back.”
Transformed her Covent Garden shop into one of Waterstones’ best Improved customer service and events, and specialism in the arts Respected leader, outstanding people manager and energetic motivator Enlisted to train booksellers from across the Waterstones estate
Books Are My Bag is the campaign on behalf of Britain and Ireland’s high street bookshops. Created for the industry by M&C Saatchi, Books Are My Bag hails the unique complementary relationship between physical books and physical bookshops. Books Are My Bag is celebrated in chain and independent bookshops throughout the UK and Ireland, and is backed by extensive PR and social media activity.
www.booksaremybag.com
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