SPONSOR
DESCRIPTION Simon & Schuster UK is one of the leading general book publishing companies in the UK. The group is based in London with sister companies in the US, Canada, Australia and India. Within the UK division,
BOOK RETAILER OF THE YEAR
OVERVIEW After two years of turmoil from Covid-19, book retailers were rejuvenated in 2022 and, with the proviso of gaps in data during lockdowns, they delivered the highest print sales on record. Combining high street, online, travel and media booksellers, and new and long-standing names, this shortlist shows the many routes retailers took to readers last year. This shortlist will also include the winners of the categories for Independent Bookshop of the Bookseller of the Year.
BOOKS2DOOR Online retailer Books2Door flourished during lockdowns as children and parents sought books to read, both for learning and for pleasure. It carried the impetus into 2022, recording another record year of sales and growing its head-count by around a third. It launched a new mobile app and rode the BookTok wave to attract thousands of new users. Based in Leicester and with 85% of staff coming from an Indian or Pakistani background, it is doing more than most to diversify bookselling in the UK.
BOOKSHOP.ORG Last year’s winner
Bookshop.org has helped more than 500 independent book- sellers to rise to the challenges of Covid lockdowns and the online dominance of Amazon, and the platform took its income generation past £2.5m in 2022. New initia- tives included a Book of the Month promo- tion, a Golden Bookmark sweepstake to win books for life and the Indie Champions Awards, which recognise the authors, publishers, podcasts, organisations and events that have welcomed
Bookshop.org to the UK so warmly.
WATERSTONES Waterstones has won this award in three of the past eight years. Celebrating four decades in bookselling in 2022, it opened 13 new shops and launched initiatives including a Début Fiction Prize and a Read for Ukraine fundraising campaign, while capitalising very well on BookTok and establishing new literary names such as its Author of the Year, Bonnie Garmus. Warehouse software problems blighted months of Waterstones’ year, though it was still able to end it with a bumper Christmas.
W H SMITH HIGH STREET The first of W H Smith’s two places on this shortlist is for its town and city centre bookselling. The 525 stores that comprise its High Street division went big on the TikTok phenomenon and grabbed a sizea- ble slice of the year’s top new book, Richard Osman’s The Bullet That Missed. Value was a major focus as the cost-of-living crisis mounted, while work with the National Literacy Trust supported children’s read- ing. The year finished with the High Street division claiming its strongest-ever sales results for the Christmas period.
W H SMITH TRAVEL Bookselling in airports and stations was naturally hit hard by two years of Covid- 19 lockdowns and travel restrictions, but the Travel division of W H Smith bounced back strongly in 2022. It opened three new dedicated bookshops and revamped its concession stores within Harrods and Selfridges, and also reminded the book industry of its huge influence in shaping brand fiction, in particular. “We have suffered without them and we are delighted to see them back up to full power,” said one publisher.
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MONWELL Appearing on this shortlist for the first time, Monwell likes to bill itself as the book retailer you have never heard of. Facilitating sales for major media groups including the Guardian, Mail, Express and Times Literary Supplement, it generated well over £2m from a team of just seven people in 2022. Marketing is Monwell’s core strength, and its campaigns—includ- ing a new-look Shelf Improvement subscription service for the Guardian— gave many publishers sales that they wouldn’t otherwise have got.
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