Waterstones is set to open dozens of new bookshops in 2025 following a “solid Christmas” trading period, chief executive James Daunt has announced. The expansion plans come after the retailer successfully launched 12 new stores across the UK last year.
Daunt, who also manages Barnes & Noble in the US, confirmed the company is looking to match or exceed last year’s store openings in 2025. The ambitious growth strategy stands in stark contrast to the broader retail landscape, where many competitors have paused expansion plans due to rising costs following October’s Budget.
Despite acknowledging “really significant” pay inflation pressures on the business, Daunt remains committed to the expansion programme. The festive period proved particularly successful for the bookseller, with exceptional trading during the final weekend before Christmas.
“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,” Daunt told The Financial Times.
The chief executive noted that having Christmas Day fall on a Wednesday worked well for last-minute shoppers, who waited for the weekend before to make their purchases.
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Waterstones is preparing to open more stores, according to the retailer’s chief executive
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“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 added. The strong performance over the crucial trading period has helped underpin the company’s expansion plans.
The book and stationery retailer’s expansion plans come amid dire predictions for Britain’s high streets, and wider economy, with more than 17,350 store closures expected this year.
According to analysis from the Centre for Retail Research, this represents a harp increase from the 13,479 shops that closed in 2023. Analysts have cited changing consumer habits and a greater tax liability for businesses following the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Whilst the results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting – with worse set to come in 2025,” said Joshua Bamfield, the director of the Centre for Retail Research.
Shoe Zone has previously claimed it will close its stores due to Reeves’s National Insurance raid
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The retail sector has already experienced significant upheaval, with last year seeing a 28 per cent rise in store closures compared to the previous year
Furthermore, retailers have hit back at the Government in light of the financial pressures following recent policy changes announced in the Chancellor’s Autumn Budget.
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) warns that changes to employer National Insurance contributions and the National Living Wage will cost retailers billions of pounds this year.
Rachel Reeves’s fiscal statement confirmed plans to increase the headline rate from 13.8 per cent to 15 per cent, while also lowering the threshold at which companies begin paying the tax.
Adding to these challenges, the 6.7 per cent increase to the the National Living Wage will impose more than £2.7billionn in additional wage costs, according to the BRC.
These financial burdens come at a time when high street businesses are already struggling amid the ongoing cost of living crisis.
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Britain’s high streets have been hit by a wave of store closures
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These financial burdens come at a time when high street businesses are already struggling amid the ongoing cost of living crisis.
Despite the broader retail challenges, Daunt identified Brexit as the most significant ongoing concern for Waterstones’ operations.
“It remains the biggest pain, adds to the cost and complexity, and made our labour situation worse,” he said.
His assessment of Brexit’s impact comes as the company pushes ahead with its expansion plans, even as other retailers grapple with mounting operational costs.
