Attention all those who commute through King’s Cross. A new bookshop has opened on the concourse near platforms 9-11, next to the shrine for Platform 9¾ of Harry Potter fame.
This is the first Watermark store to open in Europe. Watermark is an Australian firm that specialises in filling small spaces in major travel hubs. It is a traditional bookseller in the sense that well educated, book-loving staff are on hand to offer customers the expertise that is usually unavailable in a travel terminal newsagent like WHSmith. (Smiths seem to be the only such retailer in Britain.) Staff sometimes have a foreign language — a useful bonus in an arena where tourists should be a major source of revenue.
There are Watermark outlets in Australia, America and the Far East. There are rumours that a further 35 stores will open in Britain and Europe, but expansion will depend on the success of the shop at King’s Cross.
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