Waterstones deserves to be judged by its bookshop cover-up

Let’s get one thing clear: bookshops are a good thing. Waterstones — even putting aside the abandonment of its apostrophe — is a good thing. James Daunt, the man who has turned Waterstone’s from a basket case into a profitable enterprise, is a good thing.

But what the company has done in Southwold, Rye and Harpenden is naughty. And it’s more than just a storm in an overpriced Emma Bridgewater teacup. Waterstones has opened up shops that purport to be both local and independent, when they are neither. In Southwold, the branch is called Southwold Books, in Rye it’s The Rye Bookshop and in Harpenden, Harpenden Books. The colour-scheme, layout, and signs all look as if they belong to independent shops and no reference to Waterstones can be found in the shop.

This is not the same as Coca-Cola buying wacky Innocent smoothies or indeed Waterstone’s itself buying the venerable Hatchards. In both these cases, the acquirer perfectly reasonably kept the long-established brand and ran them as independent businesses.