Waterstones’ managing director James Daunt is adorably, irresistibly quotable at every turn, and this Times profile does not disappoint. “I would rather there was no Waterstones” he says at the top of the piece. He would prefer “lots of nice independents, prospering up and down the high streets. I genuinely believe that. But there can’t be and will never be because it is very difficult to run independent bookshops. They can’t survive; you need the structures and efficiencies of chains.” But the chains have their own problems, in his view. “All chain booksellers in the world right now have got it […]
