Waterstones

Waterstones' mission is to be the leading bookseller on the high street and online providing customers the widest choice, great value and expert advice from a team passionate about bookselling. Waterstones aims to interest and excite its customers and continually inspire people to read and engage in books.

Waterstones first opened in Old Brompton Road, London, in 1982 and currently trades from nearly 300 shops, on high streets and in shopping centres, and through numerous university campuses in the UK, Republic of Ireland and continental Europe (Brussels and Amsterdam) as well as on the Isle of Man, Jersey and the Isle of Wight.

No two Waterstones bookshops are the same. Sophisticated stock management systems ensure that each bookshop has its own unique range profile and space at the front of the bookshop to promote a choice of books picked by that branch. These 'Recommends' bays are genuine staff picks.

Our reputation is built upon the knowledge and enthusiasm of our 4,500 booksellers. Our booksellers love great books and are dedicated to finding the titles that our customers want.

We strive to create places where people who are interested in books can go to browse, a place that encourages new readers to expand horizons and that is home to booksellers that are passionate about the books that they sell.

An average sized Waterstones bookshop merchandises a range of around 30,000 individual books, with 200,000 titles in the largest shop. With over one million books in print, and around 120,000 new consumer titles published every year (compared with around 10,000 in the 1950s), the expert recommendations and advice of the company's booksellers are key ingredients in its success.