The shop-within-shop is the fifth one, joining other Art Shops in Gower Street, Greenwich, Newcastle and Edinburgh branches.
Waterstones continues on its growth trajectory, with the new Art Shop in the flagship Piccadilly branch. All 160 Waterstones shops stock arts and crafts materials, but the company has recently starting rolling out specialist Art Shops within several branches. These Art Shops stock a wider range of art materials for creating diverse and accomplished artistic projects.
Art and stationery buyer, Rebecca Jordan wrote on Linkedin: “So happy to share that another Art Shop has been added to the list, in our Flagship Piccadilly store. Arts and crafts online has also had a refresh, so it’s a great start to the New Year.”
It’s an exciting time of growth for Waterstones, as the company recently returned to Oxford Street, with a new concession in John Lewis. Earlier this year, managing director, James Daunt told The Financial Times that despite fellow retailers citing the rising costs of employing staff and business rate increase imposed by the October budget as reasons for putting expansion plans on hold, Waterstones was firm in its store opening plans.
Its first new store of 2025 will open at the end of April in Basildon, more than a decade after the retailer left the town. Retail manager Dave Sheldrake said: “We are absolutely delighted to be opening a bookshop in Basildon. At Waterstones we pride ourselves on being at the heart of the community and our booksellers will always be on hand to make recommendations for books and gifts. We are passionate about helping our customers of all ages discover a new favourite read; from Children’s picture books to the latest non-fiction releases, our tables and shelves will offer something for all tastes. We can’t wait to open our doors and to welcome the book lovers of Basildon into our beautiful new shop.”
