Magazine editors will mourn the loss of WHSmith – but will anyone else?
Once a stalwart of the British high street, WHSmith hopes to sell off 500 stores to focus on its more profitable outlets at train stations and airports – but, given the shabby state of many of its shops, the writing has been on the wall for some time, says James Moore
The theme for the British High Street? It has to be “Another One Bites the Dust”. WHSmith is the latest famous name for whom that thumping baseline is tolling.
The group – with a 232-year history – has put the 500 or so high street shops on the market to focus on its travel outlets, of which there are nearly 1,300 worldwide.
The travel outlets account for 75 per cent of the group’s revenues and 85 per cent of the trading profit. The potential sale has been billed as a surprise. It shouldn’t be – not with numbers like that.
WHSmith sells a mixture of stationery, books, newspapers, magazines and other bits and pieces. The branch I visited, in the Westfield shopping mall in Stratford, east London, was also hawking cheap soft toys ahead of Valentine’s Day. I’m not sure how good anyone receiving one of those is going to feel about their partner. And I also don’t know how many people will actually notice them piled up in bins at the front of the store.
Sandwiched between a bookies and a, well, sandwich shop, you could easily miss it. The M&S Simply Food opposite was doing a roaring trade when I stopped by. Sad, slightly shabby, its floor covered in black icky stuff, the WHSmith was almost empty.
People can very easily find bigger and better ranges of what it sells elsewhere, and especially online. But if you want to buy physical books from a physical shop at Westfield, you’ll surely go to Foyles on the same floor of the mall. It has a much bigger selection and is a much nicer place to visit.
The biggest loser from a sale would appear to be the print media. Newspapers are not something you buy on Amazon. They’re something you purchase as you’re passing by, and WHSmith is still one of the biggest sellers, if not the biggest. Its loss – if that’s how this ends – would come as a bitter blow.
Statista, the online data outlet, has the “number of specialised stores for the retail sale of newspapers and stationery in the United Kingdom” declining from a peak of 4,597 in 2011 to 2,458 in 2022. Market researcher Ibis World puts the current number at 2,258.
Take out another 500 out and, well, ouch. But there are bidders circling. Bensons For Beds owner Alteri Investors, known for snapping up distressed retailers, has been mentioned. Modella, which has Hobbycraft in its portfolio, is also said to be in the mix. Any new owner is likely to want to take a hard look at the estate, which leaves a question mark hanging over 5,000 largely non-unionised staffers. The number of outlets is almost certain to decline whatever happens.
One would also imagine that they will want to pep up the dowdy stores and refocus the bits and pieces range to give people more of a reason to visit than they have at present.
An earlier casualty of the mass extinction of long-established retailers Britain has been witnessing was Woolworths, with a similarly bits and pieces range, the most famous part of which was the much-loved pick’n’mix sweets.
Dowdy its stores may also have been, but I have often heard people saying that they didn’t realise how much they would miss them until after they were gone. It’s hard to imagine the same being true of WHSmith if it vanishes from the high street (and the brand is up for discussion). It may have two centuries of high street history, but this business is at a low ebb indeed.
In Stratford, where I went mystery browsing, there used to be three in close proximity – but the branch in the down-at-heel Stratford Centre is now gone. It has been replaced by a pound shop, which is an improvement.
In the Westfield outlet, there’s a shelf emblazoned with “TikTok Made Me Buy It”, which is clearly an attempt to get down with the kids. But the limited selection of books on it was about as inspiring as watching an early round 0-0 FA Cup tie on a rainy evening.
WHSmith once had a certain magic. A gift voucher for the place from an aunt, uncle or grandparent was always welcomed. Today’s equivalent – an eGift card – would probably leave you feeling that you weren’t liked very much by the relative who sent it.
The “travel” branch, inside Stratford station, isn’t much better, selling snacks, stationery, newspapers and mags. If this is the future, it’s a low-rent dystopia. But there is enough passing traffic in need of reading material or refreshment en route to wherever they’re going to keep it ticking over, I guess.
There won’t be many mourners at this chain’s funeral – a handful of publishers, perhaps. But they might just be too busy looking at the future of the print part of their own businesses to find the time to attend.
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