Waterstones

dorothy

Opening Friday, in Crouch End. Why didn't anyone say?

There's no cafe, it's too small. Looks nice though.

bigspoon

What's blowing my mind is the inverted colour scheme. Black font on white signage?? For Waterstones?? Anarchy

TheMimsy

Whereabouts in Crouch End?

trainspotter

Where Wetherspoons used to be. I have to say I was perplexed by the decision to open a chain store bookshop there. I would have thought a book shop would need to offer something different from Amazon in order to survive. On the other hand perhaps people are more likely to browse in a bookshop somewhere like Crouch End than Oxford Street.

Sutent

I thought that was becoming a superdrug?

trainspotter

Yes, it was, wasn't it? Well it's very close to there anyway, and is double-fronted

Sutent

The villager's of crouch end were upset about a superdrug moving in

NorthNineteen

I think they are also upset by Waterstones moving in!

grenners

Don't see the fuss myself. It might be bland to some but it's a pleasant place to do some browsing. It's a triple fronted shop. Superdrug is a great addition compared to the Witherspoon. It's a very useful shop and no spoons can only help the independent pubs. I think waterstones is a good addition they are expanding but did close on Oxford Street where rents are so high that some stores don't even make money there but like a flagship presence. Waterstones flagship is on picadilly. I recently let a shop to Waterstones in Yarm, same colour scheme, and renewed their lease in Peterborough but I'm surprised at the size of the Crouch end store. The Costa is up to let in Crouch End. My bet is Metro Bank, no doubt be proved wrong, but they love corner buildings, great visibility. METRO however will look awful if they get their way.

conformable_kate

It's where Broadway (clothes shop) used to be - they've moved to Tottenham lane. Any bookshop basically good news. The independent Prospero's Books that used to be in crouch end closed ages ago, but bookshops seem to be resurgent - and the nice children's bookshop in Middle Lane seems to do ok. I just hope waterstones doesn't undermine it.

TheMimsy

I was surprised when they opened Superdrug because of the sheer amount of chemist stores in Crouch End. I hope WS do well.

grenners

Superdrug sell a lot of cosmetics and hair dye and that type of stuff. There is no pharmacist. So it's a bit different.

chrisst

It was sad when Prospero's closed: it always had a lot of unusual books that made you stop and think (and sometimes buy). Whilst clearly a big chain, I'm personally very happy to see this recent addition to Crouch End... perhaps we might start to see more bookshops in SG too... well I can dream...

miss annie

Ok, hands up - I work for Waterstones. I'm Visual Manager for London, based at the flagship in Piccadilly. I'll be in CE setting up from tomorrow afternoon, come and say hello and I'll give you a sneaky peek round the door.

As long as people shop at Pickled Pepper in Middle Lane they'll be fine, there's twenty odd coffee shops in Crouch End - I'm sure there is room for more than one bookshop. They have an event space to hire out too, that's their USP. What closes indies is people not shopping in them.

Nice to hear the positive response, even the Crouchenders seem happy!

Sutent

At least Waterstones have opened as Waterstones in crouch end. In other towns they have opened with different names pretending to be independent book shops.
I am pleasantly surprised by the resurgence of bookshops in recent times. Nice to have them back on our high streets. Hopefully libraries will follow.

miss annie

Have you visited the non Ws branded shops @Sutent? They all have big notices in the windows saying 'a trading name of Waterstones. In each case they are branded with the town name when local councils have requested non Waterstones branding. They have a nice blue coloured frontage. We can be Waterstones in Crouch End as there are so many chains already.

miss annie

Libraries won't follow sadly. The are funded publicly and they are never a top choice for funds.

miss annie

Opened today and madly busy. 100% positive response from the locals.

Arkady

Any idea what time it closes today?

miss annie

9am - 7pm, Monday - Saturday. 11.30am - 5.30pm on Sunday. They are tweeting @WstoneCrouchEnd.