{{Short description|English bookstore chain}} {{Use British English|date=March 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}} {{Coord|51.5147|N|0.1301|W|type:landmark_scale:3000|display=title}} {{Infobox company | name = Foyles | logo = Foyles logo.png | image = Foyles, Charing Cross Road (April 2015) (cropped).jpg | image_alt = | image_caption = The flagship Foyles store at 107 Charing Cross Road, London | type = Private company | last owner = | genre = | foundation = 1903 | founder = William Foyle, Gilbert Foyle | location = 107 Charing Cross Road, London | origins = | key_people = {{plainlist| * William & Gilbert Foyle (founders) * Christina Foyle (1945–99) * Christopher Foyle (1999–2022) }} | area_served = | industry = Retail | products = Books | services = | revenue = | operating_income = | net_income = | num_employees = | parent = | divisions = | subsid = | owner = {{plainlist| * Christopher Foyle (1999–2018) * Waterstones (2018– ) }} | slogan = | homepage = http://www.foyles.co.uk | dissolved = | footnotes = }}
'''Foyles''', established as '''W & G Foyle Ltd''' in 1903, is a bookseller with seven stores in England.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.foyles.co.uk/book-shops-in-london |title=Our Bookstores |publisher=Foyles |access-date=5 December 2017}}</ref> It is best known for its flagship store in Charing Cross Road, London. Foyles was once listed in the ''Guinness Book of Records'' as the world's largest bookshop in terms of shelf length, at {{convert|30|mi}}, and of titles on display.<ref name=Walsh>{{cite news |first=John |last=Walsh |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/still-driving-customers-up-the-wall-after-100-years-foyles-the-bookshop-that-time-forgot-9086901.html |title=Still driving customers up the wall after 100 years: Foyles, the bookshop that time forgot |newspaper=The Independent |date=23 January 2003 }}</ref> It was bought by Waterstones in 2018.<ref name="independent/waterstones-foyles-takeover">{{cite news |title=Waterstones buys Foyles bookshops in bid to fight back against Amazon |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/waterstones-foyles-takeover-bookshops-amazon-competition-a8527241.html |access-date=1 February 2026 |work=The Independent |date=7 September 2018 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45446899 |title=Waterstones buys Foyles to defend bookshops against Amazon |date=7 September 2018 |publisher=BBC News |access-date=8 April 2022}}</ref>
Foyles was famed for its anachronistic, eccentric and sometimes infuriating business practices (see below), so much so that it became a tourist attraction.<ref name=Hoge>{{cite news |title=Christina Foyle, 88, the Queen of the London Bookstore, Dies |last=Hoge |first=Warren |author-link=Warren Hoge |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/11/world/christina-foyle-88-the-queen-of-the-london-bookstore-dies.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm |newspaper=The New York Times |date=11 June 1999 |access-date=21 May 2012}}</ref> It has since modernised, and has opened several branches and an online store.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.foyles.co.uk/ |title=home page |publisher=Foyles |access-date=5 December 2017}}</ref>
==History== ===Founding and early branches=== Brothers William and Gilbert Foyle founded the business in 1903. After failing entrance exams for the civil service, the brothers offered their redundant textbooks for sale and were inundated by offers. This inspired them to launch a second-hand book business from home.<ref name=Hoge/> Flushed with success, they opened a small shop on Station Parade in Queen's Road, Peckham, where they painted "With all Faith" in gilt letters above the door.
The brothers opened their first West End shop in 1904, at 16 Cecil Court. A year later they hired their first member of staff, who promptly disappeared with the weekly takings. By 1906, their shop was at 135 Charing Cross Road and they were described as London's largest educational booksellers.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}}
By 1910, Foyles had added four suburban branches: at Harringay, Shepherd's Bush, Kilburn and Brixton.<ref>{{cite book |last=Block |first=Andrew |title=A Short History of the Principal London Antiquarian Booksellers and Book-Auctioneers |place=London |publisher=Denis Archer |year=1933}}</ref><ref>The 1910 edition of ''The International Directory of Booksellers and Bibliophile's Manual'' lists Foyles' branch addresses: 65 Grand Parade, Green Lanes, London N, 431 Brixton Road, London SW, 212 Uxbridge Road, London SW and 45 High Road, London NW.</ref>
thumb|The former Foyles shop at 111–119 Charing Cross Road Not long afterward,{{clarify |reason=When? Please don't be vague. |date=December 2017}} the brothers moved their central London store to 119 Charing Cross Road, the Foyles Building, where it remained until 2014. They acquired adjacent buildings at 1–7 Manette Street including the site of the Old Goldbeater's House.<ref>{{cite book |last=Low |first=David |year=1973 |title=With All Faults |place=Tehran |publisher=The Amate Press |pages=16–20}}</ref> For a time the store included premises at 121–125 Charing Cross Road, on the north side of the junction with Manette Street.<ref name=Kindall>{{cite web |url=http://sevenroads.org/Labels/F.html#Foyles4 |title=Gallery of Book Trade Labels: F |website=Seven Roads |publisher=Greg Kindall |access-date=5 December 2017}}</ref>
In this period Foyles, like many booksellers, used to stick a small permanent label advertising themselves on every book they sold. According to one such label, at some time Foyles had a branch in South Africa, at 12–14 Church Street, Cape Town.<ref name=Kindall/>
Foyles published ''Foylibra: Foyles Bookshop Magazine''.<ref name="pP/107-reasons-foyles">{{cite news |last1=Tagholm |first1=Roger |title=107 Reasons to Love Foyles of Charing Cross Road |url=https://publishingperspectives.com/2014/06/107-reasons-to-love-foyles-of-charing-cross-road/ |access-date=1 February 2026 |work=Publishing Perspectives |date=5 June 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Foylibra |date=1931 |publisher=W. & G. Foyle |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XUay0P9Bm8oC |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Foylibra |date=1955 |publisher=W. & G. Foyle. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qn8PM8R3gGcC |language=en}}</ref>
William Foyle sent Hitler a telegram offering to buy all Jewish books that were to be burnt. Hitler replied: ''Would no sooner corrupt the morals of the English than the Germans''.<ref name="pP/107-reasons-foyles"/>
===Christina Foyle's era=== thumb|A Foyles advertisement from the 1960s Christina Foyle, daughter of co-founder William, initiated literary luncheons at the Charing Cross Road premises in October 1930; these continue to 2010.<ref name="pP/107-reasons-foyles"/> In the first 80 years 700 luncheons were held, hosting more than 1,000 authors and 500,000 guests.<ref>{{cite news |title=Foyles to celebrate 80 years of lunches |last=Jones |first=Philip |url= https://www.thebookseller.com/news/foyles-celebrate-80-years-lunches |newspaper=The Bookseller |date=15 September 2010 |access-date=4 February 2022}}</ref> Speakers and guests of honour at these luncheons have included great literary figures, and celebrities from the world of politics, the media, the military and the theatre. Most British Prime Ministers since the Second World War have attended, as have The Duke of Edinburgh, General Charles de Gaulle, General Władysław Sikorski and the Emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie. The store now also holds many evening literary events throughout the year.<ref name=Walsh/> In 1939, Christina invited Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin to speak at a Foyles luncheon.<ref name="pP/107-reasons-foyles"/> General Pinochet and General Franco were customers.<ref name="pP/107-reasons-foyles"/>
Control of the shop passed to Christina in 1945. Under her the shop stagnated, with little investment and poorly paid staff who could be fired on a whim.<ref name=Walsh/> She also refused to install any modern conveniences such as electronic tills or calculators, and she would not allow orders to be taken by phone. The shop excelled in other fields: expensive books ordered from as far off as Germany were sent with a bill without prepayment.
The shop operated a payment system that required customers to queue three times: to collect an invoice for a book, to pay the invoice, then to collect the book, because sales staff were not allowed to handle cash.<ref name="haaretz/Handelzalts/foyled"/><ref name="pP/107-reasons-foyles"/>
<blockquote>Foyles’ bizarre payment system required customers to collect a bill from the assistant, take it to a payment booth and then return it to the assistant to collect the books. The theory was that the less people who handled the money, the better.<ref name="pP/107-reasons-foyles"/></blockquote>
The shelving arrangement categorized books by publisher, rather than by topic or author.<ref name=Walsh/> The newspaper ''The Independent'' described the atmosphere as "Imagine Kafka had gone into the book trade."<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/bazaar-1595841.html | title=Bazaar | first=Julie | last=Aschkenasy | work=The Independent | date=11 August 1995 | access-date=10 May 2023 }}</ref> In the 1980s, rival bookshop Dillons placed an advertisement in a bus shelter opposite Foyles reading ''"Foyled again? Try Dillons"''.<ref name=Hoge/>
<blockquote>From the Staff Rules in 1985: ‘Employment is on a weekly basis’<ref name="pP/107-reasons-foyles"/></blockquote>
Christina Foyle and her husband, Ronald Batty, were determined to be free to fire workers at will and were fiercely opposed to worker representation.<ref>{{cite news |last=Pateman |first=Trevor |title=Adrian Beecroft, Vince Cable and the Foyle's Bookshop Strike 1965 |url=http://www.trevorpatemanblog.com/2012/05/the-foyles-bookshop-strike-1965.html |date=23 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201001210958/http://www.trevorpatemanblog.com/2012/05/the-foyles-bookshop-strike-1965.html |access-date=17 November 2024|archive-date=1 October 2020 }}</ref>
<blockquote>Time was when staff were regularly dismissed before they’d worked there six months to avoid any staff rights that came into force at that point.<ref name="pP/107-reasons-foyles"/></blockquote>
In 1980, British poet Wendy Cope was awarded the first prize in The New Statesman poetry contest for her short poem ''Foyled'', a parody of Edward Thomas{{'}} ''Adlestrop''.<ref name="haaretz/Handelzalts/foyled"> *{{cite news |last=Handelzalts |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Handelzalts |url=https://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=298513 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070313031809/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=298513 |url-status=dead |archive-date=13 March 2007 |title=Foyled and found again |newspaper=Haaretz |date=30 May 2003}} *{{cite news |last1=Handelzalts |first1=Michael |author1-link=Michael Handelzalts |title=Foyled and Found Again |url=https://www.haaretz.com/2003-05-30/ty-article/foyled-and-found-again/0000017f-dec0-d856-a37f-ffc058430000 |access-date=1 February 2026 |work=Haaretz |date=May 30, 2003 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20260201113614/https://www.haaretz.com/2003-05-30/ty-article/foyled-and-found-again/0000017f-dec0-d856-a37f-ffc058430000 |archive-date=1 February 2026}}</ref>
<blockquote>Yes, I remember Foyles – too well –<br/>Because, one Saturday in June,<br/>I went to buy some books and stood<br/>The whole confounded afternoon…</blockquote>
===Modernisation=== Christina Foyle died in 1999; control then passed to her nephew Christopher, who modernised Foyles' shop and practices. Christopher Foyle was also, from 1978 until 2008, the chairman and CEO of aviation companies Air Foyle and Air Foyle HeavyLift, chairman and later Deputy President of the Air League, and a Trustee of the Foyle Foundation. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, a Liveryman of the Guild of Air Pilots and a Deputy Lord Lieutenant for Essex.<ref>{{cite news |last=Teather |first=David |url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2007/nov/02/5 |title=Raconteur who wrestled to keep Foyles in the family |newspaper=The Guardian |date=2 November 2007 }}</ref>
Foyles' heavily weathered panelling was replaced by a red plastic, grey metal and beech interior. Whereas the shop used to sell second-hand and new books side by side on the same shelves, it now primarily sells books in print, like other large chain bookshops, but with a notably larger range of titles on every subject. It also now sells second-hand and out-of-print books together with new books in its art, history and archaeology departments. Most of these changes were made between 2003 and 2005. Foyles also now sells electronic books on its website.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.foyles.co.uk/ebooks |title=Foyles eBooks |publisher=Foyles |access-date=23 August 2014}}</ref>
===Acquisitions of other companies=== The feminist Silver Moon Bookshop was incorporated into Foyles in 2001 after rising rents on its Charing Cross Road premises forced it to close.<ref>{{cite book |last=Osborne |first=Susan |year=2003 |title=The Good Web Guide for Book Lovers: The Simple Way to Explore Books and Literature Online |publisher=Good Web Guide Ltd |isbn=1-903282-42-X |page=17}}</ref>
In 2011 Foyles took over Grant & Cutler, a foreign language bookseller that had been founded in 1936.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.grantandcutler.com/about.html |title=About Us |work=Grant & Cutler at Foyles |access-date=5 December 2017}}</ref> In March 2011 Foyles closed Grant & Cutler's shop at 55–57 Great Marlborough Street and merged it with the foreign language section of Foyles' then premises in the Foyles Building.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/foyles-takes-over-grant-cutler |last=Neill |first=Graeme |title=Foyles takes over Grant & Cutler |newspaper=The Bookseller |date=21 March 2011 |access-date=5 December 2017}}</ref> In the new Foyles store at 107 Charing Cross Road, Grant & Cutler is on Level 4. ===Waterstones acquisition=== The Foyles bookshops were bought by Waterstones for an undisclosed fee in September 2018.<ref>{{cite web |title=Waterstones buys Foyles {{!}} The Bookseller |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/waterstones-buys-foyles-858311 |website=thebookseller.com |language=en}}</ref> The shops have continued to use the Foyles brand.
==Branches== ===Modern branches=== thumb|The Foyles store at the Birmingham Grand Central & Bullring mall during 2022 Foyles opened a branch at the Royal Festival Hall on London's South Bank in 2005. The following year the chain was awarded a concession to run the book departments in Selfridges' London Oxford Street and Manchester stores, but these closed in February 2009. In February 2008 it opened the only bookshop in St Pancras railway station, which had been refurbished to include the Eurostar London terminal. Foyles also opened a branch in the Westfield shopping centre, which opened on 30 October 2008 in White City in West London.<ref>{{cite news |first=Graeme |last=Neill |url=http://www.thebookseller.com/news/47481-foyles-to-open-fourth-store.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071102215106/http://www.thebookseller.com/news/47481-foyles-to-open-fourth-store.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2 November 2007 |title=Foyles to open fourth store |newspaper=The Bookseller |date=2 November 2007 }}</ref> It opened a new 'Booktique' store at London's One New Change shopping centre in October 2010,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.foyles.co.uk/news-800096388-Foyles+to+open+fifth+store+in+October |title=Foyles to open fifth store in October |publisher=Foyles |date=4 October 2010 }}{{dead link |date=December 2017}}</ref> but this closed in November 2011.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.thebookseller.com/news/foyles-close-one-new-change-today.html |last=Campbell |first=Lisa |title=Foyles to close One New Change today |newspaper=The Bookseller |date=2 November 2011 |access-date=23 August 2014}}</ref>
In March 2011 Foyles opened a store in Bristol, its first out-of-London store since before the Second World War.{{citation needed |date=December 2017}} That October it opened a second Westfield store, designed by Lustedgreen, an interior architectural design consultancy, in the Westfield Stratford City complex next to the Olympic Stadium. The chain opened a bookshop in London Waterloo station in February 2014.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/7394|title=Foyles bookshop opens at Waterloo Station |work=London SE1 Community Website |publisher=Bankside Press |date=10 February 2014 |access-date=16 August 2014}}</ref> Birmingham Grand Central & Bullring also features a Foyles store as of its opening in 2015.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.bullring.co.uk/shop/foyles | title=Foyles | date=3 June 2025 }}</ref> In September 2016 Foyles opened a store in the new Chelmsford shopping development.{{citation needed |date=December 2017}}
===New flagship store=== In late 2011 Foyles announced that it was selling the lease of its flagship Foyles Building at 111–119 Charing Cross Road. It acquired premises at 107 Charing Cross Road, formerly occupied by the Central St Martins College of Art and Design.<ref>{{cite news |last=Campbell |first=Lisa |title=Foyle family to sell leasehold to Charing Cross Road |url=http://www.thebookseller.com/news/foyle-family-sell-leasehold-charing-cross-road.html |newspaper=The Bookseller |date=9 December 2011 |access-date=25 May 2012}}</ref> The premises were refurbished to designs by London-based architects Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lds-uk.com/projects/foyles |title=Foyles 107 Charing Cross Road |publisher=Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands |access-date=23 August 2014 |archive-date=18 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170618122109/http://www.lds-uk.com/projects/foyles |url-status=dead }}</ref> The store moved out of the Foyles Building and into the new premises in June 2014.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.foyles.co.uk/107 |title=Foyles Enters a New Chapter as We Move Next Door |publisher=Foyles |date=7 June 2014 |access-date=4 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140325034810/http://www.foyles.co.uk/107 |archive-date=25 March 2014}}</ref>
==Foyles Book of the Year== {{Anchor|Book of the Year}} {{main|Foyles Books of the Year}} Foyles has chosen three titles each year since 2017 as "Book of the Year": Fiction, Non-fiction and Children's.<ref name=boy>{{cite web |title=Foyles Books of the Year |url=https://www.foyles.co.uk/highlights/foyles-books-of-the-year |publisher=Foyles |access-date=18 September 2024}}</ref>
==Awards== Foyles has earned the following awards:{{citation needed|date=December 2007}}
* 2002 Independent Bookseller of the Year; * 2005 Academic Bookseller of the Year; * 2006 London Independent Bookseller of the Year * 2008 Chain Bookselling Company of the Year, 2008 Bookseller of the Year<ref>{{cite web |work=British Book Awards |url=http://www.britishbookawards.com/bba/bbia_winners.asp |title=British Nibbies Winners 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090708182451/http://www.britishbookawards.com/bba/bbia_winners.asp |archive-date=8 July 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref> * 2010 Bookseller of the Year * 2012 National Bookseller of the Year and National Children's Bookseller of the Year * 2013 National Bookseller of the Year
==See also== * Books in the United Kingdom
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} *[http://www.foyles.co.uk Foyles] – official website *{{cite web |url= http://sevenroads.org/Labels/F.html#Foyles4 |title=Gallery of Book Trade Labels: F |website=Seven Roads |publisher=Greg Kindall}} – labels that Foyles used to put on every book sold
{{Bookshops in London}} {{books}} {{Authority control}}
Category:1903 establishments in England Category:Bookshops in London Category:Bookstores established in the 20th century Category:Buildings and structures in the City of Westminster Category:Independent bookshops of the United Kingdom Category:Retail companies established in 1903 Category:Tourist attractions in the City of Westminster Category:2018 mergers and acquisitions