Unlimited champagne and a guest list that included the cream of British publishing lent appropriate glamour to the recent party launching Waterstone's new Piccadilly shop, billed as the largest bookstore in Europe and possibly in the world.
Housed in the former Simpson's department store--a triumph of 1930s modernist design and one of the most stylish buildings in London's world-famous street--the new store boasts a floor space of 66,000 sq. ft., six miles of shelving on seven floors, a restaurant, a lounge bar, a news cafe, 12 Internet stations, red leather sofas, venues for a variety of literary events and the biggest children's bookshop in London. Open until 11 p.m. every night, the store features a range of 265,000 titles, including a whole floor of novels; the million and a half books in stock, if laid end to end, would stretch from nearby Piccadilly Circus to the Hook of Holland.
Many of the building's striking features have been retained. Founder Tim Waterstone described the store as continuing the Waterstone tradition of locating branches in buildings of architectural interest. The new store will provide strong competition for neighbor Hatchard's, which has been selling books in Piccadilly for more than 200 years and offers a more cozy, old-fashioned book experience.
Meanwhile Borders, which brought this relaxed style of bookselling to London, is soon opening a new superstore in the Charing Cross Road that will offer 24-hour shopping. The battle of the bookshops is on, and skeptics are wondering where all the customers will come from.
