Foyles
Encyclopedia
Book
A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...
shop at 113–119 Charing Cross Road
Charing Cross Road
Charing Cross Road is a street in central London running immediately north of St Martin-in-the-Fields to St Giles Circus and then becomes Tottenham Court Road...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Foyles was once listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's largest bookshop in terms of shelf area (30 miles/50 kilometres) and number of titles on display. But it was equally famed for its anachronistic, eccentric and sometimes infuriating business practices, so much that they also made it a tourist attraction.
History
The business was founded in 1903 by brothers WilliamWilliam Foyle
William Foyle co-founded Foyles bookshop in 1903 with his brother, Gilbert Foyle.The eldest son of a Shoreditch grocer, William attended Owens School and King's College London with his brother Gilbert. After failing their Civil Service examinations in 1902 the brothers advertised their used...
and Gilbert Foyle. After failing entrance exams for the civil service, the brothers offered their redundant text books for sale and were inundated by offers. This inspired them to launch a second-hand book business from home. Flushed with success, they opened a small shop on Station Parade in Queen’s Road, Peckham
Peckham
Peckham is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Southwark. It is situated south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London...
, where they painted "With all Faith" in gilt letters above the door. In 1904 they opened their first West End shop at 16 Cecil Court
Cecil Court
Cecil Court is a pedestrian street with Victorian shop-frontages in London, England linking Charing Cross Road and St. Martin's Lane. Since the 1930s it has been known as the new Booksellers' Row and it is sometimes used as a location by film companies...
and a year later were able to take on their first member of staff (who promptly disappeared with the weekly takings). By 1906 they were at 135 Charing Cross Road, by which time they were described as London's largest educational booksellers. Not long later they moved into one of the buildings at 119 Charing Cross Road, where Foyles remains to this day. Part of additional adjacent buildings that they also acquired in Manette Street was the site of the Old Goldbeater's House.
In 1945, control of the shop passed to Christina Foyle
Christina Foyle
Christina Agnes Lilian Foyle was an English bookseller and owner of Foyles bookshop.Miss Foyle was born in London. At age 17, after leaving a Swiss finishing school, she started working at her father's bookshop, and never left...
, daughter of founder William. It was under Christina that the shop stagnated, with little investment and poorly paid staff who could be fired on a whim. She also refused to install any modern conveniences such as electronic tills or calculators; nor would orders be taken by phone. However, the shop excelled in other fields:- Expensive books ordered from as far off as Germany were sent with a bill without prepayment.
The store operated through a payment system that required customers to queue three times (once to collect an invoice for a book, and then again to pay the invoice, then a third to collect the book), simply because sales staff were not allowed to handle cash. Equally mystifying to customers was a shelving arrangement that categorized books by publisher, rather than by topic or author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
. A quote of this period is: "Imagine Kafka had gone into the book trade." In the 1980s, rival bookshop, Dillons
Dillons Booksellers
Dillons was a bookshop and subsequently a bookselling chain, based in the United Kingdom, which traded between 1932 and 1999.Founded by Una Dillon in 1932, Dillons was for most of its history most closely associated with its signature building on Gower Street in London, near University College...
, placed an advertisement saying "Foyled again? Try Dillons" in a bus shelter opposite Foyles.
Foyles is also known for its literary luncheon
Luncheon
Luncheon, commonly abbreviated to lunch, is a mid-day meal, and is smaller than dinner.In English-speaking countries during the eighteenth century, lunch was originally called "dinner"— a word still used regularly to mean a noontime meal in Scotland, Ireland, Wales and some parts of England,...
s, which were initiated by Christina Foyle in 1930. Speakers and guests of honour at these luncheons have included all the great literary figures, and celebrities from the world of politics, the media, the military and the theatre. They have included all the British Prime Ministers since WWII, except for Winston Churchill and Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron, some, such as Margaret Thatcher, several times, as well as Prince Philip, General de Gaulle, General Sikorski and the Emperor Haile Selassie.
The store now also holds a large number of evening literary events throughout the year.
Renovation
After the death of owner Christina Foyle in 1999 and the passing of control to her nephew Christopher, Foyles' shop and practices have been modernised. Christopher Foyle was also, from 1978 until 2008, the Chairman and CEO of aviation companies Air Foyle & Air Foyle HeavyLiftAir Foyle HeavyLift
For the Australian Cargo Airline see: HeavyLift Cargo AirlinesAir Foyle HeavyLift was an aviation company based in Bishop's Stortford, United Kingdom. It specialized in heavy air cargo services. It was the worldwide sales agent for Antonov Airlines of Kiev, Ukraine...
, was Chairman and is now Deputy President of the Air League
Air League
For the Air League , see Australian Air LeagueThe Air League is an aviation society in the United Kingdom, founded in 1909.The aims and mission of the Air League are to promote the cause of British aviation by:...
, was a Trustee
Trustee
Trustee is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, can refer to any person who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility for the benefit of another...
of the Foyle Foundation, and is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society
Royal Aeronautical Society
The Royal Aeronautical Society, also known as the RAeS, is a multidisciplinary professional institution dedicated to the global aerospace community.-Function:...
, a Liveryman of the Guild of Air Pilots
Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators
The Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. The Guild was established in 1929 and was granted the status of a Livery Company in 1956...
and a Deputy Lord Lieutenant
Deputy Lieutenant
In the United Kingdom, a Deputy Lieutenant is one of several deputies to the Lord Lieutenant of a lieutenancy area; an English ceremonial county, Welsh preserved county, Scottish lieutenancy area, or Northern Irish county borough or county....
for Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
.
Whereas the shop used to sell second-hand and new books side-by-side on the same shelves, it now primarily sells the in–print books found other large chain bookshops, but with a considerably larger range of titles on every subject. In addition, it now sells second–hand and out of print books together with new books in its Art, History and Archaeology Departments. The heavily weathered panelling of Foyles' past has been replaced by a red-plastic-with-grey-metal-and-beech interior. Most of these changes were instigated between 2003 and 2005.
Expansion
In 2005 Foyles opened a branch at the Royal Festival HallRoyal Festival Hall
The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,900-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge. It is a Grade I listed building - the first post-war building to become so protected...
on London's South Bank and in 2006 Foyles was awarded the concession to run the book departments in Selfridges
Selfridges
Selfridges, AKA Selfridges & Co, is a chain of high end department stores in the United Kingdom. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge. The flagship store in London's Oxford Street is the second largest shop in the UK and was opened on 15 March 1909.More recently, three other stores have been...
' London Oxford Street and Manchester stores, but these closed in February 2009. In February 2008 it opened the only bookshop in the newly refurbished St Pancras railway station
St Pancras railway station
St Pancras railway station, also known as London St Pancras and since 2007 as St Pancras International, is a central London railway terminus celebrated for its Victorian architecture. The Grade I listed building stands on Euston Road in St Pancras, London Borough of Camden, between the...
, which has become the Eurostar London terminal. Foyles also opened a branch in the enormous new Westfield
Westfield London
Westfield London is a shopping centre in White City in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. The centre was developed by the Westfield Group at a cost of £1.6bn,...
shopping centre, which opened on 30 October 2008 in White City
White City, London
White City is a district in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, to the north of Shepherd's Bush. Today, White City is home to the BBC Television Centre and BBC White City, and Loftus Road stadium, the home of football club Queens Park Rangers FC....
, West London. It has opened a new 'Booktique' store at London's One New Change
One New Change
One New Change is a major office and retail development in the City of London , London, United Kingdom. It comprises a total of 560,000 sq feet of floor space, including of retail space and of office space and is currently the only large, modern shopping centre in the City...
shopping centre in October 2010., and in 2011 opened its first out of London bookstore, since before the Second World War, in Bristol. In October 2011, it will be opening its second Westfield Shopping Mall bookstore, in Stratford East London, adjacent to the Olympic Stadium.
Foyles now sells over 100,000 electronic book titles on its website.
Awards
Foyles has earned the following awards:- 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
- 2010 Bookseller of the Year
Floor Directory
| Charing Cross Road store | |
|---|---|
| Floor 3 | The Gallery, CDs - Classical & Jazz, DVDs, Music Books, Printed & Sheet Music, Ray's Jazz Music & Books |
| Floor 2 | Art & Design, EFL, GLBT, History & Politics, Humanities, Languages, Linguistics & Literary Criticism, Philosophy, Reference, Sociology, Theology, Toilets |
| Floor 1 | The Café & Ray's Jazz Stage, Computing, Cookery, Earth Sciences, Education, Foreign Languages (including Grant & Cutler) Engineering, DIY & Trades, Natural History, Sciences, Sport, Technical, Transport |
| Floor 0 (Ground) | Audio Books, Children's, Drama & Film, Fiction, Gifts & Stationery, Humour, Information, London, Poetry, Travel, Young Adult |
| Floor -1 (Lower Ground) | Customer Service & Order Collection, Business, health, Law, Medical, MBS |