June 3, 2014

Foyles store will close in July

by

Foyles was founded in 1903.

Foyles was founded in 1903.

Lisa Campbell reports in The Bookseller that the Foyles shop at St. Pancras station in London is scheduled to close next month. The store’s lease expires July 31, and after several months of negotiations, the owners have decided not to renew.

Foyles, one of the best-known bookstores in London, has been looking for another space that is at least 3,000 square feet. Though another space in St. Pancras was under consideration for its next lease, in the end, it was deemed too small. Chief Executive Sam Husain says that the Foyles is “continuing to look for opportunities of a similar size and location.”

The announcement of the closing arrives the very week of the opening of Foyles’s flagship store at 107 Charing Cross Road. There Foyles is hosting events by a dozen famous authors, including Mary Beard, Sarah Waters, PD James, Sebastian Faulks, and Hilary Mantel. The flagship store has been in the works since 2012.

The ten employees at the St. Pancras shop were notified of the plan to close yesterday, and are expected to be offered positions at the other seven Foyles locations, Campbell reports.

 

Kirsten Reach is an editor at Melville House.

MobyLives