Bookshop? (WHSmith)

Member Name: Pingu

Product:	WHSmith
Date:	03/10/01 (40 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Everything under one roof

Disadvantages: Poor stock of everything

I was just browsing through the shopping category and must admit I was quite surprised to find WHSmith here. It really hadn't occurred to me that they might consider themselves a bookshop, although I guess they do sell books.

I think the reason I was surprised is that I would never think of looking in Smiths for a book. It's years since I just browsed books. I usually go looking for something specific. And basically, if I don't find it in Waterstones then I know I haven't got a feline-in-Hade's chance of finding it in Smiths. To be fair my town only has a small Smiths, but then it only has a small Waterstones as well. Larger towns have larger Smiths - Exeter's is massive, for instance - but they also have much larger Waterstone's, and sometimes more than one.

On the rare occasions that I do just go looking to see if something leaps off the shelf at me, I would never browse in Smiths, because I know Waterstones will have their entire stock and much more, so what's the point.

I think WHSmiths suffer from their attempt to be a jack of all trades. I mean are they a bookshop, a stationers, a record store, a games store, a confectioners or a newsagent? And while you may say, "But it's convenient having an average selection of everything under one roof," Smiths is usually situated smack bang in the middle of town, right in amongst specialist shops which do all of its jobs much better. For instance the very poorly stocked Smiths in Stoke is in a shopping centre, right next to a very good HMV on one side, a Games Workshop on the other, just up the stairs from an Electronic Boutique, another record shop and Waterstones. The only thing that Smiths have where you would have to walk 50 yds to find a better selection is the magazines and birthday cards. But it is only just 50 yds to a better card shop.

I don't want to knock Smiths too badly. After all they have survived for a long long time, so
they are clearly getting something right. But I just don't feel the buzz of excitement, as I walk in, that I use to when I was five, and it really was a good bookshop.

Summary: