Waterstones says book sales up as young adults snub screens

Times may be tough on the high street, but the bookseller Waterstones is enjoying strong sales as younger adults embrace reading as an escape from their screens and online competition eases.

- Sarah Baxter

James Daunt, Waterstones' managing director, said: "People have come back to reading and buying books in bookshops as we have made an enjoyable and effective place to buy books."

The British retailer has 320 UK bookshops and owns the Foyles, Hatchards and Blackwell's names.

Daunt said Waterstones' sales are up 5%, about half of which is due to higher prices. The rest is a result of selling "lots and lots of books" as younger adults are inspired to pick up a paperback by social media, such as the trend for TikTok recommendations known as BookTok, and book clubs in real life.

"They want to do something not staring at a screen and relatively inexpensive, and once people start collecting books they just buy more," he said.

"BookTok is an easy label to put on it, but this is about people wanting to read and talk about books."