They seem to have neglected to mention the disastrous warehousing and logistics revamp that left Waterstones unable to service even simple orders for much of last year. Without that I bet they wouldn't have had to consider shutting a single book store.

I do still use waterstones though, books are something I prefer to browse for. The internet's great, but you generally have to have in mind what you're looking for.

And when you do, you find that all the copies of that book have been drop kicked somewhere along the way. What you won’t want is damaged stock on sale before Christmas. I am grumpy enough to believe that if you give someone a new book, it has to be pristine, not have the corners dinged in because they have been stacked on the floor and walked into by customers.

+1 to claims that HMV are too expensive.

I was looking for the boxset of the second Life on Mars season and they quoted me over forty pounds. I bought it, brand new, online for fifteen pounds.

I wonder if a large part of the problem is down to their new ownership (and associated debts) and rents.