International Update: Thalia Buying 10 Weltbild Bookstores; Dymocks Adding 20 Stores

Weltbild is selling 10 of its bookstores to Thalia, Germany's largest bookstore chain, Börsenblatt reported. The 10 stores are mostly between 150 and 200 square meters (about 1,600 to 2,150 square feet) and are in downtowns or shopping centers.

After the sale, which will be completed October 1, Weltbild will continue to operate some 50 bookstores in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Thalia, which includes Mayersche, has some 350 bookstores in Germany and Austria and owns 50% of Orell Füssli Thalia, which has more than 30 bookstores in Switzerland.

Weltbild is making the move in part because it is continuing to emphasize online bookselling, something that increased because of the pandemic, according to Christian Sailer, CEO of the Weltbild D2C Group. The company is expanding online offerings to include Live Shopping, Home Academy and streaming. Sailer added that the company's remaining bookstores are important to Weltbild, and will increasingly take on the character of "a showroom for the brand."

Ingo Kretzschmar, general manager of sales and Thalia Retail Concepts, said bricks-and-mortar bookstores are a key element of Thalia's multi-channel strategy, and the company will continue to invest in them.

Both companies noted that they had together decided on the 10 bookstores that are changing hands, finding the Weltbild locations most suitable to being transformed into Thalia stores.

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Australian bookstore chain Dymocks plans to open "at least 20 more stores over the next three years as it plots its growth across the country," Inside Franchise Business magazine reported. Both suburban and regional sites will be included in the mix.

The country's far north is particularly ripe for the company's expansion, according to CEO Mark Newman, who noted, "We're not in the Northern Territory and Queensland is under represented." He added that despite the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, "regional and suburban has done very well, the [Central Business District] is improving." 

Among the key elements for the company's business growth are increasing the network from 50 to 75 stores, as well as harnessing omnichannel as Dymocks "boosts the search function, and in-store installs assisted self-checkout and online ordering and provides easy-to-navigate store maps." The strategy to boost profitability will focus on improving mark-ups on books and increasing book-related products like Dymocks' own range, which includes booklights and bookmarks, that is set to launch soon, Inside Franchise Business noted.

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A third of indie bookshops have had staff self-isolating during the past month, according to a survey by the Booksellers Association of the U.K. & Ireland. The Bookseller reported that respondents said "they were also worried about how government policies will affect staffing and the ability to open, with almost three-quarters of the 204 booksellers surveyed saying they were either 'very concerned' or 'somewhat concerned' that requests via the Test & Trace app for staff to isolate will negatively impact the running of their business."

Laura McCormack, head of policy and public affairs at the BA, said: "Over recent weeks the Booksellers Association has been hearing from a number of booksellers who have had to close their shops owing to self-isolation staffing issues. We are becoming increasingly concerned about the impact that these closures and event cancellations will have on the recovery of the bookselling sector, as the number of businesses impacted by the 'pingdemic' continues to rise." --Robert Gray

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