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| Blackwell's Oxford | |
U.K. bookstore chain Blackwell's, which has been owned by its founding family since the first store opened in Oxford in 1879, has been put up for sale "for the first time in its 143-year history after scrapping plans to hand ownership of the business to its employees," Sky News reported. The company has appointed corporate financiers to oversee a sale process. Sources said discussions with prospective buyers had been underway for some time, and that a deal was possible in the coming months.
Blackwell's operates 18 stores--as well as online--including its flagship bookshop in Oxford, where the company is based, and also trades under the name Heffers at a store in Cambridge, as well as in London and Edinburgh.
"The sale of Blackwell's represents a genuinely unique and exciting opportunity for any potential buyer to own a much loved and trusted bookselling brand," said David Prescott, Blackwell's CEO. "The business has been quietly and successfully transitioning itself in recent years to establish a substantial global online presence alongside a core portfolio of iconic shops. We hope that a new owner and investment will help us to secure a long term future for Blackwell's and its booksellers for many years to come."
Blackwell's "explored a refinancing process last year that would have seen it converted into a structure owned by its roughly 350 staff, but concluded that it was impractical owing to the impact of the pandemic," Sky News wrote.
Toby Blackwell, the controlling shareholder and company president, said he "would have loved to have handed over the company to its staff, but I also accept that in order to grow and remain competitive in the future, it is time for new ownership, ideas and investment. I have always stood for innovation and transformation in the constantly changing world of bookselling. I am delighted to have supported, and now see, Blackwell's become a significant player in online bookselling and to have helped keep alive the concepts of service and expertise so well embodied by our chairman and board and our wonderful staff."