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WH Smith (also known as WHS or colloquially as Smith's, and formerly W. H. Smith & Son) is a British retailer, headquartered in Swindon, England, which operates a chain of high street, railway station, airport, port, hospital and motorway service station shops selling books, stationery, magazines, newspapers, entertainment products and confectionery. The company was formed by Henry Walton Smith and his wife Anna in 1792 as a news vendor in London. It remained under the ownership of the Smith family for many years and saw large-scale expansion during the 1970s as the company began to diversify into other markets. Following a rejected private equity takeover in 2004, the company began to focus on its core retail business. It was the first retail chain in the world, and was responsible for the creation of the ISBN book identifier. WH Smith is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. It celebrated its 225th anniversary in 2017.

With almost 300 bookshops and employing over 3000 booksellers , Waterstones is the leading high street bookseller in the UK and Ireland. Amsterdam and Brussels play host to Waterstones’ European presence, and two further jewels in the bookseller’s crown are London’s Hatchards and Dublin’s legendary bookshop Hodges Figgis. Waterstones has opened several new shops over the last few years and invested in existing locations. The company also achieved a turnaround of fortunes for their online platform, Waterstones.com. In 2018 Waterstones further acquired British bookshop chain Foyles. Good bookselling and bookseller expertise is the driving force behind Waterstones’ bookshops, and every year Waterstones runs thousands of author events across the country from weekly story time sessions and book clubs to author talks and large book signings. One of the biggest events of the year is the prestigious Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, voted for by Waterstones’ expert booksellers. Other notable activity include the Waterstones Book Of The Year announcement and support for the Waterstones Children’s Laureate.