Foyles Bookstore, UK
Foyles bookstores in the UK have been around for over a hundred years, and are a well-known brand even much further afield. From the popular flagship shop on Charing Cross Road in London, Foyles have expanded to several other locations within London, as well as in Chelmsford, Bristol and Birmingham.
And, lest you should think that all bookstores are much alike, we would suggest that you haven't yet been to a Foyles bricks-and-mortar store. Aside from the Charing Cross Road location being spread across multiple floors, and having one of the biggest selections of books you'll find outside of a well-stocked library, customers can also discover a variety of titles not much seen elsewhere, along with hot-off-the-press just-published titles too.
In fact, Foyles new Charing Cross Road location (having moved from a previous site) houses a massive range of more than 200,000 different titles on four miles of shelves!
Foyles bookstore always has had a distinctly independent character, and this no doubt accounts in part for the variety of books being somewhat different to your average bookseller. However, Foyles also acquired the business of Grant & Cutler in 2011, and incorporated them into the Foyles flagship store and website. Another long-established company, Grant & Cutler are the UK's largest foreign-language bookseller. Thus, customers can also enjoy a wide range of foreign-language titles from Foyles too.
Foyles was itself acquired in 2018 by Waterstones, that other well-known book retailer, but the Foyles stores and website continue to operate under the Foyles name.
While it may not be an immediately obvious choice, Foyles website is also an ideal store to find some great gift ideas. Besides the huge array of books, in genres too diverse and numerous to name, customers can also find an ever-changing selection of signed first-editions to purchase too (great gift!) and Foyles gift cards (redeemable in-store or online), along with a dedicated section of stationery and other gift ideas.
So, whether you're looking for books for yourself, or gift ideas for someone else, Foyles is certainly a good website to visit.
▸ Foyles Online Bookstore