To wonder what WH Smith's secret is...

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So news this morning suggests that WH Smith are struggling again and have reported losses and a plan to overhaul their stores. As part of this review they have announced they are closing 6 of their stores (they still have 610 stores on the high street and 839 travel outlets in airports, train stations etc).

Am I the only one amazed that they are only closing 6 stores. I cannot think of a single thing they sell that cannot be purchased elsewhere for less. Whilst it is horrible news for those employed at these stores, how on earth are they still operating? Other than merging some post offices into some of their stores what key service do they provide to make them such a viable business? What is the secret to their survival when so many bigger stores have disappeared?

Isn't it because they own a major book and magazine distribution wholesaler or distributor, and therefore have - or used to have - almost a monopoly behind the scenes?

No, the wholesale/distribution side was separated years ago.

www.smithsnews.co.uk/

In some small towns they are still pretty much the only option for buying certain things I think. My parents live in a small town - no Waterstones, The Works, Rymans, Clintons, B&M, Wilko, etc. but they do have WHS! I live in a city and the main one here is not too bad but it's incredibly cluttered. There isn't anywhere else in the city that sells so many magazines, revision guides and textbooks, stuff like maps, ink, etc. And it has the Post Office which winds me up because it has four tills but only ever one person serving; it's the city's main Post Office and the queue is always huge.

By the end of 2019, they will be gone.

Considering the average High St store makes a profit of £100k, you're so wrong it's hilarious. WHS are doing exactly the right thing in dealing with a declining High Street - they're gradually closing the under-performing stores - 6 just announced. Over the next 10 years, they'll have closed a lot more, there may not be any at all by 2028 - who knows - but by bringing in Post Office counters, they're adapting to the new face of the High St and will probably make more changes too. They'll still have the "prime" sites, i.e. stations, hospitals, airports, motorway services, etc. They'll also still have the other store chains they own, and their international businesses, and will probably have added more as years pass. Unlike the other chains who've disappeared, WHS are actually changing and adapting to the High St decline.

My local one is missing a trick with not selling international magazines. We have a large number of expats in my London Suburb and a newsagent that closed down last year had stocked them and almost always sold all of them.
When they closed I asked in WHS but they said, no they don't do international magazines in that store.
Now I have to buy them in WHS at Victoria Station, who do stock them in, ironically, a smaller store than my local one. But there's also a good side to this for me, my magazine spend has decreased dramatically.

When they closed I asked in WHS but they said, no they don't do international magazines in that store.

They'd take a regular order from you for the one you want. Our local one doesn't sell them on the shelves, but my son has a regular order for a German daily.

By the end of 2019, they will be gone

Unlikely - The Post Office are opening a further 41 branches in WH Smith stores in 2019; www.onepostoffice.co.uk/secure/latest-news/our-branches/post-office-to-expand-number-of-branches-in-whsmith-stores/

They'd take a regular order from you for the one you want.

at which point taking out a subscription makes more sense ?

They offer a lot of help in the store I use. My elder 2 DC really enjoy academics. I probably spend £50-75 a month on average in their store on materials for them. It works out cheaper because just about everything I get is used by the DC. When I have bought from Amazon about 40% isn't what I thought it was.

at which point taking out a subscription makes more sense?

Not for a daily paper, it would be out of date by the time it arrived. You'd be looking at reading Monday's on Wednesday evening!

Not for a daily paper, it would be out of date by the time it arrived. You'd be looking at reading Monday's on Wednesday evening!

the PP mentioned international magazines.

Not for a daily paper, it would be out of date by the time it arrived. You'd be looking at reading Monday's on Wednesday evening!

Nope we used to get the Financial Times delivered daily on subscription rather than from the local newsagent.