Waterstone's, a British bookshop chain, is set to lose "up to 30" shops, according to The Guardian. And its remaining outlets would move to reduce the number of high-end titles offered:

The head of Waterstone's, Gerry Johnson, said there would be more emphasis on novels, cookery and children's books and less on "academic and humanities" areas, which he said could still be bought online.

Management denies that the new format represents a "dumbing down":

Mr Johnson denied that the chain was being dumbed down, pointing to the current promotion of the relaunched range of Penguin classics.

As if Penguin Classics was high-end! Penguin Classics is a middle-brow selection of no-brainer titles that appeals to readers who don't have the deep interest required to really investigate global offerings, and to find good books on their own. Buying a Penguin Classic is an admission that you have relinquished choice to the editors of the publishing house.

The story goes on to talk about Waterstone's online presence. Here, there are some interesting items. With only 2 per cent of the online market, Waterstones was clearly failing to make an impression. But it "is planning a social networking site". That should be interesting.

I subscribe to Waterstone's e-mail feed. It is relentlessly Anglo-centric. It mentions authors and media personalities who do not resonate at all with a global audience. This is a clear failing. Another failing is that all prices are quoted in pounds sterling, which makes little sense to those living outside the U.K.

In all, I think that Waterstone's needs to improve. Nevertheless, compared to Australian chains such as Angus & Robertson, they're doing a lot. A&R has utterly ignored the Internet as a marketing vehicle.