Foyles

51°30′53″N 0°07′48″W / 51.5147°N 0.1301°W / 51.5147; -0.1301

W & G Foyle Ltd.
Company typePrivate company
IndustryRetail
Founded1903
FounderWilliam Foyle, Gilbert Foyle
Headquarters107 Charing Cross Road, London
Key people
  • William & Gilbert Foyle (founders)
  • Christina Foyle (1945–99)
  • Christopher Foyle (1999–2022)
ProductsBooks
Owner
Websitehttp://www.foyles.co.uk

W & G Foyle Ltd. (usually called simply Foyles) is a bookseller with a chain of seven stores in England.[1] It is best known for its flagship store in Charing Cross Road, London. Foyles was once listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's largest bookshop in terms of shelf length, at 30 miles (48 km), and of the number of titles on display.[2] It was bought by Waterstones in 2018.[3]

Foyles was famed in the past for its anachronistic, eccentric and sometimes infuriating business practices [vague], so much so that it became a tourist attraction.[4] It has since modernised, and has opened several branches and an online store.[5]

  1. ^ "Our Bookstores". Foyles. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
  2. ^ Walsh, John (23 January 2003). "Still driving customers up the wall after 100 years: Foyles, the bookshop that time forgot". The Independent.
  3. ^ "Waterstones buys Foyles to defend bookshops against Amazon". BBC News. 7 September 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  4. ^ Hoge, Warren (11 June 1999). "Christina Foyle, 88, the Queen of the London Bookstore, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
  5. ^ "home page". Foyles. Retrieved 5 December 2017.