Browns Books for Students to write next chapter of online success story
A famous Hull business which has been supporting literary lunches in the area for more than 20 years is bucking the trend in the book business with an innovative online strategy.
Browns dates back to 1860 and is a model of retail evolution having operated in printing and then book sales before embracing online opportunities.
But rather than threatening sales of printed books the internet has supported them and a new website is extending the range and the reach of Browns Books for Students, the company’s identity since taking over a specialist school books business in 2006.
Another site currently under construction will strengthen the company’s online retail presence in the UK and internationally, but the latest literary lunch featuring Dickie Arbiter, Alan Johnson MP and Jack Sheffield is evidence that print is not being pushed out by technology.
Yvette Stafford, Managing Director of Browns Books for Students, said: “The launch of our new website follows more than a year of extensive consultation and development and significantly increases accessibility.
“We are also part of the national retail network at hive.co.uk and we are currently designing our own retail website, which will have an educational reading focus and will allow people to purchase online with their credit card for next-day delivery.”
The fact that it is now several years since customers were able to walk into Browns in George Street and buy a book hasn’t damaged the business in the slightest. Since Yvette’s parents Alan and Jean Little bought the business in 1982 it has expanded through the acquisition in 1986 of Gardners Books in Eastbourne, followed by the move 20 years later to strengthen its services to education.
The result is a business which employs almost 1,000 people, with around 900 in Eastbourne, a small IT department in Warwick and continuing growth in Hull where staff levels are nearly 80 compared with around 25 when the business was a book shop. Turnover has also increased from around £1.5-million as a book shop to the current level of £11-million, and printed books still account for more than 95 per cent of sales.
Yvette said: “During the last year around one-quarter of independent book shops nationally have gone out of business, with the market dominated by the chains.
“Supplying libraries and the education sector has always been important to us, and even more so since the retail side dipped. We used to have a fantastic book shop which did really well but we decided to concentrate on libraries and education because we could see the market was changing.
“The new website caters for primary, secondary and further education levels and also supports the international market, where we have been very active for many years. Gardners are the biggest wholesaler in the UK and we are the biggest supplier of books to schools.
“The expansion has been gradual over the last seven or eight years but we took on six more staff in the last year and we expect to recruit another four in the coming month, including a graphic designer.
“Building our online capability has been a big investment for the business and we hope it will be particularly useful for raising our profile overseas and creating more opportunities in the international education markets.”
Kathryn Shillito, HullBID City Centre Manager, said: “Browns Books for Students has become something of a hidden gem. People will remember Browns as a wonderful book shop, and we keep seeing reminders of that with the literary lunches which have been running since 1993 and which have featured such big names as Kate Adie, Magnus Magnusson and our own Alan Johnson.
“But behind the scenes is a remarkable success story of embracing new technology to expand and create jobs and it is great to see them starting on the next chapter.”
The 64th Hull and East Yorkshire Literary Lunch featured Dickie Arbiter, former Press Secretary to The Queen and media manager for Princes Charles and Princess Diana, Hull West and Hessle MP Alan Johnson and Jack Sheffield, whose Silent Night is the latest in his series of stories about life as the head teacher of a village school.
The new website can be viewed at www.brownsbfs.co.uk