Some 200 jobs are to be axed at Waterstone's as a result of new measures to cut costs at the books chain.
Staff at the 303-outlet books specialist will be told this morning about the redundancies, as a three-month consultation period gets under way. The retailer employs about 4,500 staff.
The Waterstone's cuts come while the high street is shedding jobs at an alarming rate. Thousands of retail jobs were lost last week as M&S announced that it was slashing 1,200 jobs and administrators now running the collapsed Adams childrenswear chain said 850 staff were to be made redundant. A further 1,400 jobs were cut at the Cardfair and Card Warehouse chains and thousands more are at risk at Zavvi, Viyella, Sofa Workshop and Land of Leather.
Waterstone's trading performance over the Christmas period will not be revealed until later this week, when its parent company HMV unveils its seasonal sales figures. Last month HMV reported like-for-like sales at Waterstone's down 3.1% in the six months to the end of November - or 1.4% if the huge boost the books chain got from the 2007 publication of the seventh Harry Potter title was stripped out. According to data from Nielsen Bookscan, sales started to dip in November and HMV chief executive Simon Fox said Waterstone's sales of celebrity autobiographies were being hit particularly hard.
It is understood that the job losses announced today are linked to a new centralised book distribution hub that is set to open in Burton-on-Trent. Store managers will place their orders through the hub, rather than from individual suppliers, and receive a single delivery, rather than many smaller ones. As a result the company believes it can cut staff numbers in the stores. A spokesman for the company, however, refused to comment.
HMV, meanwhile, has benefited from a store revamp and from the surge in demand for computer games. HMV, which generates about a quarter of its business from computer games, consoles and accessories, is also likely to benefit from the demise of former rivals Woolworths and Zavvi.
