Waterstones has said “there is no truth” in claims that some of its shops were refusing to sell copies of two books by gender-critical feminists.
The book retailer was trending on Twitter earlier this week, after a number of social media users shared their belief that Waterstones was deliberately choosing not to stock Time to Think: The Inside Story of the Collapse of the Tavistock’s Gender Service for Children by Hannah Barnes or Hags: The Demonisation of Middle-Aged Women by Victoria Smith.
Several of these concerns were expressed in response to a Waterstones tweet that showed an image of five newly published books and asked followers what they were reading. The novelist Amanda Craig replied that she was reading Hags, “bought from Am*zon as you don’t seem to stock it.”
Writer and independent bookshop owner Anna Wharton tweeted in response to the claims: “I am STAGGERED to hear that Waterstones is not stocking HAGS. I have sold more than 40 copies this week, so their loss is my gain.”
Yet a Waterstones spokesperson told the Guardian that it had been stocking and selling copies of both Hags, a book that criticises the way some middle-aged women are deemed “Terfs” or “Karens”, and Time to Think, an investigation into the Gender Identity Development Service based at the Tavistock and Portman Trust in London by Barnes, a BBC Newsnight journalist.
“It appears that a small number of people are determined to characterise Waterstones as boycotting or otherwise minimising the presence of books on gender,” the spokesperson said. “In fact, Time to Think has sold well for us. Quite simply, many of our shops sold out temporarily and the reorders have yet to arrive.”
“In the case of Victoria Smith’s Hags, we have reacted to the increased demand due to recent media coverage and placed a follow-up order which will arrive in our bookshops shortly,” the retailer added. “We stock the books sensibly and refute the misrepresentation implicit to these tweets.”
Each buying decision is made “on a title-by-title basis”, the spokesperson explained. “We work closely with publishers to review where needed. If our initial stock order does not meet customer demand, we place top-up orders. The nature of publishing, with many thousands of books published each month, each with unpredictable sales, means that occasionally we under-order and occasionally we over-order. We try to get it right and generally do so.”
Waterstones usually manages initial stock quantities centrally, although once the books arrive in shops the individual branches have free rein over curation. “In our experience this is mostly done well and led by good commercial instinct,” the spokesperson said, adding that the company expects “good customer service and good commercial sense from our bookselling teams”.
“Making sure that we offer the books our customers want to read is the basis of good bookselling and good service means treating all our customers with respect and for them to feel welcome to choose the books they want.”
If a book is not currently available in a Waterstones branch, the retailer recommends placing an order either in store or online.
