Bookselling In His Veins

After expanding beyond its capacity to survive, bookstore chain Hughes & Hughes went into receivership and closed their doors.

Founder Derek Hughes must have book-selling flowing through his veins. He's hoping to re-open some of those same doors.

When Ulster Bank called in the loans, Mr. Hughes claimed that part of the problem was landlords who wouldn't lower the rent. All well and good to charge a hefty fee when the economy is booming, but things have taken a marked turn for the worse and still the landlords wouldn't budge.

Those same property owners have had some time to stare at the empty storefronts and reconsider their position, which Mr. Hughes believes is more conducive to negotiations.

Industry buzz has Mr. Hughes back in as many as six locations, all in the Dublin area. Hughes & Hughes locations in Dublin and Cork airports, however, have been taken over by Eason's and won't figure into the resurrection.

The next trick will involve convincing wholesalers who lost money on the bankruptcy proceeding that Hughes & Hughes can function going forward. The same firms that lost money because they extended credit will be asked to extend credit again, and the economy is not any better than it was several months ago.

Landlords are certainly more amenable to sharpening their rental calculating pencils, so Hughes & Hughes would find one fixed cost to be lower. Whether or not there will be books on the shelves in shopping malls in Dundrum, Dun Laoghaire or Rathfarnham remains to be seen.

Wholesale book sellers may find that they have little more to lose and possibly something to gain by taking another chance with a man who believes in the viability of the local book shop. Derek Hughes just has to find some suppliers who are as fond of gambling as he is.