Book swap as you food shop

Waitrose launches novel way for shoppers to share their favourite books

Whether it’s romance, adventure or a gripping mystery, book lovers can now share their favourite reads with others in selected Waitrose cafés as part of the supermarket’s new book swap initiative. 

A successful trial in five Waitrose shops last year encouraged customers to leave their much-loved books in dedicated areas of its cafés, so other shoppers could borrow and enjoy them. After receiving overwhelmingly positive feedback from customers, the supermarket has decided to roll the concept out to some of its other larger cafés. 

Simon Burdess, Director of Customer Experience at Waitrose & Partners, said: “So many of us love to relax with a good book and our cafés are often filled with people taking a break from shopping and enjoying a good read over coffee. We wanted to create an area that would spark conversation between our customers and enable them to share their book recommendations with others. Our sixth book hub will be launching in Formby in spring, with others planned later in the year.”