Indie bookshop David's bought by staff

David’s Bookshop in Hertfordshire has been bought by its staff and remodelled as a John Lewis-style employee ownership trust.

The Letchworth Garden City indie has been taken over by a trust company which holds the shares in the business on behalf of employees, who run the business and share profits. It comes after owner Paul Wallace stepped down 11 years after buying the store.

David's, founded in 1963 by Encyclopedia Britannica editor John Armitage, had sales of more than £1.2m last year. It now incorporates three shops with two floors of new, secondhand, and antiquarian books, a successful record store, café, plus a selection of cards, gifts and games.

M.d. Kai Savage, who has 19 years' experience in the book trade, seven of them at David’s, said: “The new set-up will harness staff input and enthusiasm, creating a flow of new ideas to keep the business developing while maintaining David’s long-standing community engagement ethos.”

Already regularly hosting clubs, gaming groups, author talks and in-store musical performances, staff plan to expand into other areas including building its online sales and acquiring an alcohol licence for the cafe.

Andy Oaten, at David’s for 36 years and now finance director after running the music shop, said: “The staff are already embracing the employee ownership trust ethos and the additional input from all sides will be invaluable for our future success. The prospect of profit sharing is an incentive but we’ve a fully committed and talented team in place already, which is a huge bonus in itself. With this and the added increase in our online and social media presence we can only see a bright future for David’s.”