PRH to reopen warehouse as bookshops get back to business

Penguin Random House plans to reopen its Colchester distribution centre next week after the facility was closed late last month for a systems upgrade.

The Frating warehouse was temporarily shut on 27th May to finish off a systems integration project that began in 2017 across the company's operations following its merger.

PRH said the work was due to be finished this weekend, with the centre reopening on Monday, a week after shops starting physical selling again.

A spokesperson said: “We wrote to all of our customer account holders to let them know we’d be closed from 27th May, and to help minimise impact we stocked up the market with over four million Penguin Random House UK and DK titles ahead of time, working particularly closely with Gardners in the UK to provide supply throughout.

“As it’s a longstanding technical project, the timings were set before the impact of the virus, but we’re pleased we’ll be able to support our retailers as they look to reopen.”

Booksellers Association m.d. Meryl Halls said her organisation had been in regular contact with the PRH team at Frating but admitted there had been some “inconvenience” and disruption to the supply chain.

She said: “As they planned for closure and throughout the past weeks PRH Frating has been extremely keen to communicate clearly and constructively with booksellers about the impact of the temporary closure. Of course, any prolonged closure of a distribution centre impacts on the supply of books - and in a global pandemic, the issues were thrown into even sharper relief.

“There has been very clear communications to bookshops, and instructions about using Gardners for supply when required. We are hopeful that booksellers will manage to navigate the short-term inconvenience, and we know that the team at PRH are being proactive about communicating with booksellers and solving issues as they arise.”