Founding and early branches Brothers
William and Gilbert Foyle founded the business in 1903. After failing entrance exams for the
civil service, the brothers offered their redundant textbooks for sale and were inundated by offers. This inspired them to launch a second-hand book business from home. Not long afterward, the brothers moved their central London store to 119 Charing Cross Road, the
Foyles Building, where it remained until 2014. They acquired adjacent buildings at 1–7
Manette Street including the site of the Old Goldbeater's House. For a time the store included premises at 121–125 Charing Cross Road, on the north side of the junction with Manette Street. In this period Foyles, like many booksellers, used to stick a small permanent label advertising themselves on every book they sold. According to one such label, at some time Foyles had a branch in
South Africa, at 12–14 Church Street,
Cape Town. William Foyle sent
Hitler a telegram offering to buy all
Jewish books that were to be burnt. Hitler replied:
Would no sooner corrupt the morals of the English than the Germans. Speakers and guests of honour at these luncheons have included great literary figures, and celebrities from the world of politics, the media, the military and the theatre. Most British Prime Ministers since the
Second World War have attended, as have
The Duke of Edinburgh, General
Charles de Gaulle, General
Władysław Sikorski and the
Emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie. The store now also holds many evening literary events throughout the year. In the 1980s, rival bookshop
Dillons placed an advertisement in a bus shelter opposite Foyles reading
"Foyled again? Try Dillons". Time was when staff were regularly dismissed before they’d worked there six months to avoid any staff rights that came into force at that point. Yes, I remember Foyles – too well –Because, one Saturday in June,I went to buy some books and stoodThe whole confounded afternoon…
Modernisation Christina Foyle died in 1999; control then passed to her nephew Christopher, who modernised Foyles' shop and practices. Christopher Foyle was also, from 1978 until 2008, the chairman and CEO of aviation companies Air Foyle and
Air Foyle HeavyLift, chairman and later Deputy President of the
Air League, and a
Trustee of the Foyle Foundation. He is also a Fellow of the
Royal Aeronautical Society, a Liveryman of the
Guild of Air Pilots and a
Deputy Lord Lieutenant for
Essex. Foyles' heavily weathered panelling was replaced by a red plastic, grey metal and beech interior. Whereas the shop used to sell second-hand and new books side by side on the same shelves, it now primarily sells books in print, like other large chain bookshops, but with a notably larger range of titles on every subject. It also now sells second-hand and out-of-print books together with new books in its art, history and archaeology departments. Most of these changes were made between 2003 and 2005. Foyles also now sells electronic books on its website.
Acquisitions of other companies The feminist
Silver Moon Bookshop was incorporated into Foyles in 2001 after rising rents on its Charing Cross Road premises forced it to close. In 2011 Foyles took over Grant & Cutler, a foreign language bookseller that had been founded in 1936. In March 2011 Foyles closed Grant & Cutler's shop at 55–57
Great Marlborough Street and merged it with the foreign language section of Foyles' then premises in the Foyles Building. In the new Foyles store at 107 Charing Cross Road, Grant & Cutler is on Level 4.
Waterstones acquisition The Foyles bookshops were bought by
Waterstones for an undisclosed fee in September 2018. The shops have continued to use the Foyles brand. ==Branches==