Waterstone’s affable managing director has had a hard time but is dedicated to ensuring that high street bookselling’s ‘last man standing’ has a future. Nicola Harrison profiles him.

Gerry Johnson has not had an easy ride as managing director of Waterstone’s.

The book chain has been on the receiving end of scathing attacks from the publishing world, accusing it of dumbing down British bookselling by piling high and selling cheap celebratory memoirs by celebrities such as Jeremy Clarkson and Chris Evans.

A Guardian article last month entitled “How Waterstone’s Killed Bookselling” prompted Johnson to write a response in the same paper.

It was an unusual move for the modest and good-natured retailer, who tends to shy away from publicity.

“He doesn’t like the high-profile nature of the job, but he’s always been someone who manages to cope with adversity with a smile on his face. He’s tough,” says the man who recruited Johnson, Alan Giles, former chief executive at Waterstone’s owner HMV, which updates the market today.

Coping with adversity is something Johnson has had to do a lot of in his time at Waterstone’s. Since joining in September 2005, Amazon has tightened its hold on the book market, while grocers have strived to widen their ever-growing offer and often sell at bargain basement prices. Digitisation now seems to be gripping the industry in a similar way that it has to music retailing.

But the 49-year-old has embraced the digital age in recent years, relaunching the website and becoming the first retailer to stock Sony’s e-reader. He has also overseen the integration of the Ottakar’s book chain into the business in 2006 – something that did not pass without criticisms from within the book world, which feared the retailer’s dominance would strengthen.

But Stephen Page, chief executive of publisher Faber & Faber, says Johnson is “enormously intelligent” and is “managing Waterstone’s in times of great change with great clarity”.

Although not a bookworm, Johnson is a retailer through and through, having spent his formative years at Tesco after joining the grocery giant part-time while at school. He also spent time at Asda, Wickes and wholesaler Booker before making the move into the book world, just as the industry was going through incredible flux.

Johnson’s lack of literary background does not concern one publishing boss, who said Johnson has “really engaged with the agenda” of the book industry. The source added: “Most publishers are pro-Gerry. Despite the enormous pressures he is under you can still get his attention.”

Although Waterstone’s main bricks-and-mortar rival Borders collapsed last month, Johnson is still under pressure.

The upheaval caused by the overhaul of Waterstone’s supply chain, with the migration to its new distribution centre The Book Hub, has been a source of unrest within the business. Johnson went so far as to block staff from accessing a book trade magazine’s website that was covering the story. He reportedly said the publication was not needed to run “daily business activity”.

But Giles has confidence in the “very bright and hard working” Johnson’s ability to steer the business through such tumultuous times. “He has a clarity of vision as to how to change the business,” he says. “Waterstone’s is not an easy organisation to run. The structure of the book market is changing rapidly, which requires him to make radical change. He’s shown good leadership on that, and the most obvious example is The Book Hub. I would back him to execute a project like this more than anyone I know. He is one of the best hires I’ve ever made.”

Johnson, who Giles describes as having a “mischievous sense of humour”, has a big task ahead to make traditional bookselling relevant in today’s digitally led environment. But according to Giles, “history will prove Gerry did a very good job” of leading Waterstone’s, the last man standing of the specialist book multiples.

Family Lives in Oxfordshire with his wife and three children

Interests Family, books and charity challenges once a year, including marathons or other long distance runs

Career history

2005 Managing director, Waterstone’s

2001 Managing director, Booker

1994 Logistics director, Wickes

1989 Held various roles at Asda Group’s Allied Maples Division (now Allied Carpets)

1978 Joined Tesco where he held a variety of roles over 11 years, latterly as superstore manager