Christmas has been and gone and it was really busy here. We all had a great time. A surprise big seller was Russell Brand’s autobiography My Booky Wook. The comic seems to be on TV every day and public interest in him has been phenomenal – he’s definitely captured the public imagination.

Sales of Nigella Lawson’s Nigella’s Express cookbook also continued to build on the back of her TV series. There were some good late DVD and CD releases too. Leona Lewis’s album sold amazingly well. And there was a big last-minute rush for The Simpsons Movie DVD, which was a late release. It’s the perfect example of a great family film.

A few weekends before Christmas, we held a really successful friends and family discount day, where we offered 25 per cent-off vouchers. We e-mailed the discount voucher to our friends and family and they were then free to pass it on. People seemed to really like the offer and we saw plenty of vouchers being redeemed.

By the time you read this, we should be well into our post-Christmas Sale. It started on Boxing Day and we are offering some fantastic titles at half price and beyond.

I got the chance to speak to many customers at the tills during the run-up to Christmas and, for some, it was their first visit to Borders in Watford. I’m confident we established some good relationships and secured customers for the future. I think they’ll be back this year, now that the festivities have died down.

Store manager’s diary MIKE RAWLING, BORDERS, WATFORD

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