WH Smith is in talks to sell its entire High Street business in Britain after 233 years.
The retailer, which is said to be worth almost £1.5 billion, has been in secret talks with potential buyers for weeks, Sky News reports.
WH Smith, which sells stationary books and is home to many British post offices, has around 500 stores in Britain and employs 5,000 people across the country.
The talks only cover high street stores and not stores that are part of the company's travel arm – those at train stations and airports – or those in hospitals.
This amounts to around 600 stores being safe in the UK – out of 1,200 travel stores worldwide.
Although the store has generally performed poorly in customer service measures, the High Street Division still had a profit of £32 million last year.
WH Smith, which sells stationary, books and is home to many British post offices, has around 500 stores in Britain and employs 5,000 people across the country
But the travel arm, on the other hand, now makes 75 percent of the brand's sales and 85 percent of its profits.
Chief Executive Carl Cowling is believed to be seeking buyers for the High Street brand at a historic moment for British shopping – although the identities of buyers have not been revealed.
WH Smith opened his first shop in Little Grosvenor Street, London in 1792.
The store was run by Henry Walton Smith and his wife Anna and quickly expanded to other locations.
By 1848 the brand had opened its first travel shop at Euston Station.
It comes after it was announced this week that 17 stores will be closed this year.
Those affected are in Bournemouth (two stores), Luton, March, Basingstoke, Newtown, Rhyl, Bolton, Accrington, Halstead, Halesowen, Diss, Newport (Wales), Haverhill, Stockton, Oldham and Orpington.
The retailer was named the worst or second worst high street retailer for nine consecutive years from 2011 to 2019, in a poll conducted by consumer watchdog Die?.
On Friday, shares in WH Smith closed at 1148p – down around 5 per cent in the past year.
This is a breaking news story and is being updated.
