The Hodges Figgis book store on Dublin's Dawson Street is ranked number two across the Waterstones group of over 280 bookshops in terms of absolute sales.
"Hodges Figgis is just one of the great shops of the world," said James Daunt, CEO of Waterstones.
He paid tribute to the long serving manager of Hodges Figgis, Gina O’Donnell, who died in June after a short illness.
Ms O’Donnell worked at Hodges Figgis since 1980. Mr Daunt described her as a wonderful person and a wonderful leader. "She was one of the great booksellers of Waterstones. Her death was a huge emotional blow to all at Waterstones but one of the things that she bequeathed us was a great team."
Hodges Figgis and the other Waterstones outlets are currently going through their second enforced Covid-19 shutdown of the year.
Mr Daunt said that while the business can operate 'click and collect’ and online, 80% of sales are lost during the shut down period.
He cautioned that if Government doesn’t allow retail to re-open on December 1, it will have a very negative impact on the Waterstones business.
"We make all our money in December so if we don't re-open, we will have a wash-out year. The importance of re-opening cannot be overstated."
Mr Daunt said that book stores with the proper safety measures in place are safe environments in terms of Covid-19, and that it is "irrational" to shut them down when other retailers are allowed to continue to operate.
He said it is "hugely unfair" and the closure of bookshops "is throwing the customer into the online channel where Amazon is the dominant player".
He said the two enforced closures for the Waterstones business has been "devastating".
"Your sales plummet and when you re-open the sales come back again but you never get back what you lost when you are closed. It is deeply frustrating. 2020 is going to be a year for physical booksellers to forget. We will sell far fewer books this year."
Mr Daunt said while online sales currently help to pay the bills, "we are a physical bookseller, philosophically, intellectually and emotionally".
"Bookshops are places of discovery and that makes it much more difficult for authors who don’t have the brand name and name recognition because that is what the algorithm and online will sell."
"The Sally Rooneys of today are not being discovered because Sally Rooney was discovered in bookstores - she wasn’t discovered online."
He said people who were published in the Spring just got lost and now there has been a tidal wave of publishing and it is difficult to find your space.
"People are reading much more and hopefully that will be sustained and that is great for bookshops.
