British book retailer Waterstones is set to open a second location on Avenue Louise in Brussels later this year.
The new bookshop will be spread across two floors on one of Brussels’ popular shopping streets. It will also add to the list of spots that sell English-language books to avid readers in the Belgian capital.
Like in its usual bookshops, the new location will stock an extensive range of both fiction and non-fiction books.
Additionally, the shop will have a whole section dedicated to "carefully curated" reads for children.
Just like the first Waterstones in Brussels, the second shop's offering will go beyond books with a variety of stationery products, puzzles and games also for sale.
First in 30 years
The new shop will be the first new Waterstones to open in continental Europe in almost 30 years.
The popular bookshop chain first established itself in the Belgian capital in the late 1990s with a shop in the centre of Brussels on Boulevard Adolphe Max.
Inside Brussels' Waterstones first shop. Credit: The Brussels Times/Rita Alves
Over the decades, the shop was able to build and maintain a loyal customer base, despite the rising competition from the internet and the logistical challenges that came after Brexit.
Brussels’ Waterstones fiction buyer, Ian Elders, told The Brussels Times last year that the readership at the shop was in a "very safe place", with a notable boost in younger readers since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Waterstones has around 320 bookshops, including branches in Brussels, Amsterdam and Ireland. The bookshop most recently opened a location in Dublin in June.
Opening date
An exact date for the grand opening of Brussels' second Waterstones is yet to be announced.
However, readers in the Belgian capital can expect the new bookshop to open its doors at some point in October 2026, just in time for the busy Christmas season.
