Eason & Son

Eason & Son (/ˈiːsən/; also known as Eason, Easons or Eason's) is an Irish retail company primarily involved in the wholesale and distribution of books, newspapers, magazines, stationery and cards in Ireland It is currently the largest supplier of books, magazines and newspapers in Ireland.[1]

For other uses, see Eason.
Eason and Son Limited
TypePrivate
IndustryRetail
Wholesale
Advertising
Founded1819
HeadquartersDublin, Ireland
ProductsBooks
Stationery
Newspaper
Cards and gifts
Toys
€9.7m (2003)
Websitewww.easons.com

The company is headquartered in Dublin and it employs over 1,800 staff. The company is privately owned and it had a profit of €9.7 million in 2003 on a turnover of €372 million.

Originally all stores were owned and operated by Eason, but the chain began franchising with a number of new retail units operating independently under the Eason brand from the mid-2000s; reaching a level of approximately 40% of all stores being franchised by 2018.[2] However, a major franchiser sold their stores back to the parent chain in 2019; only retaining their stores in railway stations [3]

Shareholders voted to approve a sale and leaseback of the companies primary owned stores in 2018[4]

Rival chain Dubray Books was acquired in 2020 [5]

Conor Whelan is Managing Director. The company's current slogan is "Whatever you're into, get into Eason", replacing the previous slogan "So many reasons to shop at Eason's".

The Company announced on 15th July that they would not reopen the 7 stores in Northern Ireland. The stores had been closed from 23rd March due to the Covid-19 crisis. [6]

Divisions
A former Eason branch in Carryduff
  • Eason Retail Division - headquartered in an integrated book and stationery warehouse in St Margaret's, Swords, County Dublin since mid-2007.
  • Eason Wholesale Stationery Division, previously based in Crumlin, Dublin 12 but now moved to St Margaret's, distributes Stationery and associated products to retail outlets throughout Ireland. Eason is the official distributor in Ireland for Club Stationery.
  • Eason Wholesale Book Division - also moved to St Margaret's, north County Dublin. This division sells books in bulk to many shops.
  • Reads - These stores, acquired in 2005, are primarily discount stores selling stationery, books and greetings cards. The two original Reads stores were on Nassau Street in Dublin 2, and a branch on Patrick Street in Cork city (now closed). A former Eason store on Botanic Avenue in Belfast was converted to become a Reads outlet in 2006 (this closed in Mar 2008). The Reads store in Nassau Street has recently (Feb 08) expanded into the premises next door (formerly Blarney Woollen Mills), to create a new discount book store alongside its existing premises. The former Fred Hannas bookshop at the corner of Nassau Street and Dawson Street was also acquired by the company in 1999 but closed in early 2008, and merged with the Reads branch nearby.
  • Eason Electronic - two South African Companies selling phone top-ups and pre-paid electricity cards.
  • EM News Distribution - Eason merged its Irish newspaper and magazine wholesale distribution businesses with John Menzies creating EM News Distribution.[7] EM News Distribution competes with NewSpread and NewsSpeed. EM News delivers newspapers and magazines to newsagents in the Republic from a central hub in Clonshaugh, County Dublin. Newspapers that EM News distribute include The Irish Daily Mail, The Daily Mail, Daily Express, The Guardian, The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Sun and The Irish Sun.


Former divisions
  • British Bookshops & Sussex Stationers outlets in south-east England. In May 2009, Eason sold this company to Endless PLC. Endless intend to keep the "British Bookshops" name.
  • Eason's Advertising Services Limited - a niche advertising agency which closed in 2010. [8]
  • Eason and Son (N.I.) Ltd - This division operated the chain of 15 stores in Northern Ireland (Including the ex-NPO stores).
  • Eason News Distribution Division (now merged into the EM News) - was based in Dublin and outside Cork City Newsbrothers. Newsbrothers, a subsidiary company of Eason, was responsible for newspaper and magazine distribution in the Munster region.
  • Hughes & Hughes Airport - in early 2010 Hughes & Hughes entered administration, with Eason acquiring their 7 airport stores,[9] however Eason lost the tender to operate these bookshops in 2013 [10]
  • N.P.O. UK Ltd. (now all rebranded Eason) - These stores are operated under Eason and Son (N.I.) Ltd. NPO UK specialised in stationery, however after the Eason takeover, these stores stock the same range of products as all Eason stores.

See also
  • List of Irish companies

Further reading
  • Cullen, L. M. Eason & Son: A History. (Dublin, 1989). 438pp, 16 plates.

References
  1. https://www.easons.com/t-about.aspx
  2. https://galwaydaily.com/news/eason-selling-off-iconic-shop-street-bookstore/
  3. https://www.irishtimes.com/business/retail-and-services/eason-to-take-over-six-franchised-stores-as-part-of-wider-restructuring-1.3977845
  4. https://www.irishtimes.com/business/retail-and-services/eason-s-restructuring-depends-on-property-market-1.3790259
  5. rte.ie/news/business/2020/0225/1117493-eason-dubray-deal/
  6. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-53424689
  7. Kehoe, Ian (2007-01-14). "Eason and Menzies sign joint distribution deal". Sunday Business Post. Financial Times Information.
  8. https://www.thejournal.ie/ireland%E2%80%99s-oldest-ad-agency-calls-it-a-day-9125-Aug2010/
  9. rte.ie
  10. https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/eason-loses-terminal-1-tender-as-wh-smith-wins-five-shop-contract-29434631.html
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