[highwaylights]

This doesn’t surprise me at all. Waterstones have been pushing the “tat” further from the entrance and really are focused on being what bookstores were pre-Amazon.

My local Waterstones is the last surviving dedicated book store in the city and is really a destination as much as anything else. They run a lot of activities in their coffee shop too (book clubs and such).

I was certain covid would have been the final nail in the coffin but their renewed focus really is working - they’re thriving in a way they haven’t been in 20 years.

[thaumasiotes]

The "tat"?

[brylie]

Noun (UK)

anything that looks cheap, is of low quality, or in bad condition:

Like most souvenir shops, it sells a lot of old tat.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/tat

[highwaylights]

Exactly - In this case by tat I mean things like Harry Potter drinking flasks, Hunger Games calendars, and vaguely book-related trinkets that can be sold for under £5.

(The kind of high-margin items that you didn’t come to the shop for and most people won’t buy anyway.)

[sherr]

It means "rubbish" (or "trash").