The Bookseller’s Graeme Neill reports that publishers are still in the dark over the future of their book orders with Fopp, after the high street chain canceled book orders and said it was in negotiations with its bank. “We haven’t had any contact from them, nor any indication of what the future of the business is,” one publisher said. Another added: “It would be nice to have some communication from them. We are hearing nothing. They bring a nice diversity to the high street, so it would be a shame if they were in trouble.”

When contacted by The Bookseller, a number of stores said they were not closing. “The company has been talking to banks and suppliers to negotiate new deals from them,” one sales assistant said. “The stock take last week was rather unusual but we needed an accurate valuation of how much the business is worth.”