2025 report: Since this announcement, the Buxton high-street shop has been rebranded as TGJones.

WH Smith Buxton part of national take over and re-brand

In March 2025 WHSmith agreed to sell its UK high-street business, including around 480 shops and the Buxton branch on Spring Gardens, to Modella Capital. The sale completed on 28 June 2025.

Under the revised sale terms, WHSmith received £10 million upfront, with further payments dependent on the business’s cash flow and tax assets.

The Buxton high-street shop has since been rebranded as TGJones. WHSmith retained its travel retail business.

The Buxton TGJones store lists a Toys R Us department among its facilities.

WHSmith dates its beginnings to 1792, when Henry Walton Smith and his wife Anna opened a London newsvendor. It later became a major newspaper distributor.

WHSmith also sold its online greetings card business, Funky Pigeon, to Card Factory in August 2025.

Travel stores

WHSmith opened a bookstall at London’s Euston station in 1848. Its travel business continues under WHSmith ownership.

UK Travel Retail became a separate WHSmith business in 1997.

Historic retailer

WHSmith says it took the UK’s first secure online order on 27 April 1995, a milestone recognised by the IMRG.

WHSmith Online launched in 1999.

WHSmith developed its orange and brown branding in 1973.

WHSmith’s plans for a computerised warehouse helped prompt the development of Standard Book Numbering in the 1960s. This became the basis for the international ISBN system.