Book stores
UK companies organised by the CorpSignals industry, segment, and subsegment taxonomy.
Company snapshot
What this shows: the size and current activity of this classification, plus recent formations, company age, revenue coverage, and trade participation.
All companies
3844
Active companies
2548
Formed in latest 12 months
510
Median active-company age
3.8 years
Revenue known
75
Importers
118
Exporters
85
Top values shown in the chart
| Category | Companies |
|---|---|
| All companies | 3,844 |
| Active companies | 2,548 |
| Formed in latest 12 months | 510 |
| Importers | 118 |
| Exporters | 85 |
Revenue coverage among active companies: 75 known, 2473 unknown (2.9%).
Company formations
What this shows: monthly incorporations and dissolutions from 1 January 2024, including companies of every current status.
Latest ten months shown in the chart
| Month | Formed | Dissolved |
|---|---|---|
| 2025-11 | 46 | 38 |
| 2025-12 | 30 | 46 |
| 2026-01 | 50 | 33 |
| 2026-02 | 40 | 42 |
| 2026-03 | 48 | 40 |
| 2026-04 | 37 | 38 |
| 2026-05 | 34 | 32 |
| 2026-06 | 37 | 35 |
| 2026-07 | 36 | 66 |
| 2026-08 | 26 | 28 |
Window: 2024-01 to 2026-08.
Company status
What this shows: all current Companies House status values. Companies House Active records with dormant accounts are shown as Dormant; the remaining Companies House Active records are shown as Active. Blank and missing values are combined as Unknown.
Top values shown in the chart
| Status | Companies |
|---|---|
| Active | 2,301 |
| Dissolved | 1,281 |
| Dormant | 247 |
| Liquidation | 14 |
| Converted / Closed | 1 |
Active companies by UK region
What this shows: active companies with a known ITL2 region. The UK map falls back to a bar chart if map data cannot be loaded.
Top values shown in the chart
| ITL2 region | Companies |
|---|---|
| Inner London - East | 290 |
| Inner London - West | 227 |
| Outer London - West and North West | 124 |
| Greater Manchester | 107 |
| Surrey, East and West Sussex | 104 |
| West Midlands | 95 |
| Outer London - East and North East | 90 |
| Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire | 81 |
| West Yorkshire | 79 |
| Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire | 76 |
Geography coverage: 2527 known, 21 unknown (99.2%).
Revenue ranges
What this shows: active companies grouped into the platform’s ordered estimated-revenue bands.
Top values shown in the chart
| Revenue range | Companies |
|---|---|
| 0-1m | 1,374 |
| 1m-15m | 162 |
| 15m-54m | 11 |
| 54m+ | 9 |
Revenue-range coverage: 1556 known, 992 unknown (61.1%).
Company size and employees
What this shows: active companies by published size category and by reported employee count.
Top values shown in the chart
| Company size | Companies |
|---|---|
| Micro | 928 |
| Small | 560 |
| Medium | 3 |
| Large | 14 |
| Holding | 6 |
| Dormant | 247 |
Company-size coverage: 1758 known, 790 unknown (69.0%).
Top values shown in the chart
| Employees | Companies |
|---|---|
| 0 | 459 |
| 1–9 | 920 |
| 10–49 | 80 |
| 50–249 | 9 |
Employee coverage: 1468 known, 1080 unknown (57.6%).
Active-company age
What this shows: how long currently active companies have been incorporated.
Top values shown in the chart
| Age band | Companies |
|---|---|
| Under 1 year | 494 |
| 1–3 years | 613 |
| 3–5 years | 329 |
| 5–10 years | 480 |
| 10–20 years | 296 |
| 20+ years | 336 |
Incorporation-date coverage: 2548 known, 0 unknown (100.0%).
Classification breakdown
What this shows: active companies across the next taxonomy level; direct assignments are labelled separately. The top 20 are shown and remaining values are combined as Other.
Top values shown in the chart
| Classification | Companies |
|---|---|
| Directly assigned to this segment | 2,548 |
International trade
What this shows: active-company participation in imports and exports, followed by the ten HS2 categories involving the most distinct companies.
Top values shown in the chart
| Trade participation | Companies |
|---|---|
| Importer only | 76 |
| Exporter only | 43 |
| Both | 42 |
| Neither | 2,387 |
Top imports HS2 categories
Top values shown in the chart
| HS2 category | Companies | GBP | Available dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| 49 — Printed materials like books, newspapers, and pictures | 66 | £2,575,201,725 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 95 — Toys, games, and sports equipment | 35 | £2,242,141,211 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 85 — Electrical machinery and equipment | 28 | £5,603,901,167 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 62 — Clothing and accessories, not knitted or crocheted | 27 | £701,282,823 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 63 — Various textile products, sets, used clothing, and rags | 26 | £471,754,392 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 48 — Paper and Paperboard Products | 22 | £595,244,982 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 84 — Machinery, boilers, and mechanical appliances; parts | 22 | £4,856,937,289 | 2016-02-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 94 — Furniture, Lighting, and Prefabricated Buildings | 22 | £2,509,588,953 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 61 — Clothing and accessories made by knitting or crocheting | 20 | £1,411,579,489 | 2016-06-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 96 — Miscellaneous manufactured goods | 18 | £210,292,296 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
Top exports HS2 categories
Top values shown in the chart
| HS2 category | Companies | GBP | Available dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| 49 — Printed materials like books, newspapers, and pictures | 65 | £5,463,432,580 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 97 — Art and Antiques | 22 | £4,069,426,132 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 85 — Electrical machinery and equipment | 20 | £1,379,472,779 | 2016-02-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 48 — Paper and Paperboard Products | 17 | £129,049,064 | 2016-02-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 95 — Toys, games, and sports equipment | 16 | £299,815,639 | 2016-07-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 90 — Optical and medical tools and devices | 13 | £230,817,291 | 2016-03-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 94 — Furniture, Lighting, and Prefabricated Buildings | 12 | £292,018,862 | 2016-02-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 62 — Clothing and accessories, not knitted or crocheted | 10 | £148,175,934 | 2016-05-01 – 2026-04-01 |
| 84 — Machinery, boilers, and mechanical appliances; parts | 9 | £749,909,832 | 2016-02-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 61 — Clothing and accessories made by knitting or crocheting | 8 | £286,429,344 | 2016-04-01 – 2026-05-01 |
Business and digital traits
What this shows: active companies identified with selected ownership, business-model, and online-presence traits.
Values shown in the chart with data coverage
| Trait | Companies | Known | Unknown | Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Family business | 262 | 2,346 | 202 | 92.1% |
| Holding company | 1 | 2,346 | 202 | 92.1% |
| Solo founder | 1,377 | 2,346 | 202 | 92.1% |
| Ecommerce | 56 | 116 | 2,432 | 4.6% |
| Website | 137 | 147 | 2,401 | 5.8% |
| 58 | 147 | 2,401 | 5.8% |
Leading active companies
What this shows: the ten active companies with the highest non-missing revenue, with company number used as the deterministic tie-breaker.
Top values shown in the chart
| Company | Revenue |
|---|---|
| The Calendar Club Limited | £21,891,172 |
| Pbshop.co.uk Limited | £20,968,091 |
| Travel Buff Limited | £17,520,295 |
| Peters Limited | £15,394,405 |
| Dart Abbey Enterprises Limited | £4,579,646 |
| Salts Estates Limited | £3,642,825 |
| Ryefield Investments Limited | £1,981,294 |
| Marlen Media Entertainment Ltd | £724,667 |
| Magma Design Ltd | £632,000 |
| Shiatsu Medicine Academy Limited | £567,769 |
Revenue coverage: 75 known, 2473 unknown (2.9%).
Related classifications
What this shows: sibling classifications ranked by distinct active companies, excluding the current node. The top 20 are shown and remaining values are combined as Other.
Top values shown in the chart
| Classification | Companies |
|---|---|
| Online & mailorder | 217,255 |
| Other: vending machines, door-to-door, etc | 54,224 |
| Department stores | 40,291 |
| Hyper & supermarkets, general stores | 38,412 |
| Clothing Stores | 31,439 |
| Stalls | 18,349 |
| Vehicle parts and accessories | 14,744 |
| Other specialised stores | 14,485 |
| Specialised food stores n.e.c. | 12,971 |
| Cosmetics Store | 11,608 |
| Home furnishing stores | 11,310 |
| Outdoor & Sporting Goods Stores | 10,523 |
| Watches and jewellery stores | 9,338 |
| Garden & Pet Supply Stores | 8,189 |
| Pharmacy | 8,010 |
| Bakeries & Confectionery | 7,864 |
| Beverage stores | 6,007 |
| Butchers | 5,838 |
| Mobile phone stores | 5,829 |
| Flooring Store | 5,787 |
| Other | 65,964 |
SIC classification
SIC 47610 — Retail sale of books in specialised stores
Includes
retail sale of books of all kinds
Excludes
retail sale of second-hand or antique books, see ##47.79