Foyles x Penguin: the most amazing marketing campaign

I have followed Foyles Bookshop on Instagram for a long time. Even though my days at this bookshop belong to the past, Foyles remains my favourite bookshop in town: they are masters of elegance and always know what's trending and what's good. Their shelves are

full to the brim with the best of fiction and non-fiction, their teams are efficient, and their displays are simply gorgeous. Only first-class treatment at this bookshop.

I recently came across an Instagram post from Penguin Books celebrating their 90th birthday. As a thank-you to their huge readership, Penguin released a series of books that, judging by the photos, looked absolutely charming. Beautiful booklets: a creamy white background with embossed, vivacious red titles: what a combination. A must-have, and I didn't waste any time getting some for myself. Plus, they are only £5.99 each, a real steal.

I ran to the shop the very next day, stepping onto their ground floor a few minutes past opening time and taking my sweet time browsing the Penguin Archive collection, taking pictures, pondering what to bring home.

The collection is currently located right at the entrance. A large banner crowns Foyles' signature greeting, "Hello Book Lover, you are among friends," and above it, in Christina Rossetti's own handwriting, thick red ink on paper shouts "To Read and Dream."

Everything, from the carefully curated selection of titles to the inviting displays, showed incredible attention to detail.

Amongst the many books, I noticed some gems that made me smile: extracts from Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en, Sailing to Byzantium by W. B. Yeats, The Daemon Lover by Shirley Jackson, Some Japanese Ghosts by Lafcadio Hearn, and To Read and Dream by Christina Rossetti. These are writers who belong to my everyday book routine at Watkins Books, and seeing them all gathered outside my regular workspace was refreshing. For readers unfamiliar with this world, finding such a rich, mystical, and diverse array of authors must be quite overwhelming, and wonderfully so.

Honestly, I would add many more to this list, as all of the books featured in this promotion are incredible.

I left with three treasures: Sei Shonagon's A Lady in Kyoto, Kawabata's Thousand Cranes, and Lorca's Cicada!

The layout was brilliant: evenly distributed tables placed under the banner displayed the books beautifully, while larger shelves on either side of the shop hosted more front-facing volumes. The colours immediately caught the eye, and browsing the booklet selection was a delight. It felt like shopping for spices: each one small, powerful, and full of unexpected flavour.

The choice of titles was no coincidence, either. Each book had a date printed inside, corresponding to its first publication by Penguin.

And to make things even sweeter, at the checkout, customers receive a special "Foyles Archive" stamp on the front page of their book. If you buy three or more titles, you also receive a tote bag. (I didn’t get mine, so they'll be seeing me there again soon enough, crying to claim my Lorca bag.)

This is the peak of marketing: reviving beautiful, simple products from a rich historical background, binding them in glorious minimalistic design, and using textures that make readers dream. The collaboration between Foyles and Penguin on social media was striking and authentic, especially considering that Foyles was the very first retailer to stock Penguin Books back in 1935. I could really feel the historical impact that Penguin has had through this very special bookshop.

It makes perfect sense that the Archive collection would have its focal point at Foyles. And the in-store experience was divine: browsing the collection was pure delight, and it left me wishing I'd brought home even more.

Picture of the bag, which I'll claim very soon, coming. It's a promise.