Dillons was a British bookseller founded in 1936, named after its founder and owner Una Dillon. Originally based in Bloomsbury in London, the company expanded under subsequent owners Pentos in the 1980s into a bookselling chain across the United Kingdom. In 1995 Pentos went into receivership and sold Dillons to Thorn EMI, which immediately closed 40 of the 140 Dillons bookstore locations. Of the remaining 100 stores, most kept the name Dillons, while the remainder were Hatchards and Hodges Figgis.[1][2] Within Thorn EMI, Dillons was placed in the HMV Group, which had been a division of Thorn EMI since 1986. EMI demerged from Thorn in August 1996, and Dillons-HMV remained an EMI holding.[3] Dillons was subsumed under rival chain Waterstones' branding in 1999, at which point the brand ceased to exist.
- ^ Stevenson, Tom (20 March 1995). "'Second time lucky' hope of Rymans' buyer". The Independent. London. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
- ^ Shepherd, John (25 March 1995). "Thorn EMI closes 40 Dillons bookstores". The Independent. London. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
- ^ "Thorn EMI Demerger Proceeding Smoothly". Billboard. 31 August 1996. pp. 1, 137.