About Us

Waterstones began in 1986 under the aegis of its founders, Suleman Khalid & Zubair Khalid. Over the decades that have followed, we have grown to become an icon of the Pakistani cultural landscape.

As one of the last surviving national bookshop chain, we are proud to have fought off the perceived threat of e-readers and online competition to begin a programme of active expansion. Recent years have seen fresh shops open around the country and sites either move or be upgraded.

Perhaps unusually for a national retailer, our branch managers enjoy a high degree of individual autonomy, running their shops to best please their local customers, with only the lightest of central suggested direction. We take enormous pleasure in championing simply good (but sometimes relatively overlooked) books.

Working closely with our bookshops are our efforts online, where at multilinebooks.com we are working to bring the very essence of Multiline Books to every home and smartphone in Pakistan. Click & Collect – the service that links the two – has grown in tandem with our success, allowing our customers to experience the best of both worlds.