  ottakar's was a chain of bookshops in the united kingdom founded in 1987 by james heneage. following a takeover by the hmv group in 2006, the chain was merged into the waterstone's brand. ==history==  james heneage established the ottakar's chain in 1987, taking inspiration from the adventures of tintin book king ottokar's sceptre. he saw a lucrative market in small towns which lacked a waterstones branch and opened stores in loughborough, brighton, banbury, salisbury and trowbridge. a number of ottakar's stores drew on the tintin connection and had walls painted with scenes from the series. the ottakar store in bromley, kent had a large rocket taken from the tintin novels so that children could play inside it. above the rocket was a cartoon picture of the night sky to add to the effect. the company was listed on the london stock exchange in 1998 and expanded rapidly, making a number of acquisitions including small bookstores in the west country, eight branches of james thin booksellers in 2002, and twenty-four branches of hammicks bookshops ltd, a company with 35 years of bookselling history, in april 2003. by mid-2006, the chain had shops in 141 locations throughout the united kingdom. in an attempt to compete with online booksellers, ottakar's established an online ordering service. after turning a loss, the service was withdrawn in 2001, but by 2006, the company had hoped to relaunch their internet arm before the takeover by hmv. ottakar'
1987_establishments_in_the_United_Kingdom 2006_disestablishments_in_the_United_Kingdom Bookshops_of_the_United_Kingdom Companies_disestablished_in_2006 Companies_formerly_listed_on_the_London_Stock_Exchange Defunct_retail_companies_of_the_United_Kingdom Retail_companies_established_in_1987