Courteous, affable and relaxed, that's Derek Hughes. There's nothing that marks him out as the man behind the country's book-selling success story - wholly Irish owned and with a £17 million (€21m) turnover last year.

Nothing, over an early morning coffee, to signal that Hughes & Hughes, just over a month ago, moved into a 1,200 sq ft unit at London City Airport, recruited a staff of 10 from the Dome, and became (here he allows himself a grin) "the first Irish company to benefit from the money spent on the Dome".

Derek Hughes' company could, well-laid plans and thought-out strategies going well, become the airport booksellers in both Ireland and the UK.

There's also a coffee-house business. He's a director and founding shareholder of the aptly named Insomnia, set up with a group of like-minded friends and which, as you read, is growing.

Derek Hughes' capacity for hard work and single-minded drive are traits kept discreetly out of sight. It helps that he loves what he does, that books as business are in the blood. Hughes & Hughes, the book retailing business he set up with his father Bobby Hughes in l983, grew out of Bobby and Rita Hughes' wholesale book business.

Their first shop, in Nutgrove Shopping Centre, Rathfarnham, is now run by brother Robert as his own business, while younger brother, Gary, is with Derek in the growing Hughes & Hughes retail empire.

Success, he insists, is all to do with the Hughes & Hughes ethos, which is about "brand recognition, continuity of management, staff identification with the company, service focus and strategic expansion".

That strategic expansion means there will be 10 Hughes & Hughes bookshops in the Republic by the summer's end. They currently have six at Dublin airport, three "airside" (i.e. in duty-free areas) and three "landside".

Other outlets are in Dublin's St Stephen's Green, the Frascati shopping centre in Blackrock and in Galway. The tenth will be in The Pavilions, Swords, when that centre opens, which is expected in May. "Books," Derek Hughes points out cheerfully, "are the second largest trading commodity in the world, after oil."

Airport selling began for Hughes & Hughes 14 years ago. In a tendering process (which is repeated every five years and fought out with competitors such as Easons, WHSmith and Menzies), it ousted J R Porter and moved into its first landside position, in departures at Dublin Airport.

"We developed from there," says Hughes, "from a low turnover base to a very significant one. We'll do in excess of our £17 million (€21m) turnover this year, globally. We've now got 8,000 sq ft at Dublin Airport, and that'll go up to 10,000 sq ft when the two airside shops double in size, which should happen by the end of May. We're going for share options so we've put in a new managing director, Mark Gould, who will be responsible for the day-today operations of the business."

Telling this, he is almost laconic. Even so, is he nervous about expansion? He's adamant: "No. It's all been very controlled, focused and strategic."

Like the move to London City Airport, a seven-year contract Hughes & Hughes won in competition against "all of the major plcs in the UK as well as specialist airport retailers. London City is the fastest growing regional airport in Europe, with Dublin the largest single destination out of London City. Docklands/Canary Wharf commercial development is set to double in the next two years and, with the new Excel Centre available early next year, the potential for London City is fantastic.

"We believe too that there are great opportunities to develop the Hughes & Hughes brand in UK regional airports. The British Airport Authority (BAA) did ask us to tender for Heathrow/ Gatwick and spent three days in our organisation, overviewing the operation. We were up to their operational standards, but declined the offer because we didn't want to over-extend ourselves. We want to place ourselves in smaller airports first, strengthen our management team."

So they may end up at Heathrow and Gatwick? "Yes. But for a move like that we'll be looking at raising outside equity, the last brick in our building plan."

The sales base, in magazines especially, is quite different between Dublin and London. "In Dublin we sell mostly women's glossies while in London it's business magazines. In Dublin there's a demand for literature and specialist Irish writing.

"We depend both on years of experience and the EPOS (electric point of sales) system for feedback, and in London City we'd have the greatest range of management and business books available at any bookstore, including London and Irish high street stores." Latest figures from London City show the company "just short of our targeted turnover; we're achieving what we want".

Coffee selling - the third of his Dublin Insomnia coffee houses opened in Ballsbridge on March 12th - is a "totally separate business". His dream is "a fantastic coffee shop within a fantastic bookshop!"

Will his children (Bobby, 6 and Jennifer, 4) go into the business? "No," he's adamant, "they'll gain experience doing their own thing, find themselves in other organisations. Nepotism can impact on a business, and my greatest wish for them is that they be their own people and self-confident enough to make their own decisions."