Indies Report Good Finish to Holiday Season

Customers came out in droves just before Christmas, helping the holiday season end on a strong note, said independent booksellers contacted by PW last week.

Joseph-Beth's stores in Ohio, Tennessee and Kentucky reported "a big finish," according to Michele Sulka, director of communications. "Customers waited until the last possible second to shop." Likewise, Roberta Rubin, owner of the Book Stall at Chestnut Court, Winnetka, Ill., said that while during much of the holiday season, customers who normally bought 10 books bought only seven or eight, "on the 23rd [Monday], everyone came in and bought. It was a great day." The Book Stall is up "a little more than 4%" for the quarter, she added. "We're a neighborhood store that was strongly supported by our community." The store also benefited from "a high number of touring authors" as well as sales it made at many out-of-store events.

McLean & Eakin, in Petroskey, Mich., did "really well this season," said buyer Len Cowgill. As at other stores, sales were "a little sluggish at the beginning of the month but the last two weeks more than made up for it." Cowgill emphasized that the store is on par with 2001, which was a strong year.

The stores reported that gift certificates had done well, paralleling general retail trends. McLean & Eakin ran out of its Book Sense gift certificates because they were going so fast and had to dig up its old store certificates. The Book Stall sold its usual amount, but two people bought $750 worth of them.

None of the stores reported difficulties obtaining titles at the last minute. The Book Stall lauded the service of BookSource while Cowgill praised Partners, Ingram and the distributors. And Joseph-Beth had an unusual visitor on Christmas Eve—Tennessee senator Bill Frist, the new Senate Republican leader, stopped by the Nashville stores to shake hands. Sulka commented: "It just confirms to us that Joseph-Beth is the place to be seen in Nashville."