Labyrinth Expands To New Haven

by Judith Rosen -- Publishers Weekly, 4/4/2005

With its purchase of 27-year-old Book Haven in New Haven, Conn., last week, Labyrinth Books, a 7,200-sq.-ft. scholarly bookstore near Columbia University, is replicating its concept of an academic bookstore, or what co-owner Cliff Simms calls "an alternative to the corporate model of bookselling." Nearby Yale Bookstore is operated by Barnes & Noble College Bookstores.

After signing the sales agreement, Labyrinth closed Book Haven to begin its academic makeover. "We're basically gutting the space and changing the facade to give it a look commensurate with what a bookstore should be. It's less about faux interiors and roomy aisles," said Simms, who will work part-time in New Haven. He bristled at the notion of adding a café to the 4,400-sq.-ft. space. "We take a much more modernist view," he told PW. "A bookstore should be packed with books. We're going to do what we do in New York. We'll have coursebooks and there will be 60,000 volumes of new releases. We believe in deep backlist in the humanities and sale books." Labyrinth New Haven will offer discounts through a membership program.

At the same time as that renovation is taking place, the owners of Labyrinth, who also own Great Jones Books, a wholesaler of scholarly remainders, are planning to overhaul their direct marketing program. Currently, Labyrinth mails 125,000 catalogues featuring scholarly remainders eight times a year. Going forward, the catalogues will also include new titles. Labyrinth also is looking to transform its Labyrinthbooks.com informational Web site into an active online retailer. The renovated site, which will be ready in June, will allow customers to search online for books carried in New York, in New Haven and at Great Jones and to buy via the Web.