Regional Endings: Far West

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

In yet another sign of the difficulties faced by regional wholesalers, 35-year-old Far West Book Service Inc. in Portland, Ore., shut its doors earlier this month. During the past year, St. Louis, Mo.–based Booksource closed its retail division and Berkeley, Calif.–based BookPeople shuttered its wholesale unit after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

"It wasn't an easy choice," said Far West owner Tom McCanna, who chose to suspend operations while the company was still viable. He took over the business in 1998 when his grandmother, the company's founder, Katherine McCanna, died the age of 94. McCanna told PW that he wanted to steward the company for his grandmother and anticipated settling all accounts in the near future. "The reasons for closing are fairly obvious," he said. "Publishers selling direct, other wholesalers structuring greater discounts, electronic ordering, which we haven't participated in, and an antiquated computer system." Far West specialized in titles by regional authors and/or about regional subjects; it carried 3,300 books.