Buck-a-Book in Liquidation

by Judith Rosen -- Publishers Weekly, 10/4/2005

Buck-a-Book, the New England bookstore/gift store chain that at one point had 30 locations and more than 300 employees, will close later this month. "It was a dream we pursued for over 15 years," founder and president Bruce Moyer said, "but the summer was just overwhelmingly bad. The competition and retail pressure are overwhelming. It's not just Borders and Barnes & Noble. It's Wal-Mart and Target, and online competition just gets stronger. There's no bottom to the price online."

Buck-a-Book grew rapidly in the late 1990s, with its growth fueled in part by the demise of another large New England chain, Lauriat's. Buck-a-Book took over five Lauriat's locations in 1999, but ran into financial problems and declared Chapter 11 in 2001. After reducing its stores, Buck-a-Book emerged from bankruptcy in 2002, but after a particularly harsh retail winter in New England, it pruned seven of its fourteen stores this March. With sales not recovering in the summer, Moyers decided to exit the business rather than try another reorganization. Gordon Brothers is liquidating its remaining seven locations—five in Massachusetts and two in Connecticut, and Moyers expects the process to be completed in the next few weeks.

For now, Moyer, says, "I'm focusing on doing the right thing for my employees and taking care of the liquidation. I let go 125 people and I'm trying to find positions for as many of them as I can." Moyer's wife Marlene, who handled buying for the chain, has returned to teaching.