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Bookstore Sales Declined 4.1% in February
Bookstore sales fell 4.1% in February, to just over $1 billion, according to preliminary estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau.
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New Bookstore to Open in Space Vacated by Keillor's Common Good
Sue Zumberge, the manager for five years for Garrison Keillor's St. Paul, Minn. bookstore, Common Good Books, is opening her own bookstore in the space recently vacated by Common Good.
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NYU Students Stepped Up Early
When World Book Night organizers expanded the book-giving event from the U.K. to the U.S. for 2012 they knew that generating buzz—and understanding—about a program with the goal of giving away 500,000 copies of 30 titles on a single day would be a challenge, given the limited budget available. So when the newly appointed WBN US executive director Carl Lennertz was approached by Andrea Chambers, director of NYU’s Center for Publishing, and offered the help of NYU’s masters in publishing students to publicize the event, it was a no-brainer. “I wept in gratitude,” Lennertz quipped.
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How to Give Away 500,000 Books
When looking at an effort with the scale of World Book Night U.S.—half a million books will be given away to strangers across all 50 states on April 23—it’s helpful to consider some numbers: 25,000 “givers” have volunteered to give away their allotment of books to people, many of whom they’ve never met, in their communities (5,800 towns and cities will participate); 2,200 bookstores and libraries will serve as central hubs, where givers are picking up the books; and 750 of those bookstores and libraries are holding pre-WBN receptions.
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Nebraska's Disclosure Statement Approved
As expected Nebraska Book Company’s Disclosure Statement for its Third Amended Plan of Reorganization was approved, which moves it closer to emerging from bankruptcy.
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St. Mark's Bookshop Needs More Financial Help
Even though 44,000 people signed a petition to save St. Mark's Bookshop last fall and the New York City bookstore got a one-year rent reduction, it is still in trouble.
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Regionals Contact Congressional Leaders about DoJ Investigation
Regional associations want to keep the pressure on the DoJ through a bookseller letter-writing campaign to congressional leaders.
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Newbury Comics: ‘It’s Always Morph or Die’
As digital book sales continue to gain traction, the comparison between bookstores and record stores has gotten closer. While the number of independent record stores has fallen dramatically over the years, Boston's Newbury Comics is bucking the trend.
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Booksellers Disappointed By Google Decision to Drop Indies
Surprised by Google's announcement that it is dropping its indie partners, booksellers make plans for an alternative e-book solution.
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Google Ends eBook Agreement with Indies
As of January 31, Google is ending its e-book contracts with resellers around the world as it moves to make them available solely through Google Play.
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B&N to Restore Marshall Cavendish Titles to Stores
The Authors Guild has brokered a one-time truce in Barnes & Noble's battle with Amazon that resulted in the bookstore chain's policy to not carry print books in its stores without the ability to sell e-book editions. In a letter sent to its members, the guild said that Barnes & Noble has agreed to its request to bring Marshall Cavendish children's books back to their stores' shelves.
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Building a Community Bookstore—on Telemundo
Starting this Friday, Telemundo will air a four-part series on how the Casa Latina design team is readying the space for La Casa Azul Bookstore to open in NYC.
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Bertrams To Open UAE Distribution Facility
UK wholesaler and distributor Bertrams has confirmed the opening of its UAE office, a story broken on Thursday's BookBrunch; the move has received an enthusiastic reception here in Abu Dabi.
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What’s Ahead for Canadian Indies?
April is the cruelest month, wrote T.S. Eliot, but this year, according to Canadian independent booksellers and the shoppers who love them, March might get the title as a spate of prominent indie closures were announced across the country. Vancouver is losing its remaining four Book Warehouse locations. Nicholas Hoare is closing both his Montreal and Ottawa stores. And in Toronto, the Book City minichain closed one of its five stores.
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The Book Stall Named 'PW' Bookstore of the Year; Kingman & Kindness Reps
Chicagoland continues to dominate bookselling with the Book Stall at Chestnut Court the 2012 PW Bookseller of the Year. For the first time, the rep title will be shared by Ann Kingman and Michael Kindness.
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Nebraska's Amended Agreement Approved
Nebraska Book Company got one more step closer to exiting Chapter 11 bankruptcy with yesterday’s signed order for the Amended and Restated Plan Support Agreement.
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Is ‘Buy Local’ Enough?
Like the Austin Independent Business Alliance, begun by Steve Bercu, co-owner of BookPeople, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, many early shop-local initiatives were started to keep Borders out. In Austin, Borders’s attempt to move across the street from Bercu’s store also led him to enlist Dan Houston and his strategic planning consultancy Civic Economics for their now classic study, in 2002, of BookPeople, Waterloo Records, and Borders, which showed for the first time the economic impact of the chains: for every $100 a customer spends, the local economy gets $13 back from a chain store, compared to $45, from a local merchant. Although Borders is gone, Barnes & Noble continues to hold on to a large slice of the bookselling pie. With Amazon poised to reach Wal-Mart proportions by the end of this decade, according to Stacy Mitchell, senior researcher with the New Rules Project of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, and the e-book onslaught, can shopping local turn the tide?
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Distribution: New Leaf Distribution Adds Hybrid Publisher, S&S Signs World Almanac
Georgia-based New Leaf Sales and Distribution Services continues to grow its distribution client base with the addition of hybrid publisher BQB Publishing. In other news, Simon & Schuster has agreed to distribute The World Almanac titles this summer.
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BAM Overcomes Weak Comps
The addition of 41 former Borders stores helped to give Books-A-Million its best holiday season in years for the quarter ended January 28, 2012, but how well that strategy will play out for the full year isn’t yet clear. While fourth quarter sales rose 10.7%, to just under $167 million, comparable store sales fell 5.7%. Earnings in the period rose to $7.5 million from $6.8 million. Executive chairman Clyde Anderson (who turned over the reins of CEO to Terry Finley last week) said in a conference call that despite the absence of Borders, customer traffic did not show a meaningful increase in the quarter. He noted that BAM and Borders stores had competed directly in only 15 locations. Asked about BAM’s future store plans, Finley told PW, “We will continue to be opportunistic in our real estate strategy, looking for underserved markets and attractive deals.”
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