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NACS to Partner with BookRenter
On the eve of the opening of the 2011 Campus Market Expo in Houston, Tex., the National Association of College Stores announced that it will partner with online textbook giant, BookRenter (www.BookRenter.com). Through NACSCORP, the association’s wholesale distributor subsidiary, NACS will offer three BookRenter services to its 3,100 member college stores. The services are aimed at increasing both foot traffic and textbook revenue by enabling students to shop on their local campuses and save money.
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Four Pubs Named to Borders's Creditors Committee
The official committee of unsecured creditors involved with Borders Group's Chapter 11 filing was approved Thursday afternoon with representatives from Penguin, HarperCollins, Random House and Perseus Books Group appointed.
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Mysterious Galaxy Will Expand to Second Location
Mysterious Galaxy, a mystery and science fiction bookstore that has operated in San Diego since 1993, will open a second store this summer in Redondo Beach, Calif. The new location will replicate the original store's genres, which also include fantasy, horror, and urban fantasy, but in addition will offer a wider selection of books outside those areas.
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'Writer's Digest' to Sponsor Webinar on Borders Bankruptcy and Writers
F+W Media, publisher of the Writer's Digest, is sponsoring a free webinar on the Borders bankruptcy and how it will affect writers. "The Borders Dilemma: What the New World Order of Bookselling Means for Writers," a 60-minute webinar, will be held at 1 p.m. on Friday, February 25.
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Finalists Named for 'PW' Awards
Publishers Weekly named four finalists for the 19th annual PW Bookstore and PW Rep of the Year Awards to be given in a special ceremony at BookExpo America in May. The award winners will also receive a write-up in the pre-BEA issue of PW’s print magazine in late April. A slate of judges comprised of industry representatives and last year’s award winners will determine the 2011 award winners.
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Barnes & Noble Sales Jump Led By Digital Products
Lots of headlines in Barnes & Noble’s release of its third quarter results for the period ended January 29, its first extended remarks since Borders filed for Chapter 11 last week.
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Page One Hopes to Keeping Going After Filing for Chapter 11
With a lot less fanfare than a similar statement from Borders Group last week, Page One Bookstore in Albuquerque filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on February 8 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of New Mexico.
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Madison Protests Boon for Bookseller
The huge demonstrations that have been going on for the past week at the state capitol in Madison protesting the Wisconsin governor’s proposal to cut benefits and take away state employees’ rights to collective bargaining have boosted A Room of One’s Own’s bottom line. Sales are up 30% over “a normal cold February,” at the feminist bookstore, says store owner Sandra Torkildson, who reports that political buttons and bumper stickers are especially hot items in her store these days.
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Borders's Fall From Grace
The Borders Group that filed for bankruptcy last week was formed in 1995 when Kmart, which had bought Waldenbooks in 1984 and Borders in 1992, merged the two and spun them off into a separate company.
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Borders's Store Footprint, February 2011
A map of Borders stores across the US, denoting how many are closing and how many remain open.
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Borders Bankruptcy to Ripple Through Industry
The book publishing industry was just beginning to grapple last week with the many repercussions the Borders Group Chapter 11 filing will bring to all facets of the industry. The most immediate impact, of course, is the loss of revenue associated with the bankruptcy itself.
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Downward Trend in Bookstore Sales Continues
Bookstore sales fell in 2010, although not as much as many had feared, helped in part by a holiday rally that pushed sales up by 5.3% and 2.3% in November and December, respectively. For 2010, bookstore sales were down 1.4%, to $16.5 billion, the third consecutive year that store sales have fallen after reaching a peak of $17.2 billion in 2007.
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St. Louis Indies Form Alliance
Four independent bookstores in the St. Louis metro area announced Wednesday that they are forming the St. Louis Independent Bookstore Alliance. The group intends to raise awareness among both publishers and consumers of the independent bookstores in the region; host special literary events for St. Louis-area audiences; purchase joint advertising; and advocate at the local and state levels on issues affecting all independent bookstores.
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Buffalo Street Seeks Community Buy Out
One week into a going out of business sale for 35-year-old Buffalo Street Books in Ithaca, N.Y., the store's outreach coordinator, Bob Proehl, may have found a way to put on the brakes. Yesterday he posted a letter on the store's Facebook page and Web site asking for the community to buy shares in the store. "The fact of it is," he wrote, "the market will not support a local independent bookstore in a town the size of Ithaca. It simply won’t.... But where is it written that the market dictates everything that goes on in our community?"
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GOB Banners to Go Up Friday for 200 Borders Stores
At Thursday morning's hearing for Borders's bankruptcy, Chief Judge Arthur Gonzalez of U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, gave the retailer the go ahead to liquidate 200 stores and begin going-out-of-business sales on Friday rather than hold off for the customary 21-day waiting period.
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Publishers Want to Hear More from Borders
If Borders expects publishers to support its reorganization efforts, it needs to come up with a more viable turnaround plan and more realistic buying terms. That was the sense from publishers contacted by PW Wednesday, all of whom spoke off the record.
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Bookseller Shirley Masengill Dies
Longtime children's bookseller Shirley Masengill, recipient of a Northern California Children's Booksellers' Association Otter Award for her unique role in bringing together children and books, died on February 12. She was 83.
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The ABA Weighs in On Borders’s Chapter 11
A bookseller going out of business, even a chain bookseller, is bad for the book business, according to a statement just released by the American Booksellers Association. Commenting officially on the Chapter 11 filing made by Borders today, the ABA said it is "saddened when any bookstore closes" and that the industry "does not benefit from the diminishment of places to browse, discover, and buy books."
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ABA Statement on Borders' Chapter 11 Filing
Though Borders is not a member of the American Booksellers Association, we are always saddened when any bookstore closes. The industry -- whether independent bookstores, publishers, or readers - -- does not benefit from the diminishment of places to browse, discover, and buy books.
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New Distributor Launches in Kansas City
Midpoint National, the 23-year-old fulfillment house, which spawned and recently sold its share of Midpoint Trade Books, is launching a sales and distribution service of its own, Delphi Distribution. "I decided we've got everything in place," explained Midpoint president Ron Freund, who is serving as acting president of Delphi.
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