Barnes & Noble is leading the charge as bricks-and-mortar bookstores begin their holiday push. This weekend it launches an expanded Discovery Weekend with author events and prizes at locations across the country. One week later, on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, hundreds of independent bookstores will celebrate Small Business Saturday and have authors on hand to help customers select books. And the following Monday, many New Englanders will be serving up hot cider on Cyber Monday.
As the holiday season heats up, new stores continue to open. This weekend marks the grand opening of RoscoeBooks in Chicago and for Fifth Dimension bookmobile in Austin. Long Beach, Calif., will get its first book bar soon, the Brass Lamp.
Events
B&N Discovery Weekend (Nov. 21-23): Starting with tonight’s Linkee Trivia Tournament, Barnes & Noble stores across the country are offering special programming, prizes, and bookselling recommendations to kick off the holiday shopping season.
Small Business Saturday (Nov. 29)
Authors and illustrators will handsell at independent bookstores across the country on the Saturday after Thanksgiving as part of Indies First/American Express Small Business Saturday.
Cider Monday Returns (Dec. 1): In what is rapidly become a New England tradition, begun by the Toadstool Bookshops in Vermont, many area bookstores are serving up hot cider and relaxed shopping as an alternative to Cyber Monday.
ABFFE Children’s Book Art Auction (Dec. 1-6): The American Booksellers Foundation for Freedom of Expression is holding a weeklong auction on eBay to defend the free speech rights of kids.
Openings & Closings
RoscoeBooks Celebrates Grand Opening: The newest store to launch in Chicago will officially open on Saturday, just in time for the holiday shopping season.
Book Bar Comes to Long Beach: After closing her bookstore Open two years ago, Sé Reed is about to open the city’s first bookstore and bar combination, the Brass Lamp.
Fifth Dimension to Open in Austin: Austin’s book scene will remain weird with its latest addition, a 1987 Chevy P30 bookmobile, which specializes in science fiction, fantasy, and fringe books.
Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks to Move: Just a day after Bonnie Slotnick announced that she lost the lease to her long-time New York City bookstore, a pair of siblings reached out with a space on East Second Street.
B&N to Close Brandermill, Va., Store: The 23,000 sq. ft. bookstore, which opened over a decade ago, is the latest B&N to announce that it’s closing at the end of the year.
Other News
A Visual Tour of the Bookstores of LA: This photographic ode to “crazy, beautiful, idiosyncratic, bookstores includes one with a tree growing in its center.
Celebrating Bookstore Style at BGSQD: New York City’s only gay bookstore, the Bureau for General Services—Queer Division, has a new location as of last month in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center in Greenwich Village.
Bartleby’s Turns 25: Despite Mother Nature’s best efforts, Bartleby’s was flooded during Tropical Storm Irene, the Wilmington, Vt., bookstore is marking its first quarter century.
Dallas’s Sərj to Expand: Dallas’s coffee shop-soupstraunt-bookstore is adding more space for debates, readings, and movie screenings.
New Jersey Governor Vetoes Bill: Following protests, Governor Chris Christie vetoed a bill that would have allowed fines of up to $1,000 for any New Jersey bookstore that disclosed customer information without a court order.
