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Borders's August Sales Slip
As Borders fades away, its latest monthly operating figures shows sales in the July 31-August 27 period of $13.7 million, down from $94.7 million in the prior month. Other revenue shot up, however, likely due in part of sales of furniture and other fixtures; other revenue was $126.8 million compared to $57.5 million in July.
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SIBA 2011: All About the Love
If the idea at last year's Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance trade show was getting booksellers established in social networking sites, this year the focus was on the classic community-building strengths of inddies, highlighting what stores have been doing in their communities to help break the stranglehold of big-box chains and online mega-retailers.
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Westhampton Beach Bookstore to Close
The Open Book Bookstore in Westhampton Beach, N.Y., is the latest independent to announce that it will shut its doors because of a down economy and competition from digital books.
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Two Madison Bookstores to Merge
Two literary fixtures in downtown Madison, Wis., are merging, as of August 1, 2012. Avol’s Books, a 31-year-old used, rare, and out-of-print bookstore is merging into A Room of One’s Own, a feminist bookstore celebrating 36 years in business this year.
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Adventures in Graphic Stories: Comics and Graphic Novels as Gifts 2011
Comics aren’t quite what they used to be. While the superhero genre continues to evolve, a comics reader today can find works on just about anything. If you’re looking for a graphic work for the comic book lover in your life, take a look at our list of recent works.
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Barnes & Noble Big Winner in Borders IP Auction
Barnes & Noble had no interest in buying Borders outright, but it moved aggressively to acquire its intellectual property, paying $13.9 million to buy a cache of its former rival’s IP assets. In all, this week’s auction raised about $15.8 million that will go to Borders’s creditors.
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Seminary Co-op Celebrates 50 Years and Move to New Location
The Seminary Co-Op in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood is celebrating its 50th anniversary next month with a birthday party, followed by months of author and book events.
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Florida Orthopaedic Institute Fills Former Borders Location
The 27,500 square foot former Borders location at 907 N. Dale Mabry Highway in Tampa Bay, Fl. will be filled by the Florida Orthopaedic Institute.
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Summer’s Over—and the Kids' Bookstores Are All Right
Despite ongoing economic woes and talk of a double-dip recession, children's books were a bright spot for many retailers this summer.
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Distribution: Hazelden Signs with Perseus
As of January 1, Perseus Distribution will handle sales to the U.S. and Canada, as well as foreign rights, for Hazelden Publishing, which is best-known for bestsellers like Twenty-Four Hours a Day and Melody Beattie’s Codependent No More.
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July Bookstore Sales Fall 4%
The impact of the closing of Borders’s stores is starting to show up in industry numbers. According to preliminary estimates released Wednesday morning by the Census Bureau, bookstore sales fell 4.2% in July, the steepest decline in 2011.
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Bartleby’s to Rebuild
After suffering two major setbacks in the past four months, Bartleby’s Books in Wilmington, Vt., is set to reopen.
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Skylight Books Hosts Bookselling Panel and Debuts Membership Rewards Program
Skylight Books in Los Angeles hosted a panel on bookstore pop-ups and has started a membership program called Friends With Benefits.
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O'Connor to Head Revamped ABC Group
Former bookseller Shannon O'Connor has been tapped as manager of the ABC Children's Group at the American Booksellers Association.
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Odyl Launches Facebook Marketing Platform for Publishing
Forget Web sites. If online social marketing platform Odyl (www.odyl.net) gets its way, authors and publishers will migrate to Facebook and use its SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) platform--launching today-- to offer content, trace metrics, handle giveaways, and import blog posts and Twitter feeds.
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St. Mark's Bookshop Finds Local Support in Petition
Late last week, a petition called "Save the St. Mark's Bookshop" appeared online, stating that the neighborhood landmark needs a lower rent agreement from landlord Cooper Union in order to stay open.
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Phoenix Books Adds Gallery
Since its founding in 2007, Phoenix Books and Cafe in Essex, Vt., has supported local artists by exhibiting works by members of the Essex Art League. Now the bookstore is devoting more space to art by joining the Vermont Crafts Council as a gallery.
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Summer’s Over, How Did Bookstores Do?
Clearly, 2011 will not be considerered a stellar year for a wide swath of bookselling: Borders is in the midst of closing its remaining stores; Books-A-Million has had two disappointing quarters, and Barnes & Noble’s growth is coming primarily from e-books and the Nook, while print, as everywhere, declines.
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Few Takers for Borders’s Small-Format Stores
Only eight stores drew bidders out of 150 leases in the first round of auctions, which was cancelled. The second round, for large-format stores, is slated for Tuesday. The $1.75 million severance package for managers was also approved.
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Books-A-Million Closing Two Outlets
Books-A-Million is not only taking over the leases of a number of Borders locations, but it is also closing some stores. According to reports in two local publications, BAM will close outlets in Florence, S.C. and Asheville, N.C. by September 17.
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