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Butterfly Books to Close
Amy Vanden Plas, the owner of Butterfly Books in De Pere, Wisc., announced this past weekend that the children’s bookstore in a Green Bay suburb will close its doors by mid-July, after 20 years in business.
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John Locke Hits 1 Million on the Kindle
Amazon.com announced that John Locke has become the first self-published author to sell over 1 million paid copies in the Kindle Store.
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Making the Web Pay
A Chicago antiquarian bookstore specializing in scholarly history books about President Lincoln, U.S. presidents, and the Civil War is successfully using the Web to enhance in-store author events. In the process, the store is selling a minimum of 50 hardcover books at each event to readers all over the world.
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Borders in Pact to Keep Stores Open
It looks like all Borders Group stores that faced the possibility of being forced to hold closing sales next week will get more time. In a statement filed with the bankruptcy court Wednesday, the company said that it has reached an agreement in principle with its lenders and the creditors committee on an amendment that would alleviate the need to hold store closing sales at outlets where no agreement had been reached to extend lease negotiations.
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Roslindale's Village Books to Close
In an e-mail sent to its customers earlier this week, owners of Village Books in Roslindale, Mass., said they were closing the store after six years in business. “Due to the economic downturn and changing customer buying habits we must close our doors,” wrote Jane Connelley and Lorie Spencer, the sisters who owned the store.
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Borders Knocks More Locations Off the Store Closing List
As promised, Borders continues to whittle away at the number of stores it may need to close because of an inability to reach agreements to extend lease negotiations. From the original list of 51 outlets, the number of stores that face possible closure now stands at 40.
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Creditors Committee Advisors Submit Bill
No one said Chapter 11 is cheap. The two principal advisors for the unsecured creditors committee in the Borders’ case submitted their first interim application for payment for service provided from late February through April 30. Financial advisor BDO USA is seeking $1,197,903.75 in fees plus $32,267.69 in travel and other costs. Lowenstein Sandler, general counsel to the committee, submitted a bill for $853,082.78.
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April Bookstore Sales Rise 1.8%
Bookstore sales rose 1.8% in April, to $887 million, according to preliminary estimates released Tuesday morning by the U.S. Census Bureau. Boosted by a major revision in March sales which changed a 5.8% decline to a 1.1% increase, bookstore sales for the first four months of 2011 were up 0.2%, to $4.98 billion. Sales include the going-out-of business sales conducted by Borders during the spring.
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Borders Cuts New Closing List to 45: New Hearing Set
Borders filed a motion Friday taking six of the 51 stores off the list of outlets that may be closed. Judge Glenn also approved the request to move up the hearing for a motion to give Borders approval to conduct store closing sales at stores where extensions have not been reached.
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Book Machines Near the Tipping Point?
Retailing for $185,000, the Espresso Book Machine, developed by On Demand Books, costs more than the annual revenue of some independent bookstores. But with a new partnership with the American Booksellers Association to help get frontlist and midlist titles from mainstream houses (something that has eluded ODB to date), an agreement with HarperCollins for some backlist titles with the promise of new releases at some point in the future, and more involvement from Xerox, the EBM could be poised to become a bookstore staple.
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Canadian Postal Strike Has E-tailers Seeking Alternatives
Canada Post workers began a rotating strike on June 2, shutting down service in various cities across the country and forcing booksellers to explore other ways to ensure they can deliver books to customers buying online.
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DDG Booksellers Turns 20
Last Friday’s 20th anniversary party for Devaney Doak & Garett Booksellers in Farmington, Maine., was "a wonderful celebration of books, community, and friendship," says Kenny Brechner, who has managed the store and owned it for nearly all of its 20 years.
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The Other Black Friday for Children's Booksellers: Memorial Day
For bookstores in vacation destinations, like Eight Cousins on Cape Cod, the summer can be the equivalent of other stores' holiday selling season. But this summer could be a bit quieter for some booksellers, and not just because of tornadoes or rising gas prices.
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Kids Ink Turns 25
To mark Kids Ink Children's Bookstore’s first 25 years, owner Shirley Mullin decided to hold a birthday party for the store. When she opened the children's specialty bookstore in Indianapolis in May 1986, there were only two children's book authors in Indiana. Now there's an active group of writers.
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Borders Files to Close More Stores; Gores Asked to Do Better
Events are coming to a head at Borders as the chain works to stay within the requirements of its DIP financing while juggling offers for some of its assets. On Thursday, faced with what it termed a “Hobson’s choice,” in which there is only one option, Borders filed to close up to 51 of its most profitable stores.
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Aletheia Cuts Stake in Barnes & Noble
Aletheia Research and Management disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission Wednesday morning that it had cut its stake in Barnes & Noble to 5.2 million shares, or 8.65% of the company from the 10.59% stake it held in April. Aletheia is B&N’s third largest shareholder after chairman Len Riggio and outside investor Ron Burkle.
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Ingram Publisher Services Adds Three
Ingram Publisher Services, Inc., an Ingram Content Group company, announced distribution agreements with three new clients: Beautiful/Decay, a 15-year-old magazine that publishes limited edition, hand-numbered, advertising-free art books and designs apparel; year-old Dreamscape Media LLC, which publishes digital and CD-format audio content; and Where to Bike, LLC, a subsidiary of Bicycling Australia, which publishes cycling books and international cycling guides.
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Hoping for a Hot Summer
For bookstores in vacation destinations, the summer can be the equivalent of other stores' holiday selling season. But this summer could be a bit quieter than last, and not just because of tornadoes or rising gas prices. As Claire Benedict, co-owner of Bear Pond Books and Rivendell Books, in Montpelier, Vt., pointed out, "This is the first summer where we're going to feel the effects of the e-readers. They're chipping away at our sales." That didn't stop her from opening a second Rivendell location in the Berlin (Vt.) Mall in a former Waldenbooks store earlier this year.
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Cambridge's Curious George Store to Close
Close on the heels of this week’s announcement from Globe Corner Bookstore that it will close its bricks-and-mortar bookstore in Harvard Square, Cambridge, comes word that children's specialty store Curious George & Friends will also shut its doors this month. The book and toy store, located just a few blocks from Globe Corner, was founded by Hillel Stavis and Donna Friedman in 1995 and named for the mischievous monkey created by their friends and neighbors Margret and Hans Rey.
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Borders Merchandise Officer Quits
Borders has endured a rash of executive resignations since it filed for Chapter 11 in February and the latest to jump ship is Michele Cloutier executive v-p and chief merchandising officer.
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