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New Clients for Consortium, SCB & Innovative Logistics
Consortium Book Sales & Distribution, a member of the Perseus Books Group, signed five presses for the fall selling season.
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Bookseller Launches Balladier Press
“I have always worked around books,” says Daniel Butler, who has been a bookseller in a succession of independents since he turned 16 and took a part-time job at Mendocino Book Company in Ukiah, Calif. During college he worked at Back Pages Books in Waltham, Mass., and since graduation he has become a frontline bookseller for Brookline Booksmith in Brookline, Mass. Now Butler is planning to take what he’s learned from bookselling and apply it to publishing with the founding of Balladier Press (www.balladier.wordpress.com).
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Borders Gets Extension; Sales Process Gears Up
Over the objections of the Creditors Committee, the most contentious issue since the start of the Borders bankruptcy on February 16 was resolved in Borders favor Thursday, with the retailer being given an additional 120 days beyond its original June 16 deadline to file and solicit acceptances for a Chapter 11 plan. In ruling against the committee, Judge Martin Glenn noted that he will file a decision with the order later today or tomorrow.
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Borders Defends Need for Extension
With a crucial hearing set for tomorrow in which judge Martin Glenn will rule on, among other things, Borders Group's motion for an extension for an exclusive period to develop its reorganization plan, the retailer's lawyers fired back at arguments made by the Creditors' Committee that Glenn should deny the request. In reply, Borders attorney Andrew Glenn said the company has pursued a dual-track process of exploring the possible sale of its assets as well as a standalone plan of reorganization as suggested by the committee. If Judge Glenn denies Borders' request for an extension, the future of the Chapter 11 process will be put in doubt.
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Indigo Sales Grow, But Investments Take a Bite Out of Profits
Indigo Books & Music, Canada’s largest book retail chain, reported 5% revenue growth for its fiscal year ended April 2, but its net earnings dropped to C$11.3 million from C$23.6 million in the previous year. CEO Heather Reisman said the drop in profit was not unexpected due to the company’s long-term strategy, which includes large-scale investments in its e-reading spinoff, Kobo, and new lifestyle product line. Revenue for the year was C$1.02 billion compared to C$969 million last year.
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Globe Corner Bookstore to Close
After putting 29-year-old Globe Corner Bookstore up for sale last November because of a health issue, president Patrick Carrier announced today that the travel book and map store in Harvard Square Cambridge will close by the end of June. When Globe Corner opened in downtown Boston in 1982, it was one of the first travel bookstores in the U.S. It has been in Harvard Square for the past 24 years.
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Reimagine Everything: New Bookstore Concepts Abound at BEA 2011
Going into this year's BookExpo America, things were not looking particularly upbeat for independent booksellers. The most recent ABACUS study of bookstore sales, for 2009, showed a loss of 8.4% for 61% of the respondents; the other 39% showed only a modest gain of 3.8%. The study of 2010 sales is unlikely to offer a rosier spin.
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Creditors Committee Objects to Borders' Extension Request
One week after Borders Group filed a motion to extend the exclusivity period for filing and soliciting acceptances for a Chapter 11 plan, the Creditors Committee filed an objection. In it, they note that they are “gravely concerned” that an extension could be detrimental to general unsecured creditors. If granted, the extension would give the retailer an additional 120 days from the June 16 deadline to file a plan.
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Books-A-Million Has First Quarter Loss As Comps Plunge
With sales falling 11.1% in the first quarter, to $104 million, Books-A-Million reported a net loss in the period ended April 30 of $3.5 million. In last year’s first quarter BAM had net income of $2 million. Comparable store sales were down 13.2%. BAM's Terry Finley called the first quarter a "very difficult sales environment" that reflected the erosion of print book sales to e-book sales, a weak bestseller lineup, and soft media environment, exacerbated by the tornados that ripped through the southeast.
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Borders Lost $132 Million in April
Borders lost more money in April than it did in March, according to statements filed with the bankruptcy court Friday.
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The Book Works to Close in July
Lisa Stefanacci, owner of The Book Works in Del Mar, California, announced that the 35-year old store will be closing in July because of competition from online booksellers and the profound growth of digital books. "I did everything I possibly could to keep the store going," says Stefanacci, who bought The Book Works five years ago. "Our landlord even helped us to remodel the store, but ultimately that didn't bring more customers in."
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Will Riggio Pull The Trigger?
Ever since he has owned Barnes & Noble, Len Riggio has shown little interest in ceding control of the company he built into the country's largest bookstore chain, as evidenced by his bruising proxy fight with Ron Burkle last summer. But the $17 per share offer by Liberty Media to buy B&N may be too sweet an offer for Riggio and the B&N board to turn down.
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Acting on Impulse
The question of how readers will discover books that they didn't already plan to buy has been growing in importance in the book industry as more sales move from physical bookstores to online retailers.
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Bringing E-books to Stores
Booksellers attending the Canadian Booksellers Association's National Conference in Toronto, May 13–15, were introduced to innovations from two Canadian companies designed to help bricks-and-mortar stores sell e-books. Transcontinental Printing demonstrated its e-book distribution system, which would enable retailers to sell e-books from their own Web sites. Enthrill Entertainment previewed a system of cards that retailers could use to display and sell e-books in their stores.
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Borders Seeks Extension for Reorg Plan
Yesterday Borders asked Judge Martin Glenn and U.S. Bankruptcy Court for more time for its exclusive period to come up with a chapter 11 reorganization plan, without which it will be in default of its DIP Credit Agreement. The request for an additional 120 days would move the deadline from June 16 to October 14.
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Points of Sale: Tips for Children's Booksellers
Kelly Justice, owner of Fountain Books in Richmond, Va., credits her relationships with bloggers like Rebecca Joines Schinsky (The Book Lady), who writes mostly about adult titles, and Susan Robertson (Wastepaper Prose), who specializes in YA, with giving her store a greater presence both nationally and internationally.
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Liberty Media Bids for Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble announced late Thursday afternoon that it received a bid to acquire the company from Liberty Media for $17 per share in cash.
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Borders to End Deal with Seattle's Best Coffee
Borders has filed a motion to keep the details of its separation agreement from Seattle's Best Coffee under seal. According to the motion, public disclosure about the details of the deal could hurt both SBC and Borders. Borders confirmed that it will not use SBC in its going forward stores.
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Creditors Committee Meeting Could Become Showdown
This morning's Creditors Committee conference call with Borders should end speculation as to the bidder for 225 bricks-and-mortar stores in the troubled chain.
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