Borders Leaves Publishers Unimpressed, Pushes for Better Terms

As reported in PW Daily, yesterday, Borders was facing a skeptical publisher audience Wednesday when it presented its reorganization plan and by most accounts publishers came away unimpressed. One publisher said the restructuring plan is "filled with very optimistic assumptions. Very."

Indigo Adds New Program, Discusses Product Mix

Indigo Books and Music, Canada's largest book retail chain, unveiled a new customer rewards and loyalty program yesterday, as an important piece of its strategy for surviving changes in the bookselling landscape. CEO Heather Reisman was on hand for the announcement, and discussed other ways the retailer is changing its mix to remain a healthy physical bookstore.

Borders to Pitch Skeptical Publishers

At a meeting with publishers set for Wednesday morning, Borders Group will unveil its long-awaited restructuring plan, but unless it contains substantial new information, publishers are likely to remain skeptical about its chances for success.

Scheer Associates Rep Group Disbands After a Half-Century

The George Scheer Group, a commission rep organization formed in the late 1950s, is disbanding at the end of the current selling season in June 2011 after serving booksellers and publishers continuously for more than half a century. Tom Murphy and Wayne Donnell bought the business from Scheer on his retirement in 1992.

Lessons from Powell's Books

Just one week before Borders filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Powell's Books in Portland, Ore., laid off 31 employees, or 7% of its workforce, a move that followed downsizing the staff through attrition in 2010. While the situation at Powell's is not dire, unlike that of the nation's #2 bookstore chain, many of the same economic factors are forcing all bricks-and-mortar booksellers to make tough decisions regarding staffing, inventory, marketing, benefits, and in some cases, closings.

Borders Wants to Accelerate Lease Negotiations

The most important filing made by Borders Group Thursday involved its ongoing efforts to reduce its rent. As part of its motion asking the bankruptcy court to authorize the company to renegotiate leases, Borders said it is accelerating its pre-bankruptcy program to identify underperforming and unprofitable stores, not to necessarily close those stores but to get concessions from the landlords to keep the stores open.

Tax Fairness Getting Closer, Teicher Says, But More Needs to Be Done

Oren Teicher, president of the American Booksellers Association, presided over a discussion of the renewed effort to create a sales tax fairness law in California yesterday at the spring meeting of the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association at the Marriot Hotel in Manhattan Beach. "We're getting there," Teicher told a packed room of booksellers. "We're at the point where the battle has been tipped over to our side."

Busboys & Poets Grows Stores and Publishing Program

When Modern Times Bookstore Collective in San Francisco sent out an e-mail in the middle of March about losing its lease and needing a temporary location until it could move in with Busboys & Poets, the restaurant/gathering place, that was the first word that many people had about Busboys's intention to go West. The restaurant will open with a bookstore in Denver next year and with Modern Times in San Francisco in 2013. This month it will publish two volumes of poetry under the Busboys & Poet imprint of PM Press.

After A Slow 2010 Comics Retailers Look to 2011 For Growth

Despite the slow economic recovery, owners and managers of comics shops contacted for our annual, informal survey of comics retailers said they are generally optimistic about the comics market, citing a good holiday season and healthier sales in January and February. But retailers also emphasized cited the need to adjust to new consumer buying patterns.

New Owners for Politics & Prose

After a nine-month search, Politics & Prose has selected new owners, according to an announcement on its Web site. Former Washington Post journalists, husband and wife Bradley Graham and Lissa Muscatine will purchase the Washington, D.C. bookstore later this spring.

PW Select: Booksellers Reveal Secrets to Self-Published Success

If there was ever a stigma about selling self-published books, independent booksellers in the Midwest and Rocky Mountain states have long since gotten over it. Self-published books sell well at most of the stores in the region contacted by PW. The Bookworm in Omaha, Neb., disclosed that two self-published books—Pleased but Not Satisfied by Berkshire Hathaway executive David Sokol, and Five Minute Talks on Life, Love, and Faith by Fr. James Schwertley, a retired Catholic priest—currently are their top-selling titles.

Chicagoland After Borders

Chicagoland has been hit hard by Borders's financial troubles. The company closed its Chicago flagship store in January, leaving a trilevel, 48,881-sq.-ft. empty retail space on a street corner in the heart of the high-rent Magnificent Mile. As part of its bankruptcy reorganization, Borders initially announced that 15 of its 31 Chicago area stores would close this spring, later adding a 16th store to the list.

Borders Watch: Distribution Center Switch, Exec Incentives, New Terms Sought

In its second turnabout within a week, Borders will close its Northeast distribution center in Carlisle, Pa., but keep the warehouse in LaVergne, Tenn., open for the foreseeable future, according to the Nashville Business Journal.

Powell’s Gets App

To demonstrate what a time-location aware app can do, mobile app developer Spotlight Mobile, with offices in Portland and San Francisco, worked with Powell's Books as one of the first customers for its mobile app Meridian, launched earlier this week.

Charis Books & More Plans Makeover

Atlanta's Charis Books & More, the oldest feminist bookstore in the Southeast, is gearing up for a big relocation, the first in its 37-year history. Earlier this month, the store's co-owners, along with the chairperson of the store's nonprofit arm, Charis Circle, announced plans to open the Charis Feminist Center, a multi-purpose space that will house the bookstore, the nonprofit, and a café, as well as provide space for other nonprofit organizations.

Children's Specialist Buys Bookstore in Worcester

Longtime children's bookseller Patty Cryan purchased Annie's Book Stop of Worcester in Worcester, Mass., late last year and has already given the store, which specializes in used books, her own stamp.

What's Selling at Hooray for Books

Trish Brown, co-owner of Hooray for Books in Alexandria, Va., gives word of a trio of titles that are current favorites with her customers.

Chegg Moves Beyond Textbook Rental

Textbook rental powerhouse Chegg is expanding by helping students organize their academic life by better integrating two recent acquisitions. In August Chegg purchased Mountain View, Calif., start-up CourseRank, begun in 2007 by three Stanford University students who wanted to make it easy for students to share schedules, write reviews of classes, and find out how professors grade. Then in December Chegg bought Cramster, a social online homework help platform started in 2002 in Pasadena. Now it is integrating both on Chegg.com.

Indigo Makes Changes at the Top

Indigo Books and Music has appointed a new president and a new chief financial officer. Ted Marlow, an Indigo board member, will be Indigo’s president effective April 1.

Distribution: Harvard Common to HMH; Seven Stories to RH