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Customer Support Stops The Book Tavern Book Burning
Most people would agree that book burning is a bad thing, invoking as it does a legacy of intolerance, oppression, and irreplaceable loss. And yet, they can generate some spectacular publicity—just ask Terry Jones, the Florida pastor who sparked an international firestorm when he proposed burning the Quran last September. Or you could ask the owners of The Book Tavern in Augusta, Ga., who enjoyed their biggest revenue-generating day ever thanks to their plan--ultimately unrealized--to burn books in front of the store this past Saturday, in what owner David Hutchison called "David's Inferno."
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Publishers Weigh Proposal as Borders Trims Field Managers
Following Thursday's meeting between publishers and Borders, publishers went back to crunch numbers to see if accepting Borders' offer is better than allowing the retailer to slip into Chapter 11. Also on Thursday, Borders confirmed that it eliminated 15 field manager positions.
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Diamond Halts Shipments to Borders
Diamond Book Distributors, the book trade division of Diamond Comics Distributors, is suspending book shipments to Borders.
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New Children's Bookstore Opens in Lexington, Mass.
Children's bookstores seem to be having a resurgence, at least in the Greater Boston area. Two weeks after Wit & Whimsy opened on December 4 in Marblehead, Mass., the Elephant's Trunk Children's Bookshop in Lexington, Mass., had a soft opening the week before Christmas to celebrate the arrival of the store's bookshelves. Owner Danielle Kreger, age 28, is planning a grand opening in early February, when the 1,000-square-foot store is fully up and running, and the latest blizzard to hit New England is more of a memory.
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Borders Meeting Set For Thursday; Warehouse to Be Closed
The meeting that could shape the immediate future of Borders Group is scheduled for Thursday afternoon. Publishers, according to sources, will largely be represented by lawyers and finance executives who hope to hear more about the retailer’s new finance and turnaround plan from the Borders' team.
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The Mystery Bookstore to Close
The Mystery Bookstore, long a favorite of Los Angeles readers of whodunits and crime novels, will close on January 31, according to a statement released yesterday by owners Kirk Pasich and Pamela Woods. The store opened in 1987 as the west coast branch of Otto Penzler’s Mysterious Bookshop and remained at its West Hollywood location for 13 years. Penzler sold the store to a consortium of investors in 2000, who moved the store to Westwood near the campus of UCLA and concurrently changed its name to the Mystery Bookstore.
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Worst-Case Scenarios: Contemplating Life After Borders
Although Borders has been struggling financially for years, for the first time the book industry is openly, and in many cases actively, planning for what business will be like without the nation's second largest bookstore chain.
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Chaucer's Reigns in Santa Barbara
When Mahri Kerley opened Chaucer's Bookstore in 1974, she had no idea that the store's survival would be threatened by the arrival of chains like B. Dalton, Crown Books, Waldenbooks, Barnes & Noble, and Borders, but more than 36 years later her competitors in Santa Barbara have all closed, and Chaucer's reigns securely as the upscale beach community's only remaining bookstore.
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Publishers Unimpressed with Borders Proposal
Publishers seemed unimpressed with Borders proposals that seek new financing and payment terms. According to sources familiar with negotiations, Borders offered few details beyond what has already been reported in the press. One publisher said the proposal, as it stands now, "is not going to fly."
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Barnes & Noble Reports Big Online, Store Holiday Gains
After giving a preliminary report earlier this week about strong holiday gains, this morning Barnes & Noble gave a more detailed presentation, citing huge increases at Barnes & Noble.com and solid gains at its trade bookstores.
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Children's Holiday Roundup: Strong Ending to a Flat Year
Neither torrential rains in Southern California nor snows in the Midwest dampened shoppers this holiday season, particularly those looking for children's books. Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe in Asheville, N.C., saw a steady increase in sales for the entire month of December. But "the last week was giant," says general manager Linda Barrett-Knopp. "Every day was the equivalent of three or four days during the year. It was great."
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Publishers Eyeing Borders Discussions Warily
Publishers appear willing to adopt a tough stance in negotiations with Borders this week regarding the chain’s need for new payment and finance terms. While Borders is meeting separately with the major New York houses, there appears to be sentiment among some of the publishers to use a mediator to negotiate on their behalf.
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MPiBA Leadership Transition Complete
Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association (MPiBA) announced to its membership over the holiday weekend that the transition between outgoing executive director Lisa D. Knudsen and incoming executive director Laura P. Ayrey has been completed, and that, as of January 4, 2011, MPiBA's headquarters are located in Park City, Utah.
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Two Borders Execs Resign; B&N Issues Statement On 'Special Terms'
Borders' share price continued to drop as the troubled retailer announced that two senior executives, chief information officer D. Scott Laverty and general counsel Thomas D. Carney, resigned from the company. Borders did not offer reasons for their departure.
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Three New Clients to IPS
Ingram Publisher Services, an Ingram Content Group company, is starting the year with three new distribution clients—ArtsMemphis, The Cooking Lab, and Tharpa Publications—including one that only recently launched. The Cooking Lab, which was founded last year, struck the deal in time for the March release of its first publication, Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking, by Nathan Myhrvold, Chris Young, and Maxime Bilet. The six-volume set contains more than a thousand recipes and over 3,500 photographs and illustrations.
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Borders To Offer New Financing Plan; Publishers Suspend Book Shipments
In the wake of the Borders Group announcement that it is suspending payments to some publishers, at least one major New York City house has suspended shipping titles to the retail chain. While it has been reported that academic publisher Rowman and Littlefield has also stopped making shipments to the retailer, the house is distributed by the National Book Network, which has suspended shipments to Borders for all of its distribution clients. While it is unclear how many publishers have suspended shipments to the troubled retail chain, the situation remains fluid. PW has learned that Borders has located a new source of financing and a group of Borders executives will be in New York City this week to present the plan to publishers.
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Strong Finish to a Flat Year
Neither torrential rains in Southern California nor snows in the Midwest kept shoppers away from bookstores this holiday season, especially during the all-important final week.
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Points of Sale: Tips for Children’s Booksellers
This column grew from first-hand experience that many of the best bookselling ideas come from other booksellers. Each tip offers an inventive way to solve problems that you may not have even been aware of in your store, like getting more mileage out of writing contests and giving old spinner racks another spin with different books.
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Aletheia Cuts Barnes & Noble Stake
Aletheia Research and Management, which at one point owned 15.1% of Barnes & Noble stock, has reduced its stake to 12.7%, the firm said in a filing made with the Securities & Exchange Commission Wednesday. Aletheia now owns 7.67 million shares worth approximately $108 million; it said it had paid $149.8 million for the shares.
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Self-Published Title Bookworm's Top Seller
A self-published business management book written by an Omaha native and longtime Bookworm customer that's offered exclusively through that bookstore since 2008 has been its topselling book for more than two years. Approximately 8,000 copies of Pleased But Not Satisfied by David Sokol have been sold to date--many of them to customers from all over the world through the store's Web site.
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