At last week’s auction when newly formed Booksellers Enterprises, LLC, an affiliate of Langley Properties Co., which manages The Mall at Lexington Green where the Lexington Joseph-Beth Booksellers is located, emerged victorious as the bidder for that store and stores in Cincinnati and the Cleveland Clinic, it bought something almost as important—the Joseph-Beth and the Davis-Kidd Booksellers names.
According to Joseph-Beth COO Mark Wilson, who will be part of the management team of the new Joseph-Beth once the auction results are approved in bankruptcy court on Wednesday morning, Booksellers Enterprises hopes to reach an agreement with the Davis-Kidd landlord in Memphis. It would then continue to operate as Davis-Kidd. “Clearly we’re disappointed about the Memphis store,” he says. “We’re hoping the landlord reaches out to the new owner.” Gordon Brothers Retail Partners had the winning bid to liquidate the inventory in Memphis and at the Joseph-Beth in Fredericksburg, Va., which will transfer to Books-A-Million.
Wilson, who was brought in by Joseph-Beth founder Neil Van Uum in 2006 to manage the business, is convinced that the remaining stores, together with Memphis, can be a strong, viable business. “Neil’s done a fantastic job growing the business to a point. It’s challenging for retailers. Not only are they dealing with Amazon, but disruptive technologies like the e-reader,” he says. “When I came on five years ago, there was a lot of debt. I built the core team. We spent a lot of time rebuilding the business, developing the right metrics, and optimizing profitability. Under the burden of debt, we were managing by the debt line rather than the objectives.”
Going forward, Wilson would like to focus on customer service, store ambience, product differentiation, community, and being independent, all areas identified as important in customer surveys. The new Joseph-Beth will continue to rely on Ingram as its Vendor of Record. Wilson praised both Ingram and Joseph-Beth’s customers for their patience. Among the first changes customers will see under Bookseller Enterprises is the restoration of inventory, which had been depleted during bankruptcy, and more services. Stores will also be revitalized, like the one at Lexington Green, which will benefit from the mall’s current facelift and transition to a lifestyle center.
