Washington, DC’s Trover Shop bookstore on Capitol Hill is closing after 51 years in business. At one point comprising five stores in the area, Trover Shops will be left with a single outlet that sells only cards and gifts. Co-owner Andy Shuman (and son of founder Joe Shuman) tells the Washington Post, “We don’t want to see it go, but unfortunately with the way the industry’s going and other stores closing, we’d rather be on our own terms than someone else’s terms.” They wanted to be able to “walk away with our heads held high instead of with our heads between our legs.”
On the plus side, yesterday’s Dallas Morning News highlighted the growth track of Half Price Books, Records, Magazines Inc. Owner Sharon “Boots” Anderson Wright says “cosmic karma has aligned” as the company opened its 106th store in May and registered sales of $205 million in their just-ended fiscal year. She adds, “We’re constantly hearing from people who can’t stand the fact that we don’t want investors, financial advice or debt. I just don’t talk to those people.” The company employs 2,300 people and expects to add another 200 workers in the next year.
And in electronic bookselling, Andrew Savikas explains one thing that Scribd.com gets right–daily sales reports to publishers (along with other detailed stats). “During one particularly frustrating conversation with an ebook reseller
just last week, I learned that we’d be lucky to get sales reports
nearly 6 weeks after any sales.”
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