Random House‘s Maryland distribution center, which shut down for 30 hours Monday night because of the mega-storm, was back in full operation as of Tuesday evening. The company is authorizing weekend overtime for its fulfillment staff to attend to any outstanding back orders.
Ingram also experienced a brief interruption in services due to power outages, but told Shelf Awareness its distribution center in Chambersburg, PA and print-on-demand center in Allentown, PA “are up and running on schedule,” and it is “working closely with carriers” to get service restored to areas currently made inaccessible by the storm.
Most bookstores in the NYC area apparently made it through the storm relatively unscathed — McNally Jackson is currently without power, as is Housing Works, while several Brooklyn-based bookstores are open and fully operational — but powerHouse Arena in DUMBO incurred “severe damage,” according to ceo Daniel Power, who posted pictures on Twitter Tuesday showing the after-effects of 28 inches of flooding. The store told us they “plan to reopen soon” but has no set timetable for doing so; they also told the NY Daily Newsthey had no flood insurance.
Power says their “council member was just by and they’re figuring out what’s available.” He hopes to reopen in “maybe a week or so” (the water leaving the store broke the door).
As for publishers, agencies, and other companies affiliated with the trade, it’s a safe bet that any company with offices below 34th Street in Manhattan is without power and remains closed. But most companies are open for orders and shipping from facilities outside of Manhattan. (Publishers further uptown are either closed or operating in limited capacity. Random House’s offices are within the evacuation zone around the partially-collapsed crane at 57th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues.) Email is not working for Macmillan and Grove/Atlantic. We will continue to update as we learn more information.
In awards news, Will Ferguson‘s 419 won Canada’s Giller Prize. It was one of only two nominated books that did not have an announced US publisher lined up earlier this month.
Abingdon Press expanded its relationship with Ingram last month and is using Ingram Publisher Services for sales and distribution to ABA stores and gift and special market outlets.