Now that Indigo Books physical stores are closed until further notice, the company temporarily laid off 5,200 retail employees as of last Friday. (According to their website, they employed a total of about 7,000 people.) All employees had been paid during the initial hiatus, from March 17 until March 28. Spokesperson Kate Gregory said the company had “made the difficult decision” to layoff employees temporarily. The company expects “to re-embrace as many as possible when this period of store closure is over.” Longer closures will put stress on bookstores large and small. Slate talks to some independent booksellers, for whom […]
