Colorado book chain Tattered Cover laid off 15 employees since its acquisition by Barnes & Noble this summer, retaining 51 staff people. Westword reports that staff sat for re-interviews during the transition process, resulting in the layoffs. The retailer’s June bankruptcy filing asserted that BN planned to offer employment to “substantially all” of Tattered Cover’s employees. Managing director Derek Holland said, “We now have 51 employees across all four of the Tattered Cover locations. We conducted a thorough rehiring process for all booksellers led entirely by me and all four store managers. Based on the results of those interviews, we let […]
Bookstores
B&N Workers Rally for Union Contract
On Thursday, Barnes & Noble employees rallied outside of its flagship store and corporate headquarters in Union Square to demand their first contract be reached by the end of the year. The employees of the unionized stores in NYC–Union Square, Park Slope, and the Upper West Side–are members of RWDSU, and were joined by workers from other unionized bookstores including The Strand and McNally Jackson. “The company’s refusal to pay a fair wage has thus far prevented the union from settling the first union contracts and getting union benefits, healthcare, and protection from store closure and relocation,” the union said […]
ABA Requests Tertulia Remove Bookstore Content
Book recommendation site Tertulia has used logos and content from bookstores without permission, according to Bookselling This Week. Tertulia hosts pages of “Book Recommendations & Book Mentions” from several stores, which include a list of books that the store has mentioned on Twitter, along with the text of the post. The pages also include stores’ logos and a link to their Twitter pages. Pages exist for prominent indies including Anderson’s Bookshop and BookPeople. As of today, one for Powell’s has been removed. Paul Bogaards, a spokesperson for Tertulia, said that bookstore content was included unintentionally. “They are legacy book mentions from […]
Bookselling: Walsh Opens California Bookstore
Former literary agent, WME executive and events entrepreneur Jennifer Rudolph Walsh has opened the Godmothers bookstore in Summerland, CA in partnership with cosmetics entrepreneur Victoria Jackson. Saturday’s grand opening included an appearance by local resident Meghan Markle. Last week, Jackson published WE ALL WORRY, NOW WHAT? through Melcher Media.
Bookshop UK Launches Buyback Program
Bookshop.org in the UK has launched Bookloop, a program allowing customers to trade in used books for store credit. Customers can either leave books at a drop-off point or have them picked up at home. Bookshop will continue to only sell new books, but will trade the books to Zeercle, the company that also operates WH Smith’s buyback program. Distinct from the WH Smith program, Zeercle will not sell the used Bookshop books through Amazon-owned sites. Books are valued via an online calculator and customers must sell £5 worth of books to participate. The Guardian calculates that recent titles Prophet […]
German Bookseller Weltbild Will Close
With no buyer to be found, German bookseller Weltbild will close its 14 remaining stores by the end of August and liquidate. Most of the approximately 440 employees will lose their jobs. But Augsburger Allgemeine reports that the country’s leading bookseller Thalia is interested in acquiring assets from the bankruptcy estate — including inventory, trademark rights and the Tolino ereader and ebook business. Thalia has submitted an application to the Federal Cartel Office regarding its purchase interest.