By Jack McKeown and Don Linn “Borders ended up caught between the variety of the Internet and the intimacy of the independents. Its outlets could never stock as many books as Amazon. Nor could they duplicate the native flavor of the corner bookstores…As paper books become a niche product, niche retailers will be the best place to buy and sell them.” –Edward McClelland, “How Borders Lost its Soul,” Salon.com, February 19, 2011 Southbury is a town located in western Connecticut, part of a region known as the Central Naugatuck Valley. It is a town with both rural and suburban neighborhoods, […]
New Models
Non-Bankruptcy Bookstore News
Four St. Louis bookstores–Left Bank Books, Pudd’nhead Books, Main Street Books and Subterranean Books (which has said it might have to close this year)–have formed the St. Louis Independent Bookstore Alliance. They have a Facebook page, a joint website in the works, and are planning a bookstore tour. And they expect to welcome other area stores to the alliance. Nikki Furrer of Pudd’nhead Books says “This is a chance for all of us to promote St. Louis and stores that people here have not heard of.” Pasadena’s Vroman’s is “very sad to see Borders go, but we’re also excited for […]
More Highlights From DBW’s First Day
We have lots more DBW coverage from Day 1 over at the PM website. Some of the highlights include: — An outside dose of reality on the future of brick-and-mortar bookselling from Goldman Sachs analyst Matt Fassler and Susquehanna Financial Group’s Marianne Wolk. Fassler was down on B&N’s prospects: “There are no safe investments, but publishers and booksellers are something to avoid” in his assessment, because they don’t control their own destiny. Wolk believes that Amazon makes little to no profit from ebooks as they try to maintain dominant market share, and doesn’t even think it’s a corporate goal to […]
Indie Bookstores Stay Optimistic in These Digital Times
It was, as expressed in the Q&A session, “a refreshingly upbeat and optimistic panel.” And indeed, the stereotypical gripes and whines that are too often associated with independent bookstores, for legitimate and not-so-legitimate reasons, were not really in evidence Tuesday afternoon. That isn’t to say this was a complaint-free session, as WORD Bookstore’s Stephanie Anderson, Andy Laties of the Eric Carle Museum Bookstore, and Nicole Magistro of The Bookstore of Edwards were pointed in what frustrations they have with publishers, most notably the reluctance to move to more efficient billing practices and the price disparity on non-agency e-books.) Shelf Awareness […]
One Way to Sell eBooks from Bookstore Shelves
BTW has an interesting piece on how two stores, Green Apple Books in San Francisco and McLean and Eakin Booksellers in Petoskey, Michigan, are using their shelves to help promote and sell ebooks. They have created shelf-talkers with QR codes. “Customers can scan the square codes with their smartphones and go directly to the featured titles on the store’s IndieCommerce website.” Green Apple’s Pete Mulvihill says “we’ll put these all over the displays at the front of the store on any agency plan titles. If nothing else, we think it’ll lead to plenty of customer questions. And at best, we […]
Bookselling: Borders Partners with ShopRunner, Barnes & Noble Tests Toy Boutiques
Borders is continuing their program of scrappy imitation of competitors’ offerings through low-cost partnerships, this time joining ShopRunner.com‘s roster. The site provides the equivalent of Amazon Prime–free two-day shipping in exchange for an annual membership fee of $79–across a network of participating etailers. According to ShopRunner’s site, a similar partnership with Barnes & Noble.com is “coming soon.”Release Reuters reports on Barnes & Noble‘s test program of in-store boutiques for educational toys and games. The 3,000-square-foot prototype “play areas” have opened in recent days at five stores in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, “with plans to open more if the […]