Rachel Fershleiser will join Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in the newly created role of executive director, audience development and engagement on June 20, reporting to Adriana Rizzo. Most recently she was director, publishing outreach at Tumblr. Jonathan Nowell has joined Trillium Partners firm as a senior adviser, working “to originate and execute M&A and fund raising mandates in the publishing sector.” Nowell was ceo and president at Nielsen Book. He says in the announcement, “Having observed and participated actively in the evolution of the publishing industry for over three decades, I can see significant further scope for M&A activity and the potential […]
Bookstores
Bookselling: Sales Rise At Indigo In Fourth Quarter, and More
Canada’s dominant bookstore chain Indigo reported results for their fiscal fourth quarter, ending April 2. Sales for the extended 14-week quarter were $220 million (CA), up $34 million from a year ago. On a 13-week, comparable store basis, superstore sales grow 14.7 percent, while small-format stores were up 15.8 percent. Online sales rose 9.8 percent. The net loss for the quarter was $13.4 million, compared to $13.9 million a year ago. General merchandise (including their American Girls boutiques) showed “double-digit growth” during the fiscal year, with books growing by “high single-digits,” particularly “boosted by the trend for adult coloring books.” Sales for the full 53-week fiscal […]
Bookselling: Indigo’s New Concept Store, Half-Price for Georgia
On Friday dominant Canadian bookselling chain Indigo will hold a grand opening for their new concept store in Toronto’s Sherway Gardens, the chain’s first new store in over 5 years and a model for ambitious renovation plans that “will be rolled out over time to the company’s 90 other book superstores,” ceo Heather Reisman told the Financial Post. The press release describes it as a “cultural department store for booklovers and their friends,” with “a cross-section of shops-within-a-shop filled with an unparalleled selection of books and beautiful, affordable lifestyle products, all merchandized to inspire and delight.” Books comprise about 60 […]
Quotable: Bezos Confirms the Known About Stores
It’s making news that Amazon ceo Jeff Bezos confirmed at the company’s annual meeting what is already known about their store rollout, without adding anything in particular: “We’re definitely going to open additional stores, how many we don’t know yet,” he said. “In these early days it’s all about learning, rather than trying to earn a lot of revenue.” Their second store in La Jolla, CA is due to open this summer. As we have noted before, job postings on the company’s site indicate the intention to hire a full management infrastructure to support multiple stores. After all, among recent listings, […]
ABA’s Teicher: “The State of Independent Bookselling Remains Strong”
Following the early release of the American Booksellers Association’s annual membership numbers which showed their seventh annual increase — along with an indication of increased print unit sales at member stores that report to Nielsen Bookscan, the organization’s ceo Oren Teicher addressed the group’s annual meeting. He noted that “almost two third of the ABA members” in attendance at BEA this year are members “who have not been to this show in recent years,” due to the one-year relocation to Chicago. (BEA returns to Javits Center in New York in 2017.) Teicher celebrated “independent booksellers’ commitment to innovation and hard […]
HarperCollins Creates Program to Support New Bookstores
HarperCollins announced a New Store Development Program to support independent booksellers opening new stores (or additional locations) in the US. Qualifying stores can get extra discount, “in the form of market development and fixture funds, on orders placed priorto opening and for the first three months of operation.” Harper will also give grants towards ABA membership dues and three months of Above the Treeline fees. Harper’s president of sales Josh Marwell says in the announcement, “We want to do everything we reasonably can to encourage” the growth in indie stores, “especially in the critical early days of a new store’s life.” American Booksellers Association ceo Oren Teicher adds, “While our market […]