Rowman & Littlefield announced it has acquired the assets of cookbook publisher Gooseberry Patch, which has been a longtime distribution of R&L’s National Book Network (NBN). Gooseberry Patch will operate as part of Globe Pequot, which R&L acquired in 2014, and Gooseberry coo Liz Plotnick-Snay will continue to oversee the line of over 200 titles. San Francisco bookstore Borderlands announced on its website that it plans to close “no later than March 31,” blaming the city’s new minimum wage law passed last November. “Although all of us at Borderlands support the concept of a living wage in principal and we believe that it’s […]
Bookstores
Barnes & Noble Retail CEO Mitch Klipper To Retire (But Stay On As Real Estate Advisor)
Barnes & Noble’s chief executive for the retail group, Mitchell Klipper, will retire from his role on May 2 (the end of BN’s 2015 fiscal year) after more than 28 years with the company, though he will stay on with the company as special advisor on real estate and other matters through May 3, 2019, at an annual base salary of $400,000. A search for Klipper’s successor is underway, and he will have a hand in the selection process. BN chairman and founder Leonard Riggio said in the announcement: “Mitchell Klipper’s contributions to Barnes & Noble have been nothing short […]
BN Buys Back Pearson Shares in Nook, Too
When Barnes & Noble bought back Microsoft’s 16.8 percent stake in Nook Media earlier this month for $125 million in cash and stock, they gave Pearson an option to sell back their Nook shares as well. In a filing with the SEC Tuesday morning, BN announced they purchased Pearson’s stake on December 22 for $13.75 million and 602,927 shares of its common stock. The buyback is at the same reduced valuation as the Microsoft repurchase, down from the $89.5 million Pearson paid in 2012 for their 5 percent stake in Nook Media. The deal is what ceo Michael Huseby earlier termed a “tag-along right” that […]
People: Peter Wiley to Retire from Board Chair
John Wiley chairman Peter Booth Wiley announced that he intends to retire from that position as of September 2015, when his term expires, though he will maintain his board seat. Current director and former group president at Pitney Bowes Matthew Kissner has been nominated to take over as chair. Peter Wiley has held the position since 2002, when he took over from his brother Bradford Wiley II. While this breaks the Wiley family’s tenure at the top, he indicates that is temporary: “Although I am stepping down as Chairman after twelve years, the Wiley family remains committed to its leadership […]
Bookselling: New Locations for Anderson’s, Third Place Books, HugoBooks; Final Patterson Pledges to 81 Bookstores
Anderson’s Bookshop will open its third location in La Grange, IL in April, the Chicago Tribune reports, after signing a lease on December 5 for the former PNC Bank at La Grange Road and Calendar Avenue. “It’s the perfect place with a vibrant, established downtown area with lots of independent businesses and a wonderful business alliance that does all sorts of great events,” owner Becky Anderson told the paper, adding the new store will be similar to the other two retail locations, but stocked according to customers’ preferences. Third Place Books will also open its third location next year in […]
Briefs: Quick Publication of Torture Report, and Pop-Up Holiday Stores
Public Affairs told Time magazine last week that they had tried to work with the Senate Intelligence Committee to coordinate a trade book version of their 500-page summary version of their torture report, but the committee said it was “devoting its attention to getting the executive summary released.” Now that the report has been released, Melville House has said that it will publish a version of the report for trade paperback and ebook release on December 30. In the meantime, a free PDF version of the report is available here from the Senate committee’s website. Separately, a number of organizations […]