In the slow announcements of Hillary Clinton’s Trickle Tour for Hard Choices, Barnes & Noble indicates that their Union Square store in New York City will be the site of her first public appearance on publication day, June 10. Secretary Clinton will sign books beginning at 11, and BN will start distributing wristbands to customers at 8 in the morning. Clinton will also visit their store at The Grove in Los Angeles on June 19. Last Friday Changing Hands opened its Phoenix branch, a 17,227-square foot space that also includes the First Draft bar, the store’s first coffee, wine and […]
Bookstores
Judge Temporarily Blocks Hastings Merger, Schedules Hearing On Shareholder Suit
A Texas US District Court has granted a temporary restraining order “restricting” the proposed merger between retailer Hastings and companies controlled by National Entertainment Collectibles Association owner Joel Weinshanker. The court has scheduled a June 12 hearing on a shareholder lawsuit alleging that the purchase price is “insufficient consideration” and charged that the officers and directors of Hastings “breached their respective fiduciary duties in the course of negotiating and approving” the merger. The buyout offer is for $3 a share, but the plaintiffs indicated earlier they believe the company may be worth $5 a share or more. If the $21.4 million buyout is […]
Books-a-Million Adds HBG Featured Shop; BN Features A Few Titles; Wal-Mart Books HBG; Gladwell Speaks
Books-a-Million announced on Friday the creation of a dedicated online shop featuring Hachette Book Group titles at www.booksamillion.com/hbg. The top of the HBG home page says in headline type, “Don’t miss out on your next favorite book, pre-order today!” And one of the home page carousels is labelled, “Pre-Order the HBG Books You Want from the Bookseller You Can Count On.” The press release notes: “This announcement comes in addition to Books-A-Million’s commitment to offer their customers a discount of up to 30 percent off a wide selection of Hachette Book Group pre-order titles, and 40 percent off select current Hachette […]
ABA’s Teicher Says “The Book Industry Is Being Held Hostage” By Amazon; Celebrates Indies’ Gains
ABA ceo Oren Teicher addressed the organization at their annual membership meeting on Thursday afternoon in an enthusiastic vein: “I could not be more pleased to be able to reiterate – the indie bookstore resurgence has continued.” At the same time, he noted how “the aggressive discounting and strong-arm tactics of the dominant online retailer continue to cause havoc. Its recent bullying assault of a major publisher is just the latest example of a unilateral and shortsighted strategy. To put it plainly: the book industry is being held hostage by a company far more interested in selling flat screen TV’s, […]
Patterson Names 43 Stores to Receive $268,000 In Grants
Some of the best experiments for innovations in brick-and-mortar bookselling are coming through the ambitious, ongoing program in which author James Patterson is giving $1 million in personal funds as direct grants to support independent bookstores in a variety of initiatives. In February Patterson announced the first grants, allocating $267,000 to 55 stores and at a Wednesday afternoon BEA panel, booksellers who received some of those grant shared success stories and appreciation. Mitchell Kaplan of Books & Books, who moderated the panel and was among the first round of recipients, said the initiative is “one of the most genuine things I […]
At BEA, Booksellers Further Contemplate Bundling
The closest thing to an opening keynote program on a generally quiet conference day at BEA was an afternoon panel on The Future of Brick and Mortar Retailers — moderated by Dominique Raccah of Sourcebooks and featuring John Ingram of Ingram Content Group; Joyce Meskis of The Tattered Cover; Michael Tamblyn of Kobo; Mike Hesselbach of Readerlink; and Oren Teicher of the ABA. The session’s applause line came at the end, when Teicher reminded everyone, “We want to make books of all publishers equally available, all the time.” And the session’s laugh line when Tamblyn followed up by noting Kobo […]