Chicago’s Women & Children First Bookstore has been sold to two employees, Lynn Mooney and Sarah Hollenbeck, the Windy City Times reported. Their winning bid was one of “eight formal offers” made to owners and founders Linda Bubon and Ann Christophersen. Separately, as expected, the sale of Hastings to a company controlled by Joel Weinshanker was formally approved by shareholders on Tuesday. Weinshanker says in the release, “It’s an honor and a privilege to be able to be part of the next chapter of such an important American retailer as Hastings. We will continue to run the business with the same […]
Bookstores
Bookselling: Diesel Malibu to Close, Munro’s Handed to Employees
Diesel will close its Malibu bookstore sometime this summer, and has marked down inventory. Owner John Evans indicated to the Malibu Times earlier this month, “Their lease runs through January 2015 but Evans said part of the reason they’re closing early is because they won’t be able to afford six more months of payments. Evans also faulted Diesel’s location in the Country Mart for the store’s impending closure. Housed in a first-floor space near a courtyard and fountain on the northern side of the center, Evans said it was often hard to draw in foot traffic.” In Victoria, British Columbia, 84-year-old Jim Munro […]
People: Nadine Gordimer Dies
Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer, 90, died at home in Johannesburg. Gordimer won the Booker in 1974 and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize in 2002, along with the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1991. Jamil Ahmad, 83, author of THE WANDERING FALCON, died at his home in Islamabad after a long illness. Ahmad’s debut novel was published in 2011 when he was 79 after being excerpted in the “Pakistan” issue of Granta. At St Martin’s, Nancy Trypuc has been promoted to vp, creative services. Jerry Bilek will join the Minnesota Historical Society Press as sales manager on August 1. Bilek is the owner of Monkey […]
More Amazon: The FAA (Drones) and the FTC (Lawsuit)
The week finishes with still more Amazon news. The company is sincere about wanting to use drones to make deliveries. After the FAA made it clear in late June that they are still prohibiting commercial uses of drones, Amazon formally applied for an exemption from that regulation. News of that application has sent their stock up over 4 percent in Friday morning trading (almost $15 a share). In the letter, Amazon says: “We are rapidly experimenting and iterating on Prime Air inside our next generation research and development lab in Seattle. In the past five months, we have made advancements […]
Penguin Random House to Sponsor Next California Bookstore Day
After a successful launch, California Bookstore Day will return next year on May 2, 2015, with the help of a $15,000 sponsorship from Penguin Random House. The event is organized by the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association, and the inaugural event had support from author James Patterson. Penguin Random House president and coo Madeline McIntosh says in the announcement, “California Bookstore Day was a terrific event this year – our publishers and sales colleagues loved being part of it, and so did our authors. We want to help bring even bigger crowds into the bookstores next May.” CBD program director Samantha […]
World Book Night US Will Shut Down
World Book Night US will suspend operations after three years. The organization said in a statement that the expenses of running the effort “are too high to sustain without additional outside funding,” especially considering the “significant financial and time commitment from publishers, writers, booksellers, librarians, printers, distributors, and shippers.” WBN staff will stay on board, without pay, through September 1 to announce the winners of the giver essay contest. World Book Night US executive director Carl Lennertz called the three-year effort a “success by all measures, except for one: Outside funding. For three years, the publishing industry and book community […]