Dutch bookstore chain Polare declared bankruptcy Monday afternoon. Less than a month ago, Polare temporarily closed its stores and suspended online sales as part of what they said was a “strategic organization” to stem ongoing financial woes. NLTimes reports the bankruptcy was “necessary to pay overdue wages” and that employees are guaranteed to receive their wages for a maximum of 6 weeks, paid by the Employment Insurance Agency (UWV.) Seven of Polare’s stores are also understood to have attracted interest from outside buyers, while five employees of the company’s store in Rotterdam have started a crowdfunding campaign to buy it from […]
Bookstores
Small Investor/Agitator Touts Unfinanced “Proposal” to Buy Control of Barnes & Noble Or Nook
Michael Glickstein’s G Asset Management — by all outward indications a one-man shop — has been agitating the Barnes & Noble board to increase shareholder value since 2011 without much success, but on Friday he discovered the power of a press release and put himself on the map. Put on the wire early Friday afternoon, G Asset Management’s announcement touted their “proposal” to acquire a controlling stake in all of Barnes & Noble or, failing that, the “Nook segment,” which does not exist currently as a freestanding piece. This is not an actual bid, or even a formal offer. G Asset […]
Bookselling: New Stores In the US, As UK Indie Store Count Falls Below 1,000
The ABA has published their annual list of new member bookstores, listing 44 stores that opened in 2013 (and, as a bonus, 4 more stores that have opened in 2014). Six were new outlets for existing ABA member businesses. Additionally, 12 existing ABA bookstores found new owners during the year — including The Book Stall at Chestnut Court in Winnetka, IL; Inkwood Books in Tampa, FL; Porter Square Books in Cambridge, MA; and Quail Ridge Books & Music in Raleigh, NC. On the flip side, the UK’s Booksellers Association reports that within their membership, 67 stores closed in 2013 and […]
James Patterson Writes Checks to 55 Bookstores
James Patterson has followed up on his pledge to donate $1 million to support independent bookstores this year with an initial list of 55 stores that are receiving donations (worth $267,000 so far far). As noted in the announcement, “Some stores have submitted proposals for how the money will be used; others will simply receive an unsolicited check and a note from the author, encouraging them to use the funds to continue doing the good work they already do.” The release indicates “Patterson selected recipient stores by researching which stores are doing the very best work in their communities to […]
People, Etc.
At Simon & Schuster Children’s, Teresa Ronquillo has been promoted to marketing coordinator. Novelist and spoken-word artist Maggie Estep, 50, died Wednesday in Albany two days after suffering a heart attack in her Hudson, NY home. Estep was most recently the author of ALICE FANTASTIC (2009) and earlier, a trio of crime novels set in and around New York City published between 2003 and 2006, as well as two works of fiction based on her spoken-word poems. In the UK, Waterstones announced shortlists for their three children’s book prizes, to be awarded April 3 (honoring picture books; fiction for children 5 […]
Survey Casts Doubt On Amazon’s Ability to Raise Prime Price
UBS issued a rare downgrade on Amazon’s stock, with analyst Eric Sheridan basing part of that call on a recent survey to explore whether the company could charge more for Prime. On Amazon’s recent fourth quarter earnings call, the company said it was considering raising the annual fee by $20 to $40. Sheridan writes: “Our survey results call into question our prior views about the value that a broad set of consumers are applying to the current iteration of Amazon Prime.” He adds, “We were negatively surprised by the results of the survey.” The downgrade and survey weighed on Amazon’s […]