Diesel is placing its Malibu location for sale after more than nine years of operation (and five months after opening another store in Larkspur, CA). Co-owner John Evans told the Malibu Times that financial constraints and a need to focus on a growing number of independent shops outside of Malibu necessitated the move. “We’re just struggling to keep the [Malibu] bookstore, to keep people coming.” Evans added he hopes a local buyer will step up: “In general, bookstores are best when local people that own the place and live in the place work in the place,” he said. “I don’t […]
Bookstores
France’s Second Largest Bookstore Chain Files for Bankruptcy
The quickly deteriorating situation at France’s Chapitre bookstore chain has led the subsidiary of Najafi-owned Actissia to file for bankruptcy. The group employees 1,200 people at 57 stores across France. In recent weeks, the country’s largest bookseller Fnac had indicated some interest in acquiring up to 20 of Chapitre’s stores in medium-sized cities where Fnac does not have a presence. A number of publishers had stopped shipping to Chapitre after the parent company announced in early October it would sell off the stores (or close them in no buyers could be found).
Amazon Unveils Hopes for Delivery Drones
Amazon ceo Jeff Bezos attracted attention for a Sunday night appearance on 60 Minutes, where he introduced the world to the company’s prototype “octocopters”: small “Prime Air” delivery drones they hope to deploy. A promotional video from Amazon describes it as “something the team has been working on in our next generation R&D lab. The goal of this new delivery system is to get packages into customers’ hands in 30 minutes or less using unmanned aerial vehicles. Putting Prime Air into commercial use will take some number of years as we advance technology and wait for the necessary FAA rules […]
The President’s Book Purchases
Once again, President Obama included a bookstore shopping spree as part of his commemoration of the American Express-created Small Business Saturday. This time he and his daughters visited Politics & Prose, where he spent approximately 30 speaking with customers and purchasing the following books. He said they were selected to cover readers of all ages, “from 5 to 52” (his own age). According to the White House, President Obama bought: The Lowland, Jhumpa Lahiri The Ballad of the Sad Cafe, Carson McCullers Red Sparrow, Jason Matthews The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini Ragtime, E.L. Doctorow The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini Buddha […]
Yet Another Weak Quarter for Books-A-Million
Hours after Barnes & Noble reported their second quarter financial results, Books-A-Million did the same Tuesday afternoon for its third quarter following the close of the market. Sales for the quarter ending November 2 fell 3.5 percent to $100.5 million. Same-store sales declined further, down 9.2 percent — and they had another big net loss of $7.1 million, or 47 cents per share (compared to a loss of $2.7 million a year ago). CEO Terrance Finley said in the release: “Our third quarter results are an improvement over the very difficult comparisons in the first half of the year. Comparable […]
Bookselling, Etc.: Fundraising for Changing Hands and St. Mark’s; Harper’s Inflight Experiment
Changing Hands Bookstore has planned to open a second location in Phoenix, AZ for quite some time, but they hope to make it a reality thanks to a crowdfunding campaign to raise $80,000. It’s a fixed-funding campaign, which means backers will see their money returned if the store doesn’t reach its goal by December 24, and the store told Shelf Awareness that goal “is just a fraction of what we need to build a new indie bookstore. We’re putting up the bulk of the funding from our own resources. The $80K we hope to raise with this project will bring […]