Bookstores

The silly season is here in full. In a Daily Show-worthy announcement, the conservative Christian group American Family Association has released of list of companies they consider “for,” “marginal,” and “against” Christmas, which Barnes & Noble included among the 14 chains they deem “naughty.” (Amazon is deemed “for” Christmas.) The evaluation is based on one important mode of expression: advertising. The list aspires to determine “if a company was ‘Christmas-friendly’ in their advertising.” Different references to secular Christmas symbols (“trees, wreaths, lights, etc.”) were “considered as an attempt to reach ‘Christmas shoppers.” And “if a company has items associated with […]

A new survey conducted in October by The Codex Group gives statistical heft to a phenomenon noted anecdotally by independent booksellers for years: 24 percent of people who said they had bought books from an online retailer in the last month said they had first seen the books in a brick-and-mortar location. (One could, on the other hand, be surprised that the percentage isn’t higher.) Furthermore, 39 percent of people who bought books from Amazon during the same period did so after viewing the book in a physical shop. Codex Group president Peter Hildick-Smith may draw the wrong conclusion in […]

Metuchen, NJ-based new and used bookstore The Raconteur will close on January 31 after 7 years in business. “I still love being here and meeting the people,” owner Alex Dawson told the NYT. “But I feel like I don’t want to be a shop clerk anymore. That’s what it boils down to.” Cherry Picked Books in Easthampton, MA will also be closing at the end of January. Owner Michael Engel bought the store in 2007 and had been been “half-heartedly” looking for a buyer over the last several months. “Nobody wants to buy a used bookstore,” Engel told Masslive.com. “It’s […]