Bookstores

St. Mark’s Bookshop will remain open after its landlords, Cooper Union, granted a rent reduction after all – but not quite as much as they were seeking. Instead, the store’s rent will be reduced to $17,500 a month for a one-year-period with $7,000 in existing debt immediately forgiven. The school will also provide student help with revising the store’s business plan. St. Mark’s also does not plan to rehire staff at the present time. “I really thought there wasn’t going to be a deal and that we couldn’t afford to stay here,” co-owner Bob Contant told the NYT, but things […]

The sale of West Hollywood-based Bodhi Tree Bookstore by longtime owners Stan Madson and Phil Thompson to Karuana Gatimu and Lori Cutler, which had been in the works for the last few months, has fallen through. Shelf Awareness reported the offer had been “rescinded” but that Madson and Thompson “remain hopeful” another buyer can be found. “We had invested a great deal of hope and optimism in the offer agreement that, after many months of planning and negotiation, has come to naught,” the current owners wrote. “As a consequence, we have re-contacted interested parties in the business to explore opening […]

We’ve been reporting piecemeal on Books-a-Million’s expansion into new locations–taking over dozens of former Borders and Walden locations–which has been accompanied by a parallel series of stores closures. Wednesday the company issued a summary press release, saying they will open 41 new stores “in early November,” but have closed 21 “underperforming locations” during their third quarter. President Terrance Finlay says in the release, “We have been working diligently in the last several months to find ways to keep a number of former Borders store locations in operation under the BAM! brand, and these store openings are the culmination of that […]