We’re glad we won’t have to spend the early days of the Frankfurt Book Fair wondering when Google will launch their long-expected UK ebookstore: it is live now. It looks just like the US version, except when visited from US IP addresses you mostly see blank carousels, so there is not a lot to check out. (We infer the store is IP restricted, since UK visitors report seeing a regular store display.) Strategic partner development manager Jason Hanley told The Bookseller, which has the first story on the store, that the Australian and Canadian versions will launch “soon.” As announced […]
Bookstores
Bookselling: New Stores in NE and OK; Last Newfoundland Indie May Close
Owner of The Sequel Bookshop in Kearny, NE Lisa Neuheisel plans to open a temporary bookstore in North Platte from October 22 through January 15, with plans to make it permanent if sales meet expectations. “It’s just a trial,” Neuheisel told the North Platte Telegraph about the shop, which is located in a mall that once housed a Waldenbooks. “We’ll see how it goes from there.” The shop will primarily carry overstock and discounted items, but not used books. North Platte Telegraph Half Price Books will open its third location in Edmond, OK, which will be its 114th store nationwide. […]
Bookselling: Stores Open in Wasilla, AK and Katonah, NY; More BAMM Stores; And More
Buy the Book will open in Wasilla, AK this November in a location previously occupied by a Waldenbooks, with staff including former Walden employees. Co-owner Maria Clark told the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman a customer pitched in $25,000 in seed money to re-open the store as an independent shop; its previous incarnation was “profitable” despite the problems of its parent company. Children’s bookstore Little Joe’s Books will open on October 6 in Katonah, NY above its sister store, NoKa Joe’s restaurant and café. Owner Jennifer Cook told the Daily Bedford that residents most wanted to see a bookstore open in their […]
Bookselling: Joseph-Beth To Open New Store in KY; Two More Stores Close; and More
Joseph-Beth, which only recently emerged from chapter 11 bankruptcy, announced Friday that it will open a new store in Crestview Hills, KY. Chief executive Mark Wilson told Cincinnati.com the company stepped in to take over the lease as soon as it learned of Borders’ liquidation in July. “Books and bookstores are not going to go away,” Wilson said Friday. “Bookstores still work – the business model still works. But books by themselves don’t work. You have to have the right mix.” The store aims to open in late November or early December, hire 30 workers (many of them former Borders […]
Powell’s Reorganizes Management As Eight Executives Depart
Powell’s Books has laid off “eight managers with many years of service to the company” as part of a reorganization of their corporate management structure. The company say it’s part “a continued effort to respond to the rapidly changing book industry.” Emily Powell acknowledges, “This is a difficult and painful time for Powell’s. The managers who were laid off today will be greatly missed.” CEO of Operations Ann Smith is retiring after 26 years at the company. Emily Powell will serve as president and ceo, managing marketing and store operations, as Miriam Sontz expands her role as chief operating officer, […]
Harper to Put Thousands of Backlist Titles On Espresso Machines for Bookstores
HarperCollins has announced an agreement to make the bulk of their backlist trade paperback titles available for printing and sale by US bookstores with an Espresso book machine, currently comprising eight independent bookstores and up to another eight machines at university bookstores. Starting in November, they will make approximately 5,000 backlist trade paperbacks available. (The backlist titles not included–numbering about 3,500–are ones with physical attributes that don’t lend themselves to printing on the current machine.) The POD books will carry the same retail prices as the editions fulfilled by Harper, but in a significant change, the publisher will sell the […]