Books-A-Million announced late Monday that their effort to acquire 30 Borders stores “has ended unsuccessfully because the parties could not agree on terms and the going out of business sales at these locations commenced.” CEO Clyde Anderson said in the announcement “we worked exhaustively in an effort to acquire these stores and reach agreements with all of the parties whose consent was necessary. Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful.” BAMM will still take over at least a few vacating Borders locations, apparently through direct negotiations with the landlords. So far, the bookseller has had success with mall owners The Cafaro Company in […]
Bookstores
Borders Fallout Hits Home
As you would expect there is considerable coverage of Borders expected liquidation in cities across the country that face losing local bookstores as a result. The Detroit News estimated the four-county region will lose approximately 750 jobs as a result, between the booksellers’ Ann Arbor headquarters and their 18 stores in the area. While the prospects are considered good for many of Borders’ leases, reletting that many spaces in the troubled Detroit area is seen as posing “challenges” for landlords. The paper adds that “Borders’ closings are estimated to increase the collective nationwide vacancy rate of shopping centers that contained […]
Briefs: University of California Shutters Poetry Program; OFT Signs Off on Bertrams/Dawson Merger; and More
The University of California Press has decided to suspend the publication of its poetry book series New California Poetry after it publishes 3 titles in 2012. Director Alison Mudditt told the LA Times that the decision came about because of budget cuts – it expects to see 10 percent in funding reductions from the university – as well as the “shifting marketplace” for books and publishing. LAT The Office of Fair Trading has been in the headlines of late because of mounting opposition to Amazon’s acquisition of The Book Depository (so much so that UK trade organizations are taking the […]
Digital Numbers: Another iPad Record, and More Hires for BN Palo Alto
Apple reported another strong quarter of sales overall, including moving 9.25 million iPads in their third quarter. That’s the best quarter ever for iPad sales, well ahead of the previous high set in the period ending last Christmas, when they sold 7.33 million tablets. And it’s nearly double the second quarter iPad sales of 4.7 million units. In a separate release touting the downloading of 15 billion apps, Apple gives some special attention to Callaway Digital Arts, with ceo Nicholas Callawy exclaiming, “We knew the iPad was going to be a revolutionary storytelling device, but never could have anticipated it […]
Where Will Borders Shoppers Take Their Dollars?
Now that Borders is moving towards liquidation, we thought it might be useful to look back at our special item from last month featuring consumer survey data elicited exclusively for Publishers Lunch readers by Bowker PubTrack Consumer on where regular Borders customers might take their book-purchasing dollars if the chain goes out of business. Some of the results are likely to differ now, since the data comes from the roughly 10 percent of surveyed book buyers who indicated buying a book from Borders in April, but it addresses critical questions on the minds of all publishers and authors right now. […]
Borders Will Submit Liquidation Plan to Court; Has Bid for 30 Stores; Kobo Objects to Any Sale of Their Stock or Services
Borders announced Monday afternoon that “in the absence of a formal proposal from a going concern bidder, it did not require an auction” as scheduled for Tuesday. The company will submit for court-approval on Thursday the liquidation plan from Hilco and Gordon Brothers. Borders ceo Mike Edwards said “we are saddened by this development” in a statement, but wants to make sure you know it’s not their fault. “We were all working hard towards a different outcome, but the headwinds we have been facing for quite some time, including the rapidly changing book industry, eReader revolution, and turbulent economy, have […]