Australia’s Minister for Small Business Nick Sherry said in a speech in Canberra today that he believes it is “inevitable” that online shopping would wipe out general bookstores within five years, leaving only specialist shops in capital cities. Sherry’s comments, which took place at a private sector initiative designed to encourage small business owners to boost their online presence, come in the midst of REDGroup Retail’s ongoing bankruptcy and the selloff or shutdown of various Borders and Angus & Robertson stores in the country. Steve Belton, manager of the Paperchain Bookstore at Manuka, told the Sydney Morning Herald he was […]
Bookstores
Bookselling: Six Stores Saved From Borders Chopping Block, For Now; New Foyles Location; and More
In court papers filed Friday, Borders said that it had come an agreement with landlords of six stores to get more time to accept or reject leases. The stores in question are at Boston’s Logan International Airport, Raleigh-Durham Airport, two locations in Detroit Metro Airport and stores in Westland, Michigan, and Mansfield, Connecticut. Borders is also awaiting court approval of an agreed-upon extension for its Mt. Kisco, New York store. Reuters Foyles will open its newest (and seventh) store at the Westfield Stratford City shopping center, close to the site of the 2012 London Olympics. Independent Crain’s Detroit published a […]
A Boston Borders Is Closing-And the 50 Others that Might
Manager of Borders Downtown Crossing store in Boston store manager Don Durica told the Boston Herald that his store is definitely closing after being unable to renegotiate their lease. That store is one of the 51 on a list Borders provided to the bankruptcy court as locations they might liquidate to remain in compliance with their DIP financing. At the same time, Borders has emphasized in their filing and public statements that they hope they will need to close only some of those locations. In a supplementary motion on Thursday, the AlixPartners managing director who serves as Borders svp, restrucuting […]
Ann Patchett To Open Nashville Bookstore; Morgan Adams Reopens As Wild Fig
Ann Patchett, who’s currently on tour promoting her new novel STATE OF WONDER, told the Diane Rehm Show she and Random House sales rep Karen Hayes are preparing to open a 3,000 bookstore in Nashville sometime before Christmas. Both Davis-Kidd and Borders closed stores in the city in recent months, about which Patchett said, “We can’t sustain a 30,000 foot bookstore, but we really can sustain a 3,000 square foot store.” Diane Rehm transcript Former Morgan Adams Books employee Ron Davis and writer Crystal Wilkinson plan to open Wild Fig Books in the same space on June 20. Morgan Adams […]
Aletheia Continues to Sell Barnes & Noble Stock; BN Files Pre-Emptive Suit Against Chipmaker
The mysterious masters (or mischievous monkeys?) who run the trading desk at Aletheia Research & Management continue their daily churn of Barnes & Noble stock, buying and selling strange blocks of shares day after day. But the trend of slimming their position continues; in the reported period since April 25, the firm reduced their holdings to 8.65 percent of all shares, down from about 10.4 percent. In other BN news, the company filed a pre-emptive suit in a San Francisco federal court recently against chipmaker LSI, seeking to protect itself from potential claims of patent infringement in their Nook devices. […]
Najafi Said to Join Borders Hunt
The Wall Street Journal says that private-equity firm Najafi–the company willing to take Bookspan/Direct Brands off of Bertelsmann’s hands–has joined negotiations as a potential acquirer of some significant portion of Borders 265 superstores. A prospective buyer would acquire Borders’ web site and customer lists, reaffirming our initial inference that a buyer for the superstores would take all of the significant operations, leaving the remaining superstores and Waldenbooks outlets unable to function. The Journal’s source adds that “Borders hopes to soon select one of the suitors as a so-called stalking-horse bidder that would make an offer others must top in the […]