We’re excited to launch a new, regular feature today in conjunction with Bowker PubTrack Consumer. They will be including questions posed by Publishers Lunch as part of their regular monthly online surveys of over 6,000 book buyers across the country. The result and analysis of that information will run exclusively here in Publishers Lunch and at PublishersMarketplace.com. We’ll be looking to survey consumers on hot button issues for the trade that don’t usually receive this kind of focused treatment. Feel free to share your thoughts with us on potential future lines of questioning. And of course the folks at Bowker […]
Bookstores
Bookselling: Waterstone’s Deal To Close By End of June; Interest in Angus & Robertson; Store Closings; And More
As part of its announcement that it has secured more than £220 million in fresh financing, HMV has formally asked shareholders to approve the Waterstone’s sale to Alexander Mamut at the company’s next meeting on June 23. Newsagency franchise group SupaNews is reportedly about to bid on the Angus & Robertson franchise network and some shops owned by the administrators of REDGRoup Retail in a deal that would capitalize on “synergies” between the two entities. Interestingly, SupaNews is also owned by REDGroup, but that side of the business did not declare bankruptcy. The deal is contingent on SupaNews acquiring more […]
Books & Books and Joseph-Beth Both Target Smaller Stores As Growth Possibility
Two different pieces look at how independent store groups Books & Books and the newly debt-free Joseph-Beth are replacing lost book sales with other business lines. Both groups are looking at smaller-format stores as a potential route to expansion as well. The Miami Herald has a lengthy piece on Mitchell Kaplan and his evolving strategy for Books & Books. Kaplan has worked hard to determine the lasting value of what he had built, and use it generate more revenue: “Instead of feeling victimized by what was happening in the marketplace, I decided to look at the value we’ve built up […]
Bookselling: Stores Closing in Pacific Palisades and Kentucky; Transforming a Borders Store Into an Arts Festival; and More
Village Books in Pacific Palisades, CA, will close on June 30 after almost 14 years in business. Owner Katie O’Laughlin said in a statement that the store “has struggled financially for the past 10 years, but I was able to somehow make it work. Unfortunately, recent changes in the book business have made it impossible to continue operating the store in its present form.” Sales since January have “dropped dramatically” as well. Palisades Post A new 4,000 square-foot Books-A-Million store will open in the Peachtree Mall in Columbus, GA, replacing a Waldenbooks that closed early last year. BAMM closed a […]
Gores Group Reportedly “In Discussions” to Buy Over 200 Borders Stores
LA-based private-equity firm Gores Group “is in discussions to purchase” over 200 of Borders’ 405 operating stores, the WSJ reports, citing “people familiar with the matter, in a deal that would keep the bookstore chain operating as a going concern.” Those people also insist other unidentified parties are also in purchase discussions with Borders. And they say the stores and related assets could sell for approximately $200 million. (Though not stated in the article, it implies that the other 200 or so stores would be severed from Borders, perhaps without a buyer or the infrastructure and assets to continue operating.) […]
Bookselling: The Travel Bookshop For Sale; Fire At Ben Franklin Bookstore; and More
The Written Word will open in Brush, CO in August in a 1500-square foot space, with owner Marlene Gippin focused on bringing a “community-based and affordable” store to the town. Fort Morgan Times A fire broke out on May 27 at Ben Franklin Bookstore in Salem, Mass., causing severe damage to the store and to its inventory of books and killing one of two cats known to be in the building (the other was still missing.) The bookstore announced earlier this year it was going out of business. Worcester Star-Telegram The Travel Bookshop in London’s Notting Hill neighborhood is for […]