After a cybersecurity incident felled its website and many in-store services on Feb. 8, Indigo announced on social media that stores can now process all forms of payment, as well as returns and exchanges. The company put up a placeholder site where customers can browse books and other merchandise that’s available in store, but the […]
Bookstores
Barnes & Noble Revises Membership Program
The bookseller is modifying its longstanding membership program, making it more…complicated. The $25 membership is turning into a $40 “premium” program. The main enhancements are extending the 10 percent discount to most online purchases, some additional cafe enhancements, and a “free” tote bag every year. A new initiative offers a free rewards program, providing rewards […]
Bookselling: More Barnes & Noble News
On Wednesday Barnes & Noble opens a new, modestly-sized 7,000-square-foot store in the Paddock Shops in Louisville, KY, a day after they close a much larger 25,000-square-foot store in the same shopping center. Separately, another longtime BN in Rochester Hills, MI closed on Sunday after 27 years in that location.
ABA Buy Buttons Will Link to Bookshop Starting March 1
As of March 1, the American Booksellers Association will switch from IndieBound buy buttons to links to Bookshop, as part of a partnership with the latter retail site. The move was initially planned for 2020, but delayed by the pandemic. They write in an announcement that the aims of the shift are to “help eliminate consumer […]
Booktopia to Cut Staff and Expenses
Australian retailer Booktopia announced that it would cut 30 to 40 jobs (or 10 to 15 percent of employees) and implement other cost-cutting plans, “to improve shareholder returns and in response to changing consumer sentiment, greater competition online and inflation.” A company spokesperson told the Brisbane Times that the layoffs are predominantly in “administrative roles.” […]
Bookselling: More Barnes On the Move
There may be a lot of these short items this year, as Barnes & Noble adjusts their real estate portfolio — opening, but also closing, a number of stores. In Philadelphia, the chain will close their big two-story Walnut Street store in Rittenhouse on February 15 after more than 25 years there. They will move […]