It will surprise no one (except perhaps some PW readers) that there were no bids to buy Borders in its entirety as a going concern by the “soft deadline” of May 6. Giving you some idea of a savvy bookselling appraisal of what’s left that’s worth buying, Barnes & Noble is said by Bloomberg and the WSJ to have placed a modest bid: To buy about 10 locations, the booksellers’ web site, and the Borders Rewards customer databases. (A BN spokesperson would neither confirm nor deny the report to the WSJ.) Practically speaking, the chain still has another month or […]
Bookstores
Waterstone’s Sale Nears, In Messy Process
HMV is making the same mess out of a Waterstone’s sale that they have made out of the booksellers’ neverending “turnaround.” The fundamental problem is threefold: They spent a while pretending the bookseller wasn’t for sale when it obviously was; they are selling at the worst time ever to sell an English-language book chain; and they have had unrealistic price expectations for the current market. Making it worse, HMV needs to raise enough cash to satisfy their lenders since they are in violation of their banking convenants, but the Waterstone’s proceeds will not be sufficient by themselves. The latest update […]
Briefs: CEO Letters from Borders, Lonely Planet; Zondervan Warehouse to Close; and More
In the wake of yesterday’s news that Lonely Planet would shift most of its web operations to the UK and lay off approximately 70 employees, CEO Matt Goldberg went into more detail about the reorganization in a memo to staff. In addition to reiterating the reorganization causes – losing $13 million on foreign currency due to a strong Australian dollar and reducing costs by 18 percent – Goldberg indicated the company’s digital revenues climbed to 21 percent from from 9 percent over the past four years, “which indicates our digital business has momentum.” Borders CEO Mike Edwards is taking his […]
Bookselling: Laredo Gets a Chain Bookstore Again; Diesel Close to New Malibu Digs; World Book Night in US; And More
The city of Laredo, TX, which last year famously became the largest American city without a new bookstore when a B. Dalton branch closed, will no longer have that distinction as of today – thanks to the arrival of Books-A-Million in the very same space. (A used bookstore, Escape Again Bookstore, did open in the city last year.) AP Diesel, A Bookstore is close to finding a new home in Malibu after it was forced to close earlier this year because of landlord and construction issues. Malibu Country Mart owner Michael Koss said at Monday’s City Council meeting that he […]
Bookselling: New Amazon Fulfillment Centers; Additional REDGroup Layoffs; and More
Amazon will expand nearly double the size of its fulfillment center in Phoenix, adding approximately 400,000-square feet to the facility. The company will also open a nearly 900,000 square foot fulfillment center in Indianapolis (and add several hundred permanent and seasonal jobs in the process), its third facility in the state. Release On Friday REDGroup Retail cut 25 jobs at its distribution warehouse in Melbourne, with another 14 employees let go at the company’s headquarters in Australia. Five remaining warehouse staff will continue to work for another two weeks before the facility closes, while the head count at headquarters is down […]
Bookselling: BAMM Won’t Get Joseph-Beth Inventory; Stores Closing in SF and Brooklyn
Books-A-Million‘s planned takeover of the Joseph-Beth bookstore in Fredericksburg, VA has hit a snag. While the retailer will still occupy the space, they were not able to reach an agreement with Gordon Brothers, the liquidation company that won the store in last month’s auction, for the rights to Joseph-Beth’s inventory. Joe Bell, spokesman for the company that owns the mall where the store is located, told the Free-Lance Star: “Unfortunately, they could not come to an agreement. Therefore, Gordon Brothers has opted to conduct a liquidation sale, something we just learned about.” The liquidation sale began last Friday, and is […]