The Davis-Kidd saga continues in unexpected but hopeful ways. After Neil Van Uum lost out to his Lexington landlord Robert Langley in bidding for three of the Joseph-Beth bookstores, it now looks as if Van Uum has prevailed over Langley’s group in arranging to keep the Memphis Davis-Kidd location operating as a bookstore. The store’s Memphis landlord Tom Prewitt had backed Van Uum’s original bid for some of the bookstores. In the initial bankruptcy auction, liquidator Gordon Brothers Retail bought the assets of the Memphis store. But a new group led by Van Uum, DK Booksellers, “has agreed to purchase […]
Bookstores
Bookselling: Fees for Members and Author Events, As Borders Investigates Rewards Database Exposure
Special Occasions in Winston-Salem, NC, “one of the largest black-owned bookstores between Washington and Atlanta,” will close in late May after 27 years in business. Owners Miriam and Ed McCarter attribute it to “the weak economy and competition from e-books and online booksellers.” News-Record The Boulder Book Store will charge fees of between five and ten dollars to attend most of their author events in the future–and will give attendees five dollars off the purchase price of the books featured at those events. marketing and promotions manager Stephanie Schindhelm says, “We want to encourage people to spend their money locally […]
Bookselling: The Future of Davis-Kidd; Waterstone’s Rumors; Store Closings; and More
The results of last week’s auction of remaining Joseph-Beth stores seemed to spell an uncertain future for its Davis-Kidd location in Memphis. Liquidation firm Gordon Brothers was the top bidder, and will start to wind down operations (pending court approval on Wednesday) unless a workaround can be found. That workaround, according to the Commercial Appeal, is if landlord Laurelwood Shopping Center and its president Tom Prewitt decides to help. “We tried to reach out to the mall (Laurelwood) ownership prior to the closing of the auction and work out a deal, but were rebuffed,” said Joseph-Beth ceo Mark Wilson. Bookseller […]
With Revised Bonus Plan Approved, Borders Seeks $50M More in Financing
If only Borders could bring the same energy and focus to their business plan that they’ve brought to incentivizing their leadership, they might have a chance for survival. After additional revisions and negotiations, a Federal bankruptcy court approved Borders’ executive bonus plan on Friday. The disbursement of up to $6.6 million in management bonuses for ten executives (40% of their base salary) and five senior executive bonuses (55% of base salary) is contingent on Borders reducing its annual rent by $10 million for each of 2011 and 2012, and the court approving a sale or reorganization plan by November 16. […]
Lexington Mall Owner and Gordon Brothers Split Joseph-Beth Stores After Auction, But BAMM Will Take Over VA Location
In an auction that stretched late into the afternoon, the five remaining stores owned by Joseph-Beth found a variety of new owners, some of which were unexpected. Liquidation firm Gordon Brothers was the high bidder for the Memphis-based Davis-Kidd and the Fredericksburg, VA stores, but immediately transferred ownership of the VA store to Books-A-Million, which has a significant presence in the state. The outcome for stores in Cincinnati, Cleveland and Lexington, however, provided a late-game surprise, with the Mall on Lexington Green emerging as the high bidder. Until late last week Joseph-Beth president Neil van Uum was the only announced […]
Reversal of Fortune: Barnes & Noble Rises 14% on 3 Mil Shares, Breaks $10 A Share
Barnes & Noble shares took a wild ride in Tuesday trading. At one point (as we wrote yesterday) they were as low as $8.45–the lowest intraday mark since January 1996. But just after 1:00 PM shares took off, briefly breaking the $10 mark and closing at $9.96 a share. Up over 13.5% for the day, almost three million shares traded hands. The company’s stock is extremely sensitive to market movements now, with very high short interest, so the day’s movement could be a short squeeze, or it could represent anticipation of deal news. Yesterday’s BN news actually leaned in the […]