It was, as expressed in the Q&A session, “a refreshingly upbeat and optimistic panel.” And indeed, the stereotypical gripes and whines that are too often associated with independent bookstores, for legitimate and not-so-legitimate reasons, were not really in evidence Tuesday afternoon. That isn’t to say this was a complaint-free session, as WORD Bookstore’s Stephanie Anderson, Andy Laties of the Eric Carle Museum Bookstore, and Nicole Magistro of The Bookstore of Edwards were pointed in what frustrations they have with publishers, most notably the reluctance to move to more efficient billing practices and the price disparity on non-agency e-books.) Shelf Awareness […]
Bookstores
With Sale of Day by Day Kiosks to Calendar Club, Borders Raises Some Cash
It remains to be seen whether publishers will accept Borders’ proposed plans for renegotiating credit arrangements by the reported February 1 deadline, but the retailer will get at least some cash from the sale of its seasonal calendar kiosk service, Day By Day Calendars, to competitor Calendar Club LLC. The purchase, under negotiation for some time, closed last Wednesday and was announced to Borders staff on Friday by CEO Mike Edwards. In a telephone interview, Calendar Club CEO Marc Winkelman said the deal has been in the works since the fall, when Borders approached Calendar Club along with other prospective […]
ABA Identifies Markets Where Independent Retailers Do Best
A study backed by the ABA looked at over 300 metropolitan areas in the US to see where independent retailers perform the best. The top 15-ranked markets are: 1 Ocean City, NJ 2 Bellingham, WA 3 Medford, OR 4 Carson City, NV 5 San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA 6 Barnstable Town, MA 7 Austin-Round Rock, TX 8 Dalton, GA 9 Harrisonburg, VA 10 Gainesville, GA 11 Glens Falls, NY 12 New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA 13 Lewiston, ID-WA 14 Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA 15 Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT Download complete results and analysis
The UK Reckons with More Trouble at HMV/Waterstone’s and British Bookshops
HMV announced earlier this week that it may face difficulties meeting its credit covenants, which come due in April, and the company enlisted KPMG to help renegotiate terms. Separately, the Guardian reported that at least one credit insurance company removed their coverage a week ago for all goods supplied to HMV. Analysts reignited the facile running five-year-speculation on whether Waterstone’s will be put for sale, even though it doesn’t really fix anything . Disposing of the bookstore chain “would let [HMV] clear the decks to play another day,” analyst Nick Bubb told Bloomberg. “The danger is, they don’t sell Waterstone’s, […]
Barnes & Noble Lays Off Staff, Including Many Well-Known Veterans
Following what was advertised as their “best [holiday] comparable store sales performance in more than a decade,” Barnes & Noble laid off an unspecified number of employees today, rumored to be roughly 40 people or more, apparently including a number of veterans well-known to publishers. Spokesperson Mary Ellen Keating said by e-mail, “We made a small number of organizational changes this week that are designed to better align our resources with our business. Barnes & Noble is a growing company with both our revenues and new hires growing faster than they have in years.” She declined to discuss the number […]
Still More Cuts As Borders Lays Off Another 45 People; Laredo Hopes to Land BAM
This time Borders has eliminated another 40 jobs from their Ann Arbor headquarters, and another 5 jobs at their distribution centers, announced on Monday. Spokesperson Mary Davis told the Detroit Free Press, “The realignment at the store support center encompasses nearly all business areas, including IT, human resources, finance and merchandising. This decision is a result of Borders’ focus on reducing costs and readjusting its business model to improve profitability and cash flow.” In better bookstore news, lobbying from Laredo, TX to entice a major bookstore to the city following the closure of their last new bookstore of scal, a B. […]