Bank of America/Merrill Lynch downgraded their outlook on Barnes & Noble shares from neutral to underperform “on uncertainty surrounding the company’s digital initiatives and a deteriorating balance sheet,” setting a price target of $13 a share. A WSJ piece of a number of ongoing shareholder battles suggests that in the pending Barnes & Noble vote, “a recommendation by influential proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. will be crucial, and both sides have been lobbying the firm in recent weeks.”WSJ
Bookstores
Bookselling: Two Closings, One Opening
Borders is closing their store in Miami-area Aventura next month, even though “locals will tell you [it] always seems crowded” according to the local NBC station. “A Borders spokesperson told us on the phone from the company’s headquarters in Michigan that the Aventura store just wasn’t making enough money to justify keeping it open, especially with rents for such a large space as high as they are for a prime location on Biscayne Boulevard.” Owner of the area’s Books and Books Mitchell Kaplan remarks, “It’s a very precarious marketplace right now for all bookstores and for publishers as well.” He […]
Tiny Omniovore Books Will Select Books for Williams Sonoma
The NYT carries a piece on niche bookstores in the San Francisco Bay area, with a special focus on Omnivore Books, opened in late 2008 and focused on food books. Notably, owner Celia Sacks is now selecting new titles that Williams Sonoma will feature nationwide under an Omnivore Recommends banners, and 30 of the cookware stores will also sell vintage cookbooks selected by Sacks. (Used books are said to “most help her bottom line,” selling for three times what they cost.) She is also creating a cookbook scrapbook that Ten Speed Press will publish next year. And the store “always […]
The Daily Barnes & Burkle
In the latest proxy filings, Ron Burkle and Len Riggio continue to fight to show who is least suited to run the company going forward. From the Yucaipa presentation, Ron Burkle laments that he has invested over $200 million in company stock and “as of July 30, our investment is down over 27 percent.” (But since August 1, the stock is up almost 20 percent.) Meanwhile, Barnes & Noble now admits that the final cost of acquiring BN College was “only $439 million.” (Previously, for unknown reasons, they would not openly acknowledge the cost after deducting BN College’s cash on […]
Bookselling: BN Predicts; HBG eBooks Restored; ABC Invites Comment on Proposed ABA Merger; Treeline Readies Regional Show Catalogs
Barnes & Noble put out a press release in which they “predict” the big books for fall, basically listing dozens of titles already expected to be commercial hits. Yesterday, the bookseller put out another press release noting that they will promote two trade paperbacks every month under their BN Recommends banner.Release Diesel eBooks reports that, 153 days into the agency model, they are back in business with Hachette Book Group‘s ebook titles. They still have not been able to restore sales of Simon & Schuster and Macmillan ebooks yet.Post The Association of Booksellers for Children has officially invited comment–from members […]
Indies Take Over Book Reviews for San Diego Union Tribune
Following the elimination of the San Diego Union Tribune’s arts and book critic, four area bookstores–Warwick’s, Mysterious Galaxy, The Book Works, and The Yellow Brick Road–have joined with the newspaper to provide weekly book content. Each week starting as of August 22, one store takes a turn recommending and writing about a title.BTW