As you may know, Barnes & Noble announced yesterday that they will close their big 60,000-square-foot Lincoln Center store in New York at the end of the next January after being unable to negotiate an acceptable lease after 15 years in the location. Spokesperson Mary Ellen Keating said “the increased rent that would be required to stay in the location makes it economically impossible for us to extend the lease.” (The NY Daily News cites real estate experts who expect that the asking price will be double to triple what BN has been paying, at $250 to $300 a square […]
Bookstores
Paper Claims Investors May Push for Waterstone’s Spin-Off
The UK offers two grain-of-salt stories today. In the first, the Guardian has suddenly noticed that leading bookselling chain Waterstone’s has been struggling and declares that “rebel shareholders” want HMV to consider selling the unit if margins do not improve soon. Who are these rebels and what kind of stake do they hold? Um, they cite one anonymous shareholder, “”Although Waterstone’s accounts for around a quarter of HMV’s turnover, it has a perfectly viable business without books. The day of reckoning is fast approaching.” And a second unnamed “investor” (which is different how from a shareholder?) says, “another investor said: […]
BN Proxy Filing Every Bit As Colorful As Burkle’s
Barnes & Noble filed their revised proxy documents with the SEC, angrily accusing investor Ron Burkle of….daring to want to buy more of the company. As asserted before, their largest concern is that Burkle’s Yucaipa and his friends at Aletheia want “to gain creeping control of Barnes & Noble…without paying a control premium.” The company says that raising the limit on their poison pill from 20 percent to 30 percent would allow the two companies to ally in taking over the bookseller. As we have pointed out before, they also question the extent to which Burkle’s other two nominees to […]
People, Etc.
At William Morrow, Peter Hubbard has been promoted to senior editor. At Touchstone, Lauren Spiegel has been promoted to associate editor. In the Eataly food and wine center opening at the end of August in the former Toy Building on lower Fifth Avenue in New York, led by Lidia and Joseph Bastianich and Mario Batali, Rizzoli Bookstore will be the exclusive bookseller. They will also manage book signings by chefs giving classes and demonstrations in the space. Tyrus Books, founded last year, announced that they are acquiring fellow crime fiction publisher Busted Flush Press. Busted Flush publisher David Thompson “will […]
This Time Borders Hires, and More
Borders has hired Michele Delahunty-Cloutier as evp, chief merchandising officer, overseeing merchandising, marketing and supply chain and reporting to Mike Edwards. Most recently she was brand president for Chico’s FAS, and she had been svp, general merchandise manager for Ann Taylor Stores. Borders has also named Eric Kovats regional vp for the Southeast and Beatrice Vicente as regional vp for the West Coast. Kovats was regional vp at Stores for Heartland Automotive Services, “the largest franchisee of Jiffy Lube Stores in the country.” In other personnel news, at Crown, Rachel Berkowitz has been promoted to manager, foreign rights, and Nidhi […]
Borders CFO Mark Bierley Leaves for a Better Job, and More People News
Borders had just promoted chief financial officer Mark Bierley to the added position of chief operating officer of Borders Inc. in June and bumped his salary up to $600,000 in late June but he has resigned “to pursue another employment opportunity.” VP Glen Tomaszewski will serve as interim CFO while the company searches for a replacement. Penguin USA president Susan Petersen Kennedy will take over as chair of the AAP Trade Publishers Executive Committee. At Random House Children’s, Meika Hashimoto has been promoted to assistant editor, working on Golden/Disney projects. (Additionally, her middle grade novel THE MAGIC CAKE SHOP has […]