Philadelphia’s Joseph Fox Bookshop will close on January 29 after 70 years. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that business has not returned to pre-pandemic levels. The store was founded in 1951 by Joseph Fox, with Michael Fox and his wife Judi Fox taking over in 1998. Michael Fox, 69, told the Inquirer, “I’m old enough that I felt it was time to retire. I feel sad for my customers, I do. I feel sad for the city, that they’re losing a good bookstore.”
Bookstores
Bookselling: Barnes & Noble Opens Replacement Store Outside of Cincinnati
Originally expected in November 2021, on January 19 Barnes & Noble will open a new Cincinnati-area store at Deerfield Towne Center in Mason. It takes the place of a store two miles away in Waterstone Center [no irony] that closed last August.
Bookselling: Dayton Mall B&N to Close
The Barnes & Noble in Dayton Mall in Ohio is slated to close on February 13. The store wrote on its Facebook page that the landlord “is redeveloping this site and has opted not to renew [their] lease.” Barnes & Noble is “in active discussions” to find another Dayton location for a replacement store, according to Dayton.com, and are crowdsourcing suggestions from customers.
Politics and Prose Workers Successfully Unionize
The Politics and Prose employees’ union has been officially recognized, the store and UFCW Local 400 announced in a joint statement. Store owners Bradley Graham and Lissa Muscatine and the union will now negotiate a contract. According to DCist, Graham and Muscatine voluntarily recognized the union, which has 54 members in three store locations, on December 31 after previously deciding they would wait until a formal vote. In a release, Graham and Muscatine said: “As stewards of a local, independent business with a 37-year legacy of progressive management and mission, we’ve valued collaborating with employees to solve problems and address […]
In-Person Winter Institute Canceled
The American Booksellers Association canceled its plans for an in-person Winter Institute, originally scheduled for February 13-16 in Cincinnati. They will refund attendees’ registration fees in January, and will cancel hotel reservations at ABA hotels. The organization plans to announce updated programming details in the coming weeks. In a statement, the ABA said: “We have been full steam ahead with programming, planning, and safety precautions, but the rising number of COVID cases, the contagion of the new variant, and the hospital crisis in Ohio — including the National Guard being called in to assist understaffed hospitals — have forced us […]
Bookselling: Politics and Prose Owners Are Open To “Voluntary Recognition” Of Union
The owners of Washington D.C. bookstore Politics and Prose announced that they have approached union organizers to “open the way to a voluntary recognition of the union at P&P.” Co-owners Bradley Graham and Lissa Muscatine wrote in a statement on Wednesday, “Yesterday, we reached out to the union organizers in the spirit of collaboration to propose negotiations on the scope of a collective bargaining unit. Our hope is that these discussions will result in an agreement and open the way to a voluntary recognition of the union at P&P.” The statement continues, “We remain committed to providing a workplace in […]