Oakland’s Marcus Books, “the nation’s oldest African American bookstore” is “in deep financial trouble” and faces foreclosure. The Oakland-area NBC station reports that manager (and daughter of the founders) Blanche Richardson blames “a Ponzi scheme and a subprime loan” for the store’s troubles. They “need to raise tens of thousands of dollars to keep the store afloat,” and have started a legal defense fund.NBC site In USA Today, booksellers Elaine Petrocelli of Book Passage, Audrey Bullar of Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Patricia Bostelman at Barnes & Noble, Daphne Durham at Amazon, and Larry Norton at Borders tip these new and forthcoming releases: […]
Bookstores
Waterstone's Holiday Comps Down 9%; MD Johnson Is Replaced
Waterstone’s parent company HMV issued a brief trading update, reporting that in the ten-week holiday sales period ending January 2, same-store sales at the bookstore chain declined 8.9 percent. Managing director Gerry Johnson has been dismissed, and HMV group development director Dominic Myers has taken over management of Waterstone’s “with immediate effect.” (BTW, total e-book downloads for the period were 80,000 units.) HMV head Simon Fox says, “Whilst the recent performance of Waterstone’s has been unsatisfactory, it remains an excellent business and brand, with a great opportunity as the only remaining specialist bookseller on the High Street.” Fox indicates to […]
Bookselling: Bodhi Tree to Close
Owners of Los Angeles-based Bodhi Tree Bookstore Phil Thompson and Stan Madson reportedly told their staff last week that the store will be shutting its doors in a year’s time” after almost 40 years in business, LA Weekly reports. With both owners in their 70s, they decided to sell the building on Melrose Avenue to a real estate developer.LAW
Aletheia Kept Building BN Stake
Aletheia Research and Management continued their heaving buying of Barnes & Noble stock in the final week of 2009, filing with the SEC yesterday to disclose that their share in the bookseller had risen to 13.12 percent of all shares outstanding. The company’s purchases throughout December were all made at prices in excess of Barnes & Noble’s current price, now trading below $18 a share.SEC filing
Barnes & Noble College Rolls Out Textbook Rental Program
Expanding a pilot program begun last fall, Barnes & Noble College will let students rent textbooks online from their campus bookstore’s e-commerce site as well as through their stores. They will accept “any form of tender, including campus debit cards and student financial aid” as payment. Now featured in 25 of the 636 campus bookstores they operate, “in the coming months [the company] will dedicate significant resources to expanding its rental program to more of the colleges and universities it serves.”Release
ABA Cuts Five Positions In Reorganization
After “many months of analysis and investigation,” American Booksellers Association ceo Oren Teicher announced a reorganization that includes the elimination of five jobs from an already lean staff. Teicher writes, “it’s never easy to say goodbye to hard-working, loyal colleagues, but we believe that these changes will allow us to organize ABA in a more efficient way to better utilize the association’s resources.” Some ABA veterans are being placed in new posts: Meg Smith becomes membership and marketing officer; Dan Cullen is now content officer; Mark Nichols serves as industry relations officer, and Jill Perlstein is now meetings and plannings […]