The ereading (and eretailing) landscape continues to get more interesting as BN has bolstered their quiet development efforts in digital content by purchasing Fictionwise for $15.7 million in cash. As part of this morning’s announcement the company acknowledges for the first time “the launch of an e-Bookstore later this year.” They say, “Barnes & Noble said it plans to use Fictionwise as part of its overall digital strategy, which includes the launch of an e-Bookstore later this year.” Barnes & Noble says they will keep Fictionwise as a separate business unit and founders Steve and Scott Pendergrast will continue to […]
Bookstores
Rave Review for Books & Books' "Retreat"
Books & Books had to give up their space on Miami Beach’s prominent retail strip Lincoln Road: “It had to go, off the mall to a patio in the back, the latest victim of skyrocketing rents and changing retail economics on Lincoln Road. In its former prominent perch on the pedestrian mall: a Diesel jeans store.” Now in the “less-visible courtyard behind his former street-front location, Books & Books owner Mitchell Kaplan has reenergized his store with an elegant, light-filled new design, a sprawling outdoor newsstand and lounging area, an expanded cafe-restaurant and — mirabile dictu — four times the […]
Borders to Close Michigan Avenue Store
Borders Group announced that they will close their big store on Chicago’s prominent commercial street in 2010. “It’s a difficult decision to close a store and we’ve done all that we can to keep this location open, but like a handful of other stores we have recently closed in cities ranging from Cincinnati to Santa Monica, this store has not met our profit objectives for some time now. In today’s economy, no retailer can afford to operate stores that do not produce the kind of results required to sustain a location, and therefore, we have no choice but to close […]
Barnes & Noble Sells Calendar Club Share, Takes Loss
Barnes & Noble has sold its majority interest in the Calendar Club to the company and its ceo for $7 million (comprising $1 million in cash and $6 million in notes). The chain will “continue to have a working relationship with Calendar Club.” BN is taking an after-tax writedown of approximately $9.7 million in their fiscal fourth quarter as a result of the sale. For 2008, Calendar Club contributed $113.5 million in revenues to Barnes & Noble, but the effect on earnings per share is “de minimis.”Release
Immigration Audit Affects BN's Reno Warehouse
Approximately 50 Hispanic employees say they were fired from Barnes & Noble’s Reno, NV distribution center after a routine federal immigration audit found they did not have the required paperwork on file. The employees were told to report to the Reno Immigration and Customs Enforcement office with proper documentation by Friday, the Reno Gazette-Journal reports. But BN spokesperson Mary Ellen Keating tells the paper in a separate piece “those people have not been fired.” They add: “she said Thursday that some employees have provided the required documentation to ICE officials and are back at work but declined to say how […]
More Big Cuts At Borders HQ
Borders Group is eliminating another 136 corporate positions, representing approximately 12 percent of their corporate employees, primarily from their Ann Arbor headquarters. The company says “the workforce reduction was spread across virtually all business areas, including marketing, human resources, field management and corporate sales. The reductions were made at various ranks, ranging from entry level to middle management.” New CEO Ron Marshall comments: “While reducing payroll is never easy and we respect the impact it has on employees and their families, it is one of the necessary steps we must take along with other non-payroll expense reductions to help get […]