A weekly paper offers a long and admiring farewell: “This is the bittersweet story of the Happy Bookseller, Columbia’s longest-standing independent bookstore, finally closing its doors this month after a 34-year run.”Free Times
Bookstores
Toronto Store Will Close Without Rent Break
Toronto’s Pages Books & Magazines faces the same fate as many well-known US independent bookstores: the 30-year-old store will close next March unless the landlord agrees to a smaller rent increase or a new location is found. Owner Marc Glassman says “once our 10-year lease is up on March 1, the rent is going to practically double, unless the landlord changes his mind.” As for the search for a new space, “we haven’t found a place that’s quite right yet.” One way or another, the store’s well-known This Is Not A Reading Series will continue, though.Globe and Mail
Burnt Grapes Sale Is Close
Bunch of Grapes, the Martha’s Vineyard bookstore that was closed by a fire this summer, has been for sale by owner Jon Nelson. The local paper says “last month’s New England Independent Booksellers trade show was buoyed by rumors of its imminent sale.” His mother Ann Nelson, who owns the building that houses the store, is moving forward with reconstruction and “hopes to have the place fit for a bookstore by spring.”MV Gazette
Harvard Book Store's New Owners
Jeff Mayersohn and Linda Seamonson of Wellesley, MA bought the Harvard Book Store from Frank Kramer, owner for 46 years. Kramer says in the announcement, “Jeff is both a book lover and a businessman who has a tangible affection for Harvard Book Store. When I met him, I liked him immediately. And when I found out that he and his family plan their vacations around the locations of great independent bookstores, I liked him even more.” Carole Horne remains as general manager of the store. Jeff Mayersohn has been an executive at Sonus Networks, a an IP communications infrastructure company. […]
Borders: No Sale, Just Warrants
Borders does not have a deal to sell the company so, under their loan agreement from earlier this year, they have issued warrants to Pershing Square Capital Management to purchase 5.15 million shares of the company’s stock at seven dollars a share. The warrants can be exercised up until October 9, 2014.
The End for Olsson's
Olsson’s Books and Records closed all five of their remaining stores yesterday and petitioned the bankruptcy to turn their Chapter 11 filing back into a Chapter 7 liquidation. In a posting on their web site, the company cites “stagnant sales, low cash reserves, and an inability to renegotiate current leases, along with a continuing weak retail economy and plummeting music sales.” General manager Stephen Wallace-Haines says: “In the end, all the roads towards reorganization led to this dead end: we did not have the money required to pay for product in advance, to collect reserves to buy for Christmas, and […]