After 44 years in business, Book Revue in Huntington, NY will be evicted on September 30 for nonpayment of rent, Newsday reports. According to landlord Emerson Dobbs III, the store didn’t pay rent for over a year. Store owner Richard Klein said that the store was closed for three months due to COVID, and that sales were slow after that. The store received $267,378 in PPP loans, which Klein says was used mostly for payroll and for one month of rent. “I thought we had an understanding that when the virus abated we would work out some kind of a […]
Bookstores
Greenlight Bookstore Employees Unionize
Thirty-nine employees at three Greenlight Bookstore locations in Brooklyn have voted to unionize, joining the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union – the same union joined by employees at McNally Jackson and Book Culture. According to the filing with the National Labor Relations Board, eligible employees include “all Full Time and Regular Part Time Booksellers, Shift Leaders, Sales Associates, Lead Sales Associates, Events Coordinators, Marketing Coordinators, Marketing and Design Assistants, Receivers, Direct to Home Employees, E-Commerce Employees, Staff Picks Liaison Employees, Buying Assistants, and Buyers.” Store managers, temporary employees, and supervisors are excluded. Co-owner Jessica Stockston Bagnulo said, “Greenlight intends […]
ABA Follows Up With Members After Offensive Incidents
ABA ceo Allison Hill sent a follow-up letter to members on Aug 5, explaining how recent incidents happened and detailing plans for the future. On the inclusion of the “anti-trans book” in the July white box mailing, the letter explains that up until now there has been no oversight into what is included in the boxes. While publishers do pay for white box inclusion, the ABA reports that they still lose money on it, which they “consider a service to members….” “Until now, no one has ever reviewed or screened the titles submitted by publishers. It has been a pay-to-play […]
Bookselling: Another Barnes & Noble Swaps Locations
Barnes & Noble will close their Cincinnati-area store in the Waterstone Center on August 22, and expects to open a new location at Deerfield Towne Center in Mason, OH in November. A similar swap was announced recently in the Chicago area, with the West Dundee location closing, and a new store in Algonquin Commons expected to open in October. In both cases, the announcements did not indicate the size of the locations, but other recent moves have featured smaller new locations.
Bookselling
LET’S PRETEND THIS NEVER HAPPENED author Jenny Lawson’s Alamo Heights, TX bookstore Nowhere opened for public browsing on July 19 (it has done curbside and online sales since 2020). The store includes a bar, which will open when San Antonio’s COVID vaccination rate reaches over 80 percent.
ABA Apologizes for Sending Paperback of Anti-Trans Book In July White Box
The American Booksellers Association received backlash online after including the paperback edition of Regnery’s Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters in the July White Box mailing, along with a promotional sales sheet. The book has been criticized as transphobic, and is the source of other controversies, including complaints from Amazon employees, two of whom resigned in protest over the company selling it. In a statement posted to Twitter Wednesday afternoon, the ABA wrote “An anti-trans book was included in our July mailing to members. This is a serious, violent incident that goes against ABA’s ends policies, values, and […]