After filing for bankruptcy in October, closing three of their seven stores, and laying off approximately 25 employees, Tattered Cover Book Store has updated its reorganization plan. The company hopes to emerge from bankruptcy by June 2024, and return to profitability in 2025 “by reducing costs and improving operations,” the Denver Gazette reports. That work is ongoing, however, since an earlier filing indicated the company lost approximately $340,000 in January due to costs from the holiday season and it was expecting to record additional losses in February. “Without a doubt we still have complicated negotiations to complete, challenging local economic […]
Bookstores
Binc Names First Incubator Cohort
The Book Industry Charitable Foundation has selected its first cohort to participate in its BincTank incubator pilot program, which supports current or planned BIPOC-owned retail bookselling businesses within communities. Pam French, executive director of BINC, said in a released, “We are so proud to support this first group of entrepreneurs dedicated to opening bookstores in their community. They share our commitment to and passion for closing the diversity gap in bookstore ownership, and we can’t wait to visit their stores.” Selected booksellers include: Courtney Bledsoe, who plans to open a Black woman-owned bookstore in Chicago. Aysia Brown, who recently opened […]
Bookselling: Yu and Me Reopens
NYC bookstore Yu and Me celebrated its grand re-opening on Sunday, after being shut down by a fire in the building in July. Located in Chinatown, it is the city’s first Asian-American female-owned bookstore-cafe-bar. A GoFundMe that raised $350,000 to help with the repairs. Owner Lucy Yu said, “It’s pretty overwhelming. I’m joyful, but I don’t know, reflective. It’s just really good to be back home.”
City Lights Bookstore Unionizes
Employees at City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco have unionized, joining the Industrial Workers of the World Local 660, KQED reports. Approximately 16 workers are eligible, and most have signed union-authorization cards. The store plans to recognize the union, with an official decision slated for tomorrow. “City Lights has always been actively engaged in the project of creating and evolving a fulfilling, equitable, and humane workplace. This is a key to our institutional philosophy, and it has informed our practice from the beginning,” City Lights executive director Elaine Katzenberger. “If unionization can provide us with new tools for helping us […]
Vroman’s and Book Soup Are for Sale
Joel Sheldon, owner of two Vroman’s bookstores in Pasadena and Book Soup in Los Angeles, announced Thursday that he plans to sell the store. Almost 80 years old, Sheldon wrote on Twitter, “It’s time to begin the process of retiring and finding new ownership outside of the Sheldon family,” which has been the “steward” of the stores for over 100 years. He added, “Vroman’s deserves new ownership with the vision, energy, and commitment necessary to take it successfully into the future.” Sheldon promises, “We will take the time needed to find the right new ownership — someone who shares our […]
Tattered Cover Files Reorganization Plan, with Higher Debts Than Originally Declared
Following their first filing for voluntary bankruptcy in mid-October, the owners of Tattered Cover filed a reorganization plan with the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Colorado earlier this week. While the store group initially said it lost about $660,000 during the year last year and owed at least $1.375 million to publishers and Colorado’s Office of the State Auditor for abandoned gift cards, the new documents depict a more severe situation. As of the initial filing in October, they had secured debt of approximately $820,000, and unsecured claims of just over $3.2 million. In the previous year, 2022, […]