Kwame Spearman, who failed to turn around the Tattered Cover bookstores as ceo and left to pursue a career in politics, will try again as a bookseller. Spearman purchased 9,000-square-foot building at 1700 Humboldt St. in Denver’s City Park West with partner Rich Garvin, a San Francisco philanthropist, for $2.9 million. His redevelopment plans include a 3,500-square-foot bookstore, called Denver Book Society, which he hopes to have open by spring 2026. Spearmen tells Business Den, “Books that you can easily find on Amazon, you can find on Amazon. You come into our store and have a best-in-class staff opportunity that […]
Bookstores
B&N Workers in NYC Ratify Union Contracts
Workers at three Barnes & Noble locations in New York ratified their union contracts with the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), the first such contracts for the nation’s largest bookstore chain. The contracts cover more than 200 workers at the Union Square flagship store, West 82nd Street, and Park Slope. The contracts include wage increases (bringing the starting wage from $18 to $19), union healthcare, safety equipment and language, layoff protections, job and pay security, and more. The contracts have slight variations for each store, RWDSU said in a release. “The ratification of this contract represents three years […]
Shakespeare & Co. Closes Two NYC Stores
Shakespeare & Co. closed two of its three remaining locations, on West 105 Street and Broadway, and at 939 Lexington Avenue, in New York City. Its 105th St. location has only been there a year, while the Lexington Avenue store has been in place for over 20 years, and serves as the official bookstore and merchandiser for Hunter College. Shakespeare & Co. co-owner Dane Neller told West Side Rag, “It was a really great landlord, a wonderful community. Love the neighborhood, love the customers. But, he added, “we just weren’t able to get to the sales level we needed to […]
ABA’s Hill On the “Values-Focused” Work, As “Amazon Owns the Playing Field”
ABA ceo Allison Hill reflects on her five years leading the organization, ahead of a commemoration of the ABA’s 125th anniversary at Winter Institute next week. Her focus has been to “transform ABA into a values-focused organization over the past 5 years. It’s always been a mission-driven organization, but we’ve worked really hard to define our values and focus our work, using those values as a North Star.” More broadly, she says: “The challenges booksellers have faced during my time in the industry have been a roller coaster. “It was, ‘oh no, e-books are coming,’ but now we’re in a […]
B&N To Close Stationery Warehouse
Barnes & Noble will close a Paper Source warehouse in Forest Park, IL on April 1, eliminating 107 jobs, NBC Chicago reports. The lease on the warehouse expires at the beginning of 2026. “We have to vacate and have started the process with all our employees about the closure.” B&N senior director of store planning and design Janine Flanigan said. “As a retailer whose business is especially concentrated in the holiday period, we have to make the move in the summer to be able to meet the seasonality of the year-end.” The bookstore chain bought the stationery retailer out of […]
Barnes & Noble Changes Buying and Campaign Teams, Lays Off Veterans
Following the quick departure of chief merchandising officer Jackie De Leo earlier in the month, Barnes & Noble has laid off a number of veteran staff as part of a “realignment of our buying and campaigns teams.” Senior director, books Shannon DeVito wrote in an email, “The aim is to streamline our responsibilities and better focus our efforts to improve our bookselling. Unfortunately, this has meant that a number of colleagues have left the business as their roles were removed.” PL is aware of at least seven longtime buyers and publisher liaisons whose roles were eliminated. As of today’s newsletter […]