Following a well-publicized “Banned Bookseller Week” protest from some bookseller customers over AbeBooks’ plan to abruptly remove booksellers in South Korea, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Russia from their platform at the end of November, the company reversed itself — to everyone’s surprise. “The matter was apparently resolved when Sally Burdon, an Australian bookseller who is president of the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers, spoke with Arkady Vitrouk, chief executive of AbeBooks. In a Wednesday email to her members after their talk, Ms. Burdon said Mr. Vitrouk apologized for the platform’s behavior ‘a number of times. and said booksellers in […]
Bookstores
Corporate News: Barnes TV, Barnes & Smith, and An Interactive Peter Rabbit
Barnes & Noble is previewing their new “Nobody Knows Books Like We Do” holiday video ads, to be featured on cable TV and movie screens. The general ads are available on their YouTube channel, but they have yet to post what sound like the most interesting spots: A collection of 15-second videos “that celebrate the company’s remarkable 23,000 booksellers who make shopping at Barnes & Noble a one-of-a-kind experience.” CMO Tim Mantel says in the announce, “Our bookstores are cherished community centers where people go to aspire to learn more about the world around them and discover something new. This […]
WH Smith Was The Potential Barnes & Noble Buyer
The WSJ names the “book retailer” that made offers to buy Barnes & Noble last spring that fell apart on June 19, as described in Demos Parneros’s defamation and breach of contract lawsuit against the retailer, and the company’s answer to those charges and countersuit. “People familiar with the situation say it was WH Smith PLC, a UK retailer that sells books, stationery and other products.” Though the Journal does not mention it, that makes sense contextually given where WH Smith turned next: Their deal announced October 31 to acquire US travel electronics retailer InMotion for $198 million. In announcing […]
Bookselling: Antiquarian Uprising, Celebrating Retail Bookstores, and More
They’re calling it Banned Bookseller Week: More than 250 antiquarian booksellers in 24 countries are pulling their inventory off Amazon-owned AbeBooks this week to protest the company’s removal of booksellers from South Korea, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Russia. The biggest international marketplace for secondhand and rare books, AbeBooks told the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers that it was scaling back because “it is no longer viable for us to operate in these countries due to increasing costs and complexities.” The company told the NYT the removals are because “our third-party payment service provider is closing at the end of the […]
Bookselling: Waterstones’ Concept Store, The Strand and Its Union, and More
Waterstones unveiled a new concept store, expanding its space in Sheffield’s Meadowhall shopping center by a third, now 4,900 square feet. The store is “now able to accommodate a wider range of merchandise such as gifts, games, diaries and calendars” and features “a large area dedicated to celebrating local writers, poets and history.” Elizabeth Young, who owns online bookstore Lizzyoung Bookseller is opening a brick and mortar store in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn dedicated to “cooking, cocktails, and culture.” The store is set to open in December. Bibliophile, a new bookstore and dessert bar, opened in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood. Co-owners Brennan Nichols […]
Bookselling: BN Committee Hires Bankers, Another Amazon Books Opens, and More
Three weeks after it was formed, the special committee of the Barnes & Noble board that is evaluating “strategic options,” including a possible sale of the company, has hired advisors. Anthony Magro and John Kimm at Evercore are the financial advisors, and Baker Botts is legal advisor. Evercore had advised the company in 2013 when Len Riggio planned to take the bookseller private (until he withdrew). Evercore also advised the separate Barnes & Noble Education in 2017 when they purchased MBS Textbook Exchange from the Riggio family. On Tuesday, Amazon Books opened its 18th location in Marina Del Rey, CA — their third store […]