Northshire Books, which is preparing to open a second store in Saratoga Springs, NY, will announce later today that the store will hire 25 full-time and part-time employees. The Post-Star reports interviews will begin in Saratoga Springs next week, and will continue throughout the spring. Conversely, Blackwood & Brouwer in nearby Kinderhook, NY will close at the end of June after 23 years in business. “There’s no blame coming from us in any specific direction,” co-owner Rondi Brower told the Albany Times-Union. “It was a combination of factors. The miracle is that we stayed alive so long, not that we’re […]
Booksellers
Extra Week in Fiscal Year Boosts Books-A-Million’s Full-Year Sales and Profits
Books-A-Million reported fourth quarter and full year results Wednesday afternoon, which reflect an extra added week that happens once every six years in the company’s reporting cycle. After four straight quarters of sales gains, BAMM saw a small decline (0.8 percent) at $165.6 million compared to a year ago. Same-store sales continued their pattern of quarterly declines, down 6.1 percent, though net income, at $8.1 million for the quarter was up from the $7.6 million reported during the same period last year. For the year, net sales increased 7.5 percent to $503.8 million (from $468.5 million, though based on a […]
Hastings Book Comps Continue to Decline
Hastings Entertainment reported fourth quarter and full year results Monday morning. For the quarter, the company reported net income of $1.2 million, compared to a loss of $8.4 million a year ago, with an overall loss of $9.3 million, nearly cut in half compared to the $17.6 million the company lost in 2011. Overall book comps dropped 4.5 percent for the quarter, compared to a 2.4 percent increase at the same time last year, “primarily due to decreased sales in new and used books and magazines, partially offset by strong holiday sales of Nextbook tablets.” (Without digital sales, book comps […]
BN Dismissed Palo Alto Executive
In Barnes & Noble’s quarterly SEC filings, the company included a severance agreement with executive vice president, Operations and Customer Service, Dan Gilbert, who was terminated effective February 1. Gilbert was based in their Palto Alto, CA office. The company has not announced a replacement for Gilbert, and told us in response to a query that “his responsibilities have been divided among other executives.” Hired in 2010 from Cisco, he reported directly to ceo William Lynch and was responsible for “supply and demand planning, sourcing, manufacturing, operations, distribution and logistics related to digital devices including management of the Digital Products Operations […]
Barnes & Noble Reports Big Q3 Nook Device Losses, Plans “Cost Reduction Program” To Curttail Expenses
Barnes & Noble’s third quarter financial report for the period ending January 26 was not expected to deliver much in the way of good news, Thursday morning’s report was in line with those meager expectations. CEO William Lynch reiterated in the investor conference call “we’re obviously disappointed that our Nook tablets didn’t perform better over the holiday.” Following heavier losses on that device sales shortfall, Lynch said the company is “taking significant actions to begin a rightsizing of the Nook costs.” He said the company concluded that “larger technology brands have more resonance in that multifunction tablet world than we do” […]
Results Fall at France’s Fnac, As A Spin-Off Is Underway
PPR Group, the parent of France’s largest bookselling chain Fnac, reported 2012 financial results. Fnac’s story has been similar to that of big booksellers in other major territories–sales have declined (though they are still substantial, in the billions of euros) and margins have fallen as well, and the owners have been looking for someone else to take over. Last year PPR tried to sell Fnac and following what the FT called “a dearth of buyers,” they decided to spin Fnac off as a separate, standalone public company. That plan will be presented to shareholders for approval at their annual meeting […]