Joseph-Beth Booksellers is closing branches in Pittsburgh and Charlotte, NC. Director of marketing Chad Showalter says with sluggish forecasts into 2011, “we decided we needed to make a significant change.”Post-Gazette In Newton, MA, New England Mobile Book Fair–“the largest independent bookstore in New England”–is looking for a buyer. Attorney Steve Gans emphasizes that the 53-year-old store is strong and believes there is “pent up demand” among prospective buyers. They are working with Paul Siegenthaler at Ridge Hill Partners, who worked on the recent sales of the Wellesley Booksmith and Harvard Bookstore. Siegenthaler says “It’s a way to reach the emotional […]
Closing
With No Buyer, Salem, MA’s Cornerstone Books To Close
Owner Gilbert Pili told customers by e-mail that the store will close on November 1. Pili works in the financial industry and decided Cornerstone needs a full-time on-site owner. The store notably helped launched Brunonia Barry’s THE LACE READER and “developed a devoted following as host of the city’s literary festival and numerous book signings, readings, club meetings and other events.”Gloucester Times
Bookselling: BAM Enters Used-Media Market, New Owners in Wellesley, and More
Books-a-Million is preparing to open a new store format shortly under the banner 2nd & Charles in Birmingham, the Birmingham Business Journal report. The company would only say that “details would be revealed later this week.” But the paper’s sources say that the new store will sell used books, movies, music, and computer games.Article The Wellesley Booksmith is being bought from Marshall Smith by area resident Gillian Kohli and her husband Bill Kohli, a portfolio manager at Putnam Investments.Globe Unique Books in Bayonne, NY is closing next month after seven years in business.Jersey Journal
Bookselling: Two Closings, One Opening
Borders is closing their store in Miami-area Aventura next month, even though “locals will tell you [it] always seems crowded” according to the local NBC station. “A Borders spokesperson told us on the phone from the company’s headquarters in Michigan that the Aventura store just wasn’t making enough money to justify keeping it open, especially with rents for such a large space as high as they are for a prime location on Biscayne Boulevard.” Owner of the area’s Books and Books Mitchell Kaplan remarks, “It’s a very precarious marketplace right now for all bookstores and for publishers as well.” He […]
Bookselling: Texas’s Ambitious Legacy Books to Close August 14
One of the biggest and flashiest independent bookstores to open in years–Legacy Books in Plano, TX just north of Dallas–will close later this month. Managing partner Teri Tanner “said the store’s investors made the decision to close.” The 24,000-square-foot store opened in the midst of the economic collapse, in November 2008. As the Dallas Morning News writes, “it was one of a few independent bookstores of its size to open in the US in decades.” Tanner tells the newspaper she has started Double T Consulting, a company “dedicated to pursuing independent bookselling and other retail opportunities” in North Texas. They […]
Publishing Veterans Bring Books & Books to Westhampton
Former Perseus ceo Jack McKeown and Verso Advertising president Denise Berthiaume will start a 2,000-square-foot bookstore, Books & Books Westhampton Beach, scheduled for a July 4-opening. In an unusual initiative, store owners McKeown and Berthiaume have created a marketing and branding affiliation with Mitch Kaplan’s renowned group of four Books & Books bookstores. They’ll use the layout and design of Kaplan’s stores on Lincoln Road in Miami Beach and in the Bal Harbour Shops mall. As an “event-intensive” venture the Westhampton store will work with Books & Books’ Florida staff to schedule author events, and they expect to share web, […]