The Chains are Breaking : A Look at Bookselling in a Post-Chain World November 10, 2008

The numbers are brutal. Hardly anyone bought anything in the month of October. According to the ICSC-Goldman Sachs index, retailers had their weakest October performance since the index’s inception in 1969! If this trend keeps up through the holiday season it is safe to say that January will become National Bankruptcy Month. How the economic meltdown will ultimately play out in the book world remains to be seen, but early indicators are pointing to a…

Costco the Bookseller November 1, 2008

The current issue of Costco’s in-house magazine The Costco Connection features a look at their highly successful book department. The Costco book buyers call it “The Table” – the two rows of real estate within Costco where the 200 or so hand-picked titles reside. And it is from the success of “The Table” that Costco has become one of the top five booksellers in the country. Jeff Rogart, HarperCollins vice-president of sales, says of the…

Barnes & Noble Not Giving Up on Rare and Out-of- Print Books July 14, 2008

When Barnes & Noble decided to close their Chelsea store in New York City many thought that the small rare- and out-of-print-book department that was housed at that location for the last 8 years would disappear too. Instead the company decided to not only relocate the department to a larger store on Broadway and 66th Street but is also “spending a significant sum on the department, installing custom display cases with locked glass doors” and…