The Boston Sunday Globe Magazine
followed up on the assistance Wendy Schmidt, wife of Google CEO Eric
Schmidt, gave Mary Jennings and Lucretia Voigt that enabled the two to
purchase and save Mitchell's Book Corner, Nantucket, Mass. (Shelf Awareness, January 10, 2008).
According to the Globe,
Jennings and Voigt, "rent the space at significantly below-market
rates, and they are forbidden, by contract, to ever move the store.
Schmidt retains ownership of the Mitchell's name, but the two operators
essentially own the business and all its inventory and are solely
responsible for its profit and loss. Schmidt likens her role to that of
creating an 'incubator' that fosters new locally owned businesses until
they become successful enough to stand on their own feet. She hopes to
expand the incubator concept to other locally owned downtown businesses
soon."
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"Where are the bookstores in Cape Coral?" asked the Fort Myers, Fla., News-Press, noting that "efforts to attract a big-box book retailer in Cape Coral have so far gone unresolved."
Where
are the readers? Don Poole, co-owner of One for the Books, said, "We
struggle every day just to stay open. People just don't read like they
used to."
Even Mike Quaintance, president of the Cape Coral
Chamber of Commerce, admitted he is an online book shopper: "I don't
even really know what bookstores we have in town.”
For his
part, Poole is not worrying about a big-box invasion. "If a major
bookstore ever does move in to Cape Coral, I hope they move in next
door," he said. "People will come to the new bookstore and realize they
can find what they need here first."
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Although the name Tea Party Bookshop evokes images of "doilies and white party gloves," the Salem Monthly cautions that the "name doesn't originate with a brewed afternoon beverage, but rather corporate rebellion."
"The
Boston Tea Party served as the inspiration for the name, the first
instance where the American populace rose up to protest corporate
control of their buying choices," said Joanne Kohler, owner of the
Salem, Ore., independent bookstore and an advocate for fair trade
practices and environmental responsibility.
"I've lived in
Salem for seven years, and have seen two institutions in the book
business here close--Rosebud & Fish and Jackson's," Kohler added.
"This certainly gave me pause when considering opening my bookstore,
because if these smart people couldn't do it, what chance did I have? .
. . We chose downtown Salem because as residents, we'd like to see
downtown come to life and be a fun and interesting place to shop."
Tea Party Bookshop is located at 420 Ferry St, Salem, Ore. 97301; (503) 990-6471; teapartybookshop.com.
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"A
little oasis between Barnes & Noble in Newburgh and Binghamton,"
Hamish & Henry Booksellers, Livingston Manor, N.Y., "experienced a
tiny storm in its small pond in the form of three-time Oscar nominee,
and genuine movie star, Debra Winger," according to the Times Herald-Record.
Winger, who is also the author of Undiscovered,
has lived in the area for 18 years. One day when she stopped
by the bookstore, the owners asked if she'd like to do a book signing.
She said yes, and the result was "pretty much a zoo," said Sue Barnett
of the 80 people who packed the bookshop for the event.
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Advice
for students: hit the stacks. "Browsing in a used bookstore is an
altogether different experience from strolling the gleaming aisles of
freshly minted volumes at a Barnes & Noble or a Borders bookstore,"
according to Boston University's BU Today,
which offered a guide to some of the city's best used bookshops,
"separate dimensions, molded by the bibliophilic quirks of the owners
and staff, where browsers can lose track of time, even of themselves,
before stumbling back into the harsh light of modern life, clutching a
few newfound companions or old acquaintances."
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Daniel A. DeMatteo, longtime vice chairman and COO of Gamestop, is becoming CEO, replacing Richard Fontaine, who continues as chairman of the company, which was formerly owned by Barnes & Noble.
Fontaine headed B. Dalton Booksellers twice--both before and after it was bought by B&N--and was an executive with B&N.