National Book Warehouse and Book Market have filed for Chapter 11
reorganization in federal bankruptcy court in Nashville, Tenn.,
Bargain Book News
reported. The company sells remainder, overstock, returns and
promotional books at about 100 Book Warehouse and Foozles bookstores.
Its Book Market stores are temporary bookstores. The filing was
precipitated when the company's lender ended
its line of credit. Secured creditor SunTrust is owned about $3 million
while the 50 largest unsecured creditors are owed more than $4 million.
President David Hinkle said that sales were "severely impacted by the
dramatic rise in gas prices, especially the outlet stores," and added
that management is determined to turn the company around.
In 2005, the company had sales of $51 million and a net loss of $4
million. At the end of the year, the company closed 33 stores of its
134 permanent stores and cut the number of temporary stores to 4 from
62.
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Burke's Book Store, the 131-year-old Memphis, Tenn., store that
recently sent a letter to customers and friends seeking financial help (
Shelf Awareness,
May 3), has through donations and increased sales received $10,000 toward its short-term goal of $50,000, the
Memphis Commercial Appeal
reported. Owners Cheryl and Corey Mesler said that they had received
several $1,000 gifts as well as $10 from a couple with an envelope from
their children. The envelope had "four quarters and four $1 bills in
it," Cheryl Mesler said. "That means as much as the big donations."
The paper also reported that used bookseller Midtown Books is opening a
Downtown location, downstairs from the Memphis Tobacco Bowl. Owner Hugh
Hollowell said that "the community Downtown is vastly under-served."
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Faye Debroux is opening the Reader's Book Emporium on May 25 in Rocky Mount, N.C., the
Rocky Mount Telegram
reported. A former Sprint employee, Debroux will be helped by her
sister and daughter. With the store, she aims to fill a void left by
the closing last month of the Book Shoppe.
Reader's Book Emporium is located at 3012 Sunset Ave., Rocky Mount, N.C. 27804.
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Beck & Stein Books, which opened two and a half years ago in Port Warwick in Newport News, Va., is closing June 1, the
Hampton Roads Daily Press
reported. Owner Patrice Beck Stein told the paper that the decision to
close was difficult. "A bookstore is a labor of love for anybody," she
said. "Our customers are so sad."
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Minnesota Women's Press profiles the Loft, the Minneapolis literary center that offers writing classes, poetry readings and other cultural events.
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Worthy of scanning! The cover story of yesterday's
New York Times Magazine, called "Scan This Book!" by Kevin Kelly of
Wired
magazine, is a detailed look at the implications for books and
copyright of the linking and tagging and the creation of a universal
library that would include most of the 32 million books ever published.
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The
New York Times Book Review
offers the best fiction of the past 25 years as picked by its pick of
"a couple of hundred prominent writers, critics, editors and other
literary sages." Their most loved title:
Beloved by Toni Morrison.
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Also in the
Times--and this is our last mention of the
Times for today!--the
travel section
journeyed yesterday to Hay, Wales, home of 40 or so used bookstores and
where "for 10 days at the end of May, the town is given over to
writers, and its population of 1,500 swells to a remarkable 80,000, as
visitors troop to see the likes of Dave Eggers, Kazuo Ishiguro, Don
DeLillo, John Updike, Clive James, Julian Barnes, Ali Smith, Patrick
McGrath, Jeannette Winterson, Doris Lessing and Jaqueline Wilson, to
name a few who have appeared recently."
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Beginning June 2, the National Association of College Stores is retiring its weekly printed newsletter,
Campus Marketplace. At the same time, it will give that name to its e-mail newsletter, currently called
CM Bulletin. The new e-mail
Campus Marketplace will make its debut using HTML format.
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Borders Group, which already has stores in New Zealand in Auckland and
Christchurch, is close to signing a lease for a store in Wellington,
the
Dominion Post reported. The store would be in the Capital on the Quay shopping center.
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Tom Korman has been promoted to v-p of trade sales at DK Publishing. Before
joining the company in 1996 as director of sales, he worked
at Random House and Encore Books.
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