Cool idea of the day. Liberty Bay Books, Poulsbo, Wash., has found a
great use for the large amounts of galleys it receives. The store has
created a Youth Book Club for grades 5 and up that will meet weekly
during the summer. Participants will be able to choose from the store's
ample collection of galleys, read them and report back the next week.
"It gives kids in a difficult age bracket something to do in the
summer, and it will be fun since they can select which book they want
from the boxes," owner Suzanne Droppert said in an e-mail.
The store also hopes that participants hearing about a book from
another participant might want to buy copies of the finished book and
that it can use the reviews in-store and as feedback to publishers. Droppert
believes that the idea of reading free, yet-to-be-published books will appeal
to teens and encourage them to frequent the store. So far, "kids and
their parents seem excited about the book club," Droppert added.
[Thanks to Penguin rep Meredith Vajda for the tip!]
---
The Peppertree Bookstore of Palm Springs, Calif., the main sponsor of
the Palm Springs Book Festival, is opening a second store, Peppertree
Bookstore & Cafe, in Old Town La Quinta, La Quinta, Calif., the
Palm Springs Desert Sun
reported. The 2,100-sq.-ft. store will open in September--and is about
twice the size of the Palm Springs store. In addition, the festival,
which was held for the second time this past April, is moving, and will
now be known as the Coachella Valley Book Festival.
---
Acres of Books in Long Beach, Calif., is being renamed Warburton's
Books--at least for three days this week for the filming of scenes from
a feature called Mama's Boy starring Diane Keaton and Jon Heder, the
Long Beach Press Telegram reported.
---
Tower Records is close to a sale, and all bids apparently are from private-equity firms, according to the
Book Standard. The company has been on the block since February.
Some 85% of Tower is owned by former bondholders, and the rest is owned
by the family of Tower founder Russ Solomon. Since emerging from
Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2004, the company has increased an emphasis on
books at its 90 record stores, which now stock 250-1,200 book titles
each. The company has four remaining Tower Books outlets.
---
Known for 34 years as the Bryn Mawr Book Shop until it changed
ownership three and a a half years ago, the Lark Street Bookshop in
Albany, N.Y., is closing at the end of June, according to the
Albany Times Union.
The 2,250-sq.-ft. used bookstore can't afford to buy its space, which
is now being marketed as a commercial condo. The asking price is
$180,000 plus condo fees of almost $1,000 a month and taxes. "It
doesn't make sense for this kind of venue," co-owner Bill Pettit told
the paper.
The four owners had bought the store to keep it alive when the owners
of Bryn Mawr decided to retire, and their goal was not so much to make
money as not to lose money. The store has been a community center,
hosting "everything from music and poetry open mic nights to knitting
and German clubs," the paper wrote.
---
Paperback Heaven Book Exchange in Woodbury, N.J., is closing its
storefront, according to the
Cherry Hill Courier Post. The small used
bookstore had been opened two and a half years. Owner Lisa Bagherpour
will now sell exclusively online. She and her husband, Fred, who own
the building the store is in, blamed a depressed downtown for the
decision to close the store.
---
North of the border, at least one used bookstore company is having
better times. Patrick Hempelmann, owner of two used bookstores called
BMV (books, music and videos) in Toronto, is opening a third, which, at
15,000 square feet and 200,000 books, will be much larger than the
other two.
Interestingly he told the
Toronto Star:
"The traditional concept of the used bookstore is basically dead: to
wait for people to look for books that are out of print and hard to
find, and therefore be able to charge a high price because of the
rarity of what you are selling, that idea has been destroyed by ABE and
by the Internet. There are very few books that are hard to find now.
"What still works," he continued, "is to sell good books, remainders,
review copies, used and hurt books and sell them cheaper, much much
cheaper, than you'd pay at Indigo or Chapters. In the U.S., the used
book business is growing faster than the new."
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The
following are tips regarding shielded assets from a new Nolo Press
audio CD for booksellers called The Bookseller's Little Legal
Companion. For a free copy of the CD, write to Nolo at