Iconoclast Books,
which has stores in Ketchum and Sun Valley, Idaho, is moving from its
3,300-sq.-ft. space in Ketchum to a 4,500-sq.-ft. space that will
include a café and should be open December 1, according to the Idaho Mountain Express and Guide.
Gary Hunt, who owns the store with his wife, Sarah Hedrick, said of the
move, "With big, wide sidewalks and the other retail in that part of
town, it makes more sense. It's sad to lose the historic brick ambiance
but we will replace it with something better."
---
The Tacoma News Tribune celebrates the move and grand reopening of Pacific Lutheran University's Garfield Book Company
off campus. The paper described the new location this way: "This
bookstore is green, it's inclusive, and it's there to serve the wider
community." The store has helped transform the Garfield Street area
"into a well-walked boulevard peopled by students and shoppers and
anchored by a unique concept in college bookstores," the paper
continued.
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The installation of seven 42-inch flatscreen TVs in the A.S. Bookstore
at Chico State University, Chico, Calif., has elicited a range of
reactions, the Orion
reported. Bookstore director Steve Dubey said, "With this generation of
college students, it is no longer a two-dimensional experience walking
into a place like this. We want to make the atmosphere and experience
more dynamic." He added that "the screens are generating conversation
and that's what we want."
One employee complained of the distraction of so many screens showing
ESPN and MTV. Another student almost walked into a wall. But some like
the change.
---
When he opened the first Books & Books in a then-quiet downtown
Coral Gables, Fla., in 1982, Mitchell Kaplan was an English teacher at
Southridge High "who dreamed of opening his own bookstore, saw a future
where book lovers from near and far would gather on Aragon Avenue to
get a shot of literature, or culture or both," the Miami Herald wrote in a piece about the store's month-long 25th anniversary celebration.
''So much has changed,'' Kaplan told the paper. "When we started doing
our author reading and author events, I think we tapped into a market
that hadn't quite been tapped into here in Coral Gables.''
---
The day after the collapse of the deal for Thalia to take over the book
departments in Karstadt department stores, the owner of the German
department store chain announced that DBH Buch Handels' Hugendubel and
Weltbild will buy and run Karstadt's book operations and open their own
bookstores in 52 Karstadt stores, according to Booktrade.
---
Borders will pay a quarterly cash
dividend of 11 cents a share on October 26 to shareholders of
record at the end of the day on October 12. The move continues
Borders's dividend rate of 44 cents a year.
---
The Los Angeles Times travels to Pasadena, Calif., to examine the "local books" trend, exemplified in this case by a title called Hometown Pasadena, which author Colleen Dunn Bates published herself and became the start of a small publishing house, Prospect Park Books. Hometown Santa Monica appears next week, and similar titles on Santa Barbara and Berkeley appear next year.
Vroman's Marie du Vaure told the Times that sales of the book are
"phenomenal." The Pasadena bookstore devoted an entire table to the
book, not just because it filled a gap but because the design is
appealing. Hometown Pasadena has sold more than 10,000 copies at Vroman's and other outlets.
When the Odyssey Bookshop makes a move later this month, the S. Hadley,
Mass., retailer won't have far to tote its tomes. Currently housed in a
space that spans the top and middle floors of the three-story Village
Commons shopping center, the store will instead occupy the middle and
ground floors--a change that could yield significant results.
The Odyssey Bookshop's new space on the ground floor is adjacent to the
shopping center's parking lot, which should increase foot traffic.
Shops, service-oriented businesses such as a salon, several restaurants
and a movie theater are located along the pedestrian thoroughfare
bordering the parking lot. "Right now we have no presence on that
level," said Neil Novik, who owns the Odyssey Bookshop with Joan
Grenier. "It will be much more beneficial for people to have access to
the store from where they're parking. There are people coming to the
Commons for the first time who park on that level and don't even know
the Odyssey is there."
A spate of windows adorning the ground floor space offers ample display
opportunities to attract shoppers, and children's books and toys will
be prominently featured. Along with kids' merchandise, the store's
bestselling category--trade paperback fiction--will be relocated to the
lower level. "I've been here for nine years, and I can't tell you how
many times we've moved sections and tried new things," said Novik.
"We're a store that thinks of itself as always evolving. And this is
certainly a big evolution for us."
Serendipity played a part in the Odyssey Bookshop's latest
modification. A business located on the top floor was looking to
expand, while at the same time two retailers on the ground floor level
decided to close up shop. "It's a multi-part story," said Novik. "If
only one of the stores had vacated, we wouldn't have had enough space."
Combined the two shops on the ground floor about equal the square
footage of the space the Odyssey is vacating.
Construction of a new staircase linking the ground and middle floors is
not expected to affect operations, although the store will close for
several days at the end of October to move inventory. Along with
their staff, Novik and Grenier will have additional muscle from the
loyal customers who have offered their assistance. A re-opening
celebration is planned for mid-November, and the soirée will coincide
with another noteworthy occasion--the Odyssey Bookshop's 44th
anniversary.--Shannon McKenna Schmidt
[Editor's note: With this story about the Odyssey Bookshop, contributing writer Shannon McKenna unveils a new byline: Shannon McKenna Schmidt. Recent nuptials are not the reason for the change in moniker but rather to avoid mistaken identity with a romance author of the same name. The reason for making the distinction now: Novel Destinations: Literary Landmarks from Jane Austen's Bath to Ernest Hemingway's Key West, which Shannon McKenna Schmidt and Joni Rendon wrote, will be published by National Geographic Books in May 2008. Congratulations!]
The show airs at 8 a.m. Central Time and can be heard live at
thebookreport.net; the archived edition will be posted this afternoon.
---
Today on the Diane Rehm Show: Jim Lehrer, author of Eureka (Random House, $24.95, 9781400064878/1400064872).
---
Today on NPR's Talk of the Nation: Dr. Richard Baer, author of Switching Time: A Doctor's Harrowing Story of Treating a Woman with 17 Personalities (Crown, $24.95, 9780307382665/0307382664).
---
Today on the View: Cesar Millan, author of Be the Pack Leader: Use
Cesar's Way to Transform Your Dog . . . and Your Life (Harmony, $25.95,
9780307381668/0307381668).
---
Today on the Martha Stewart Show: Rosie O'Donnell, author of Celebrity
Detox: (the fame game) (Grand Central, $23.99,
9780446582247/0446582247). She is on GMA today, too.
Also on Martha Stewart: Charles Phoenix, who shares his Retro Halloween
Slides. His latest book is Americana the Beautiful: Mid-Century Culture
in Kodachrome (Angel City Press, $35, 9781883318543/1883318548).
---
Today on PBS's Travis Smiley: Matt Bai, author of The Argument:
Billionaires, Bloggers, and the Battle to Remake Democratic Politics
(Penguin Press, $25.95, 9781594201332/1594201331).
---
Tonight on the Colbert Report: Jim Lovell, one of the astronauts profiled in In the Shadow of the Moon: A Challenging Journey to Tranquility, 1965-1969 by Francis French and Colin Burgess (University of Nebraska Press, $29.95, 9780803211285/0803211287).
The following was contributed by Chris Kerr, a principal of the rep group Parson Weems. Many thanks!
While the queues may not have been as long as the overnight ticket
buyers for the Hanna Montana concert or the cheers as loud as the Red
Sox received when they clinched their first division title in 10 years,
Steve Fischer's first NEIBA trade show as executive director was widely
regarded as a roaring success.
Once again NEIBA's robust membership voted with its feet for an
exceptional educational program, several sold-out author meals and the
usual publisher freebies at the Rhode Island Convention Center,
Providence, September 27-29. The educational sessions were particularly
well-attended.
Per Fischer, "Final registration numbers were very encouraging; in its
34th year, NEIBA registered 930 booksellers, down only seven from 2006,
450 exhibitors, up 15, and a record 132 authors." The only quibble
voiced by the occasional rebarbative* publisher's rep was over the
perceived thinner booksellers' ranks and the higher ratio of
day-trippers to overnighters.
[*Editor's note: we can see without doubt that this is the first use of
the word rebarbative in the two-and-a-half year history of Shelf
Awareness. Thank you, Chris, for improving our vocabulary.]
Highlights of the show included the Ha Jin, Paul Krugman and Geraldine Brooks
Saturday Breakfast, the "best ever" according to many. Suzanne
Staubach of the UConn bookstore in Storrs and no Pollyanna said
enthusiastically that Krugman was "optimistic about the economy,"
shocking news to devoted readers of his New York Times column.
At the much-anticipated and sold-out Thursday Industry Lunch, Richard
Russo (Bridge of Sighs) received NEIBA's President's Award. Simon &
Schuster sales rep Katie McGarry received the Gilman Award as rep of
the year. New England Mobile Book Fair's Jon Strymish received the Book
Publishers Representatives of New England "Independent Spirit Bookstore
Award." (It was widely assumed that this clever tactic was the only way
to get the normally diffident Strymish to attend the show.) Shambhala
Publications received a 2007 New England Book Award as best regional
publisher.
Jessica Stockton, blogger of the Written Nerd, New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association board member and
McNally Robinson, NYC, bookseller, posted that "NEIBA is operating
under a similar strategy to NAIBA's show this year, with a smaller,
more streamlined trade show floor focused on 'pick of the lists' and
helping booksellers sell more books, rather than trying to showcase
every title from every publisher. The show floor was therefore smallish
and felt very manageable, even in the few hours I had to spare, but I
still found myself coming away with a bag of super-useful materials
(and, um, free books)."
Rep Bill Palizzolo, billbooks & associates, and an earlier winner
of the Gilman sales rep of the year award, commented: "I loved the new
format (Friday & Saturday) and thought it worked well. The
attendance on Saturday was much better than the prior years' Sunday
attendance." He did think that "perhaps moving back to Boston next year
will increase attendance."
Book House of Stuyvesant "blurb queen" Susan Taylor was "excited to
pick up some galleys, particularly Monsters of Templeton by Lauren
Groff (HarperCollins) and I'm Looking Through You by Jennifer Finney Boyle (Random House)."
Wiley rep Wes Romansky said that he signed up "six-eight new accounts
that hadn't ordered before from Wiley." Wiley also hosted a cocktail
party for "75 happy attendees," as Romansky put it.
Regarding possible changes to the show, Romansky added, "I think we
should go to the NAIBA two-day length format. While we set up the
morning of day one, they are having their education courses and
meetings. Then there are a few selling hours, say 4-6:30 p.m. Day two
is selling only, 9 a.m.-4 p.m."
PGW's Kim Wylie refused to dish. When asked for comment, she responded
"Sure . . . is this bland enough for you? 'Traffic was pretty great. We
had a warm response to the announcement that PGW got to keep our name
(hallelujah) and book buyers were grabbing our galleys and in good
spirits. Lots of excitement over Eliot Pattison's Bone Rattler as
well as excitement over Grove's upcoming Karen Armstrong book, The
Bible.' "
For her part, Carole Horne of Harvard Book Store, Cambridge, Mass.,
said, "I thought the show was great. The mood seemed up; Saturday wound
up being quite busy. The Thursday seminars were well attended, and I
heard good things about them from lots of people. The two meal events I
went to (the awards luncheon and the Saturday author breakfast) were
both spectacular. I thought the author reception worked much better
than the dinner we've had the last few years. And I was home on Sunday!"
Among the 13 stellar authors who mingled at the SRO
Friday evening reception, many booksellers remarked that they
particularly enjoyed Brock Clarke (The Arsonist's Guide to Writer's
Homes in New England/Algonquin,) Samantha Hunt (The Invention of
Everything Else/Houghton Mifflin) and John Burnham Schwartz (The
Commoner/Doubleday.)
For many, Friday night's festivities wrapped with the Second Annual
Rogue Party, featuring Boston's Charlie Chesterman and the Motorbikes.
It drew a "moderate crowd of booksellers and Megadeth fans from a
nearby concert, according to organizer Susan Taylor. "Late dinners kept
some booksellers away but the band rocked, and a good time was had by
all. We'll see what happens with the Rogue Party next year--Boston is a
lot more expensive than Providence."
NEIBA's Fischer concluded, "the vibe was upbeat and I had many
booksellers and publishers tell me it was a really great few days for
them. And I had an absolutely wonderful time myself! On to our Holiday
Catalog! We'll see you next year in Boston at the Hynes Convention
Center, September 18-20!"
