Industry News

Southampton, New York, on the eastern end of Long Island, is a seaside town with a unique flair often associated with small villages where local, independent shops rule the roost. Part of its charm certainly lies in the fact that the town "has been spared a lot of superstore development," said Kathryn Szoka, co-owner of Canio's Books in Sag Harbor, one of the six incorporated villages of Southampton. And, according to Szoka, the community wants to keep it that way.

The definition of customer service includes factors like location, access, speed, product quality, communication, competitive pricing, knowledgeable sales associates, store hours, return policies, and price guarantees.

In her book Ordinary Acts, Extraordinary Outcomes, Betsy Sanders defines customer service as "what the customers are willing to pay for."

Over the past year, the number of bookstores participating in the Book Sense Gift Card Program has more than doubled and that number continues to grow as booksellers heed reports from their fellow booksellers and from the media about significant increases in sales when stores begin selling gift cards. Now, Book Sense is making available to booksellers a downloadable PDF listing all the bookstores participating in the gift card program.

Lillian Trujillo opened Sages Pages in Madison, New Jersey, in September with the goal of "connect[ing] people with sources of information and other people's thoughts."

Book Sense has announced the deadlines for the 2005 Book Sense Picks lists. The entire list is available here.

Due to overall increased consumer demand for electronic gift cards and the continued growing popularity of Book Sense Gift Cards in particular, the American Booksellers Association is announcing the discontinuation of the Book Sense Paper Gift Certificate Program.

To ensure a smooth ending for the program, please note the following:

The American Booksellers Association's Education Task Force will meet on Saturday, November 13, in Minneapolis to consider the results of the "ABA Education 2005 Survey." The survey to gather bookseller input to help guide ABA's future educational programming was distributed over the last few months to ABA member booksellers by e-mail, through BookW

On Thursday, October 21, Common Cause of Delaware, a nonprofit citizens lobbying organization dedicated to government reform and accountability, held a citizen's public meeting on the Safety and Freedom Ensured Act (S. 1709, SAFE Act) at Ninth Street Book Store in Wilmington, Delaware. The SAFE Act seeks to amend provisions of the USA Patriot Act, including Section 215, which gives law enforcement officials broad authority to demand that libraries or bookstores turn over books, records, papers, and documents.

The Southern California Booksellers Association (SCBA) will be holding its Fall Seminars on Friday, November 5, at the Hyatt Regency in Long Beach and its Authors Feast on Saturday, November 6, at the Aquarium of the Pacific, also in Long Beach.

WordsWorth Books in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a Harvard Square institution, will be closing its doors for good this Saturday, October 30, after having failed to find an investor to help keep the bankrupt store afloat, as reported by the Boston Globe. The WordsWorth closing adds to the list of recent closures in Harvard Square -- which includes retailers Abercrombie & Fitch, Brine's Sporting Goods, Tweeter (an electronics store), and a Chili's restaurant.

Nobel Peace Prize Winner Joins Battle for Free Speech

Linda Rosengarten, a graduate of the Bookseller School presented by Paz & Associates this fall, is the new owner of Cheshire Bookshop in Fort Bragg, California. Previously the executive director of a nonprofit organization, Rosengarten was ready for a new career when her long-time friend Howard Martin was looking to sell the 30-year-old store. She quickly moved to purchase Cheshire, and, like many new booksellers, was somewhat surprised by the learning curve. "It's hard," Rosengarten explained.

A diverse collection of authors and booksellers are turning up on the radio waves in a new venture called Writer's Voice Radio, a weekly program produced by Science Interchange in cooperation with A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books and KALW-FM Radio, both of San Francisco.

On Thursday, October 21, the Arkansas Supreme Court rejected the Arkansas Attorney General's contention that amendments to an Arkansas statute restricting the "display" of material that is "harmful to minors" applied to materials only harmful to more mature minors. The Supreme Court's opinion means that, when the case goes back to the federal judge, it will most likely be struck down on the grounds that it is unconstitutional.