Industry News

On Thursday, October 21, Civic Economics released a new, in-depth local economic impact study, "The Andersonville Study of Retail Economics," that once again clearly illustrates that local merchants contribute significantly more money to the local economy than do retail chains.

ABA will be joining members of the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association (NAIBA) at the regional's fall trade show to be held on Sunday, October 24, and Monday, October 25, at the Borgata Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey. As part of the full day of educational programming on Sunday, from 2:00 p.m.

Attendance at the New England Booksellers Association (NEBA) fall trade show, which was held from Friday, October 8, to Sunday, October 10, at Boston's World Trade Center, was up slightly this year compared to last year's show in Providence, Rhode Island, reported NEBA Executive Director Rusty Drugan, who told BTW that "the educational programming ... was a hit throughout the show.

To provide independent professional booksellers with access to the education, information, and business services they need to succeed in a changing world, which is the number-one goal of ABA's Strategic Plan, the association has been seeking bookseller input regarding future educational programming through responses to ABA's "Education 2005 Survey."

WNBA Wants to Know Your Favorite Children's Bookseller

The Women's National Book Association (WNBA) wants to know about bookstores in the U.S. that excel at creatively bringing books and children together and inspiring children's interest in books and reading. WNBA will present the Lucile Micheels Pannell Award to two bookstores -- one general and one children's bookstore -- at BookExpo America. Each recipient will receive a check for $1,000 plus a framed piece of original art by a children's book illustrator.

Depending on which holiday sales forecast ends up being the most accurate, retailers will either be shouting, "It's A Wonderful Life!" or grumbling "Bah, Humbug!" when the season is over and final holiday sales are tallied. Two recently released holiday sales forecasts, one from the National Retail Federation (NRF) and the other appearing in the Kiplinger Letter, paint contrary pictures for the upcoming holiday season.

August is the fifth month in a row in which bookstore sales have trailed last year's figures. August 2004 bookstore sales of $2,079 million were 4.1 percent lower than the $2,167 for August 2003.

In contrast, overall retail sales of $345 billion for August 2004, were 4.5 percent better than the $330 billion reported in August 2003.

Year-to-date bookstore sales, incorporating the negative performance of the past five months, show no gain over the same time period last year.

On Saturday, November 20, the American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA) wants people to shop only at locally owned retailers in their communities. The nationwide event, America Unchained, evolved out of Austin Unchained, the Austin Independent Business Alliance's (AIBA) event held last November, said Jennifer Rockne, AMIBA director. "Last November, [AIBA] did this, and it was very successful -- they received a lot of great press, so we thought we'd do another [nationwide event] ...

The theme of this year's Great Lakes Booksellers Association fall trade show was "Making It on Main Street," and the GLBA plenary session on Sunday, October 10, focused on building local alliances to strengthen Main Street businesses.

"The Little Trade Show With Heart" is the way Jim Dana, executive director of the Great Lakes Booksellers Association, described the regional's show, which was held in Dearborn, Michigan, from October 8 - 10. "A number of people commented to me on how 'close-knit' our group is, the 'family feel,' the 'intimacy,'" said Dana.

Among the new and successful events at this year's show was the Quiz Bowl, sponsored by Simon & Schuster and inspired by A.J. Jacobs' book Know-It-All.