Industry News

In the past year, in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate, bills have been introduced that would allow states to simplify sales tax regulations and give states the authority to require remote sellers to collect and remit sales and use taxes. It is expected that the bills would help states begin to recover from years of budgetary shortfalls by collecting revenue lost through catalog and Internet purchases.

Last month, Canterbury Booksellers in Madison, Wisconsin, hosted Al Franken for a sold-out event at the 1,800-seat Orpheum Theater, a recently renovated movie house. Studs Terkel, who introduced Franken to the crowd, then went to the store following the event for his own very successful book signing and reading. Canterbury Booksellers, which hosts over 100 events a year, sees this super-sized event as a model for a regular series of more grand-scale readings.

When does a 300-square-foot bookstore have enough space to encompass millions of book buyers and thousands of books? Answer: When National Public Radio's Susan Stamberg asks its manager to recommend some holiday gift books and the response is aired on the popular Morning Edition radio program. On December 4, three independent bookstores were represented during the radio segment titled "The Hunt for Books That Are Better to Give."

In this article, which originally appeared on December 1 on SunSpot.net, an online service of the Baltimore Sun, writer Elizabeth L. Piccirillo describes how a growing number of consumers spent their Thanksgiving weekend shopping at small stores, replacing crowded malls and long lines with unique gifts and personal service.

By Elizabeth L. Piccirillo

Rivaling summer as the time to roll out blockbusters or wannabe blockbusters are the busy weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Now that the memories of Seabiscuit, Mystic River, The Cat in the Hat, and others have receded, a broad collection of film adaptations from literature are gracing screens across the country.

As national headlines about the beginning of the holiday shopping season used words such as "cautious optimism" (National Retail Federation), "solid sales" (USA Today), and "yawn" (New York Times), so too did independent booksellers' post-Thanksgiving sales experiences vary. Some were reporting gains of 20 percent or more for the past weekend and generally good results over last year, and others have yet to see a turnaround from recent years' poor results.

ABA secures additional single rooms at Allerton/Hotel ABA

Thus far, the response by ABA member booksellers to both "Hotel ABA" offers, at the Allerton and next-door Radisson Hotel & Suites, has been nothing short of remarkable, as nearly all available rooms have been reserved. As such, those booksellers planning to attend BookExpo America (BEA) in Chicago next June and hoping to stay at "Hotel ABA" should act fast.

On Friday, January 9, ABA will hold the first of 16 Booksellers Forums scheduled for various locations across the country over the next four months. The forums provide booksellers in every region an opportunity to meet with senior ABA staff and Board members to share ideas, to discuss industry issues, and to receive updates on various association projects. Data gathered at the forums is invaluable to the association as it shapes future programs and initiatives to the benefit of all ABA bookstore members.

Book Sense sends many thanks to all the independent booksellers who sent in nominations for the upcoming Book Sense 2004 Valentine's Day Top Ten. This follow-up to the successful Halloween Top Ten is being produced in conjunction with the Association of American Publishers (AAP), and it’s the first in a series of seasonal Top Tens that Book Sense and AAP will be creating next year. The Valentine’s Day Top Ten will feature a range of front and backlist titles and should offer a number of great in-store promotional opportunities for booksellers.

Reading Your Rights Documentary Now Available for Purchase

ABFFE has announced that Reading Your Rights, the documentary about the Tattered Cover Book Store's fight for customer privacy, is now available for purchase. The 26-minute video received rave reviews from booksellers when it was shown at several regional bookseller shows this fall.

On Saturday, December 6, Sustainable Connections (SC), a Bellingham, Washington, local-business network, will be holding a "Buy Local Day." The event kicks off a holiday season-long promotional campaign in which SC is asking Whatcom County, Washington, consumers to "Think Local, Buy Local, Be Local." Inspired by Austin Unchained, which was held November 15 and organized by the Austin Independent Business Alliance, the aim of SC's Th

With the holiday shopping season now in full swing, a number of news outlets have found a new "hot" topic: hidden gift cards fees.

Syracuse, New York, is going through somewhat of a downtown renaissance. In the past five years the downtown has added, and continues to add, residential housing units; in the past eight years, a net total of 83 retail shops have opened there. Today, downtown Syracuse can offer consumers almost anything they want … except for one thing: "The only missing component is an independent bookstore," said Stacey Griffin, economic development specialist for the Downtown Committee of Syracuse (DCS).

News Flash -- Oakland, California: DIESEL, A Bookstore, established in 1989, is not closing, not for sale, and not under new management. The founders/owners, Alison Reid and John Evans, are looking for one or more new partners to share equally in the operation of their "high quality, independent neighborhood bookstore celebrating a California urban aesthetic, a cosmopolitan gathering point for those who love good writing."