Concord Bookshop Embroiled in Controversy

The 63-year-old Concord Bookshop in Concord, Massachusetts, called one of the "jewels of New England," by Rusty Drugan, executive director of the New England Booksellers Association (NEBA), is embroiled in a public dispute between the staff, headed by three longtime booksellers who serve as the management team, and the store owners, members of three families, headed by Morgan "Kim" Smith, president of the store's board of directors.

In early November, the three top managers -- general manager Dale Szczeblowski; Jane Dawson, who handles personnel management; and Carol Stoltz, who runs the children's department, were informed, both at a meeting and by letter, that the three would be "relieved of their management duties" and a new general manager would be hired. No one was asked to leave or received a cut in salary.

Upset by the announced changes, eight of the two dozen employees, including the three managers, gave notice or quit. Dawson, who has worked at the store for eight years, will leave her job this week. Szczeblowski and Stoltz, who have worked at Concord for 18 years and 9 years, respectively, have agreed to continue working through January. All three were appointed to their managerial positions in 1998.

At issue is the appropriate management for the store, a venerable community institution, to enable it to weather the precarious financial climate for independent booksellers and to pilot the store's course toward a prosperous future. According to Smith, who spoke to BTW while on vacation in upstate New York, financially "things have never been worse" at the store. "Margins in the bookstore have gone way down. We need to get those under better control."

Szczeblowski told BTW that the board's decision came as a surprise to everyone at the store. "Our last performance reviews (in spring 2003) were glowing," he said.

Recent conversations between the owners and store managers have given him hope that "there may be another way [to deal with the management structure], the initial reaction by all the staff and many customers to the change has been disappointment and disagreement."

An impressive assortment of writers and literary types in the area, organized by children's author Jane Langton, signed an e-mail to the owners objecting to the change in management. According to a recent story in the Boston Globe, the letter, signed by 32 people including Doris Kearns Goodwin, Alice Hoffman, and Gregory Maguire, said in part: "Surely there is no better bookstore in the Boston area … no other set of managers and staff who are themselves such thoughtful readers and at the same time so willing to serve the customers.... We appreciate the fact that in the general downturn of the economy, the owners of the bookstore must be concerned with profit and loss, but we believe that ... the loss of Dale and resignations of other important staff members would have a bad effect on the bottom line."

Szczeblowski said, "I don't think they [the owners] anticipated this scenario. They must not have realized that if another manager was hired -- it would pose difficulties for the staff. I have a hard time understanding why they thought we would stay."

Szczeblowski, who is vice president of NEBA and a member of ABA's Booksellers Advisory Council, said that he cannot discuss aspects of the store's financial status because of a confidentiality agreement with the owners, but the three former managers issued a written comment: "In explaining to us the change in management structure, the owners told us they wanted to take the store in a different direction. We hold different opinions regarding the financial health of the store. We are very proud of what we have been able to accomplish these past five years."

Smith said that although the changes were a surprise to the staff and management of the store, they resulted from what he called "continuing concern for a long time." Smith does not want to lose any staff. "I hope they all stay," he said. "The message should be that in a small business, when things are going the wrong way they [the owners] do something about it. I have ideas -- but I'd rather get someone with more experience to help us make these determinations."

A job search through NEBA has brought in "some applications." The deadline for applicants for the general manager's job is Tuesday, January 6.

Asked what he and other owners have heard from customers and the public, Smith said, "Lots of people have responded. They're saying 'for gosh sake don't let the store close.'" --Nomi Schwartz