On Ariel's Closing
Last week, Susan and Dean Avery announced plans to close 34-year-old Ariel Booksellers in New Paltz, New York, by late fall. "We've had a really great run," Susan Avery recently told BTW. "We are very valued by our community, and I hope when our customers look at all the wonderful books they got from Ariel, they'll think of us."
The mood at this year's Southeastern Booksellers Association Trade Show was decidedly sober compared to the last few years. I felt the distressing echo of the show that had immediately followed September 11, 2001. The same haunted "there but for the grace of God go I" gratitude was evident in the faces of many of my colleagues, as well as in the mirror in my hotel room. 