About Bookstores

Independent booksellers across the country are using an array of Shop Local promotions, social media outlets, holiday catalogs, IndieBound marketing materials, and unique handsells to face another challenging holiday retail season. And, though the Black Friday weekend often draws shoppers from Main Street to big box stores and malls, booksellers who spoke to BTW this week were generally pleased with their November sales and optimistic about the weeks to come.

Joseph-Beth Booksellers, with locations in Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina, recently opened a new store on the main campus of the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. This week, a second, satellite store, is set to open at one of the Cleveland Clinic health centers.

Owners Mark 30 Years at The Bennington Bookshop

Ellen and Richard Havlak are celebrating 30 years as owners of The Bennington Bookshop, which in 2008 marked its 80th anniversary on Main Street in Bennington, Vermont.

When Atlanta's A Cappella Books opened in 1989, it was exclusively a used, out-of-print, and collectible bookstore in less than 750 square feet, with fewer than 1,000 books, no employees, no cash register, no computer, and almost no money.

Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia, which is no stranger to innovative marketing campaigns, recently launched two new promotional tools -- one is possibly the first-ever independent bookstore jingle; the other, an IndieBound Hanukkah poster, is a collaborative effort between Fountain and its local Jewish Community Center.

Palin Appearance at Joseph-Beth Draws 1,000-Plus

In Norwood, Illinois, local TV station WLWT reported that former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin "arrived to a rousing welcome Friday" at Joseph-Beth Booksellers, where "she told the sold-out crowd of more than 1,000 people that it showed courage for them to carry her book [Going Rogue] in public."

This week, Little Shop of Stories in Decatur, Georgia, and McNally Robinson Booksellers in Winnipeg, Canada, were named the grand prize winners of Neil Gaiman's Read More