Around Indies

Books Inc. to Open New Airport Store

Northern California's Books Inc. has announced plans to open a new store in February 2011 in San Francisco International Airport's renovated Terminal 2. Books Inc. has operated stores at the airport since 1995, and currently runs two other stores there.

The new store will share the Compass Books name with two other Books Inc. locations, one at the airport and one at Disneyland in Anaheim, California.

Clinton Book Shop Connects With Customers

The Hunterdon County Democrat profiled the 35-year-old Clinton Book Shop, which is in the midst of moving to a new building in downtown Clinton, New Jersey.

The Democrat reported on the combined online and offline marketing efforts of store owner Harvey Finkel and manager Rob Dougherty. Between frequent Facebook updates, videos documenting the evolution of the store's new location, and a bimonthly "Politically Incorrect Book Club," Clinton Book Shop remains engaged with a broad spectrum of its community.

Boulder Bookstore's Consignment Program Draws Attention

The fee-for-consignment program that Boulder Bookstore established for self-published authors has caught the eye of Megan Garber at Nieman Journalism Lab, who sees the program as an experiment in "microdistribution."

Garber saw lessons for the journalism community in Boulder Bookstore's method: "Indeed, bookstores are like news outlets in more ways than the simple fact of their existential endangerment. The world of book publishing is experiencing a restructuring that is similar -- and in some ways parallel -- to the power shifts taking place in the world of journalism. Bookstores themselves don't just facilitate access to information; they also provide an editorial filter for that information. Just as the New York Times is a curator of content as much as it's a creator of it -- assigning significance to news stories via (web)page placement, story length, headline size, etc. -- bookstores curate their own content via in-store placement, 'Staff Picks' sections, and all the rest."

Politics & Prose Recognized by ACLU

The National Capital Area chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has honored Politics & Prose and store founders Carla Cohen and Barbara Meade with its Henry W. Edgerton Civil Liberties Special Recognition Award.

The ACLU's website features a tribute to the store: "The bookstore is inextricably tied to the Washington community, reflecting the character of the community's interest in discussion and debate on everything political, both national and international and the community's far-ranging interests from art to cuisine, philosophy to history to a wide variety of fiction. The richness of the P&P experience also lies in its unique relationship with authors and publishers, conducting book groups and hosting author talks that facilitate relationships among books, the authors and their audiences."

The award will be given at the ACLU's annual Bill of Rights Awards Dinner on March 18. Cohen and Meade plan to use the opportunity to discuss a favorite book, Jeff Shesol's Supreme Power: Franklin Roosevelt vs. the Supreme Court.

WORD Celebrates Third Anniversary

Brooklyn independent bookstore WORD celebrated its third anniversary with Zane Lamprey, author of Three Sheets: Drinking Made Easy! 6 Continents, 15 Countries, 190 Drinks and 1 Mean Hangover!

"It was so nice to see folks come out who have helped make the store what it was," said store manager Stephanie Anderson.