BEA Spotlight: Independent Retailing in the U.S., ABA's Town Hall & Membership Meetings, and More

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The start of BookExpo America (BEA), which will be held from Thursday, June 2, to Sunday, June 5, at New York City's Jacob Javits Convention Center, is just two weeks away. As part of BTW's continuing coverage of ABA's comprehensive BEA programming, this week we shine the spotlight on Friday's ABA Town Hall and Annual Membership meetings, as well as meetings of BookSense.com and Book Sense Gift Card users groups, and on Saturday's panel focusing on "Independent Retailing in the U.S."

BookSense.com Users Group

On Friday from 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. in Room 1C 02, BookSense.com Director Len Vlahos will moderate the BookSense.com Users Group. BookSense.com users will learn about the latest features of BookSense.com, as well as planned enhancements to the product. There will also be a question-and-answer period, plus the opportunity to see demos of Constant Contact, ABA's new partner for e-mail marketing management. Non-Booksense.com stores are welcome to attend.

Book Sense Gift Card Users Group

ABA Marketing Director Jill Perlstein will moderate the Book Sense Gift Card Users Group on Friday from 11:00 a.m. - noon in Room 1C 02. Current participants in the Book Sense Gift Card program are encouraged to attend this session for an in-depth review of the program and a discussion about future growth. Booksellers will be asked to share their experiences of managing and marketing this innovative program. Attendees will see new gift card designs and will be able to take part in a question-and-answer session.

Participants are also encouraged to take part in the first annual Book Sense Gift Card Swap. Booksellers are asked to bring gift cards from other stores redeemed in their stores. ABA will redistribute the cards to the issuing store to be incremented or used for promotional purposes. Cards may also be dropped off at the Book Sense Lounge, Room 1E 07-08. It's a great way to recycle, reuse, and to help keep costs down.

All booksellers are welcome to attend the Book Sense Gift Card Users Group.

ABA Town Hall and Annual Membership Meetings

ABA's Annual Town Hall Meeting will be held on Friday, June 3, from 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m., in Room 1C 03. The Town Hall Meeting offers ABA member booksellers the opportunity to express opinions and share ideas with ABA Board members and staff in a less formal setting than at ABA's Annual Membership Meeting. Booksellers can ask questions and make suggestions on such topics as Book Sense, ABACUS, ABA's educational offerings, or anything else that comes to mind.

New and outgoing members of ABA's Board of Directors will be at ABA's Annual Membership Meeting, to be held from 4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. on Friday, June 3, in Room 1C 04. ABA's official annual meeting will provide membership with an update on the past year's activities and accomplishments and a look ahead to upcoming association projects.

The meeting agenda is as follows: Call to Order, Report on the Election of Board Members and Officers, Report of the President, Report of the Chief Executive Officer, Old Business, and New Business. Voting cards will be available outside the meeting room two hours prior to the meeting.

Independent Retailing in the U.S. Today

From 3:15 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, ABA COO Oren Teicher will moderate a panel that will examine the challenges and opportunities common to all Main Street businesses. Booksellers are invited to come and learn from independent retailers from several different industries -- toy, record, hardware, and appliance stores -- who will share their successes and mistakes, as well as ideas about ways Main Street businesses can work together.

Panelists are Donna Fenn, a contributing editor to Inc. magazine and author of Alpha Dogs: How Your Small Business Can Become a Leader of the Pack (to be published by CollinsBusiness in the fall); Katharine Blair, manager and book buyer for Jazams, a small independent toy store with locations in Princeton and Pennington, New Jersey; Rick Karp, president of San Francisco's four Cole Hardware stores, voted the best hardware store in San Francisco for many years; David Pia, whose family business, Associated Appliance & Service in Stamford, Connecticut, has grown from a $45,000 annual service business in the early 1970s to two retail and service stores with annual sales of approximately $5 million; and Gary Scotti of Scotti's Record Shops, the oldest independently owned music chain in the country, with five locations in New Jersey.

For more about BEA and ABA programming, go to www.bookweb.org/aba/convention/.