Around Indies

 Schuler Books to Buy Nicola’s

On Monday, Schuler Books announced its plans to acquire Nicola’s Books in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Plans call for the store for the 9,800-square-foot store to continue operating as Nicola’s Books, with its retiring owner, Nicola Rooney, staying on as a consultant during the transition.

Schuler Books owners, Bill and Cecile Fehsenfeld, have three other stores in the state: in Grand Rapids, Lansing, and Okemos. “We are very excited to become an integral part of the growth and vitality of this Ann Arbor community,” said Cecile Fehsenfeld. “We look forward to great things from our new relationship with Nicola’s Books, a great bookstore, and are excited to become part of an enthusiastic network of locally owned businesses in the area.”

Rooney said that “joining the family of Schuler bookstores ensures that the future of Nicola’s Books will be in good hands. The familiar faces of our booksellers will be staying on, so customers should notice few changes.”  Nicola’s full schedule of author events, community events, and relationships with local schools and libraries will continue.

La Casa Azul Launches Book Drive for Unaccompanied Minors

From July 10 to August 10, New York City’s La Casa Azul Bookstore, in collaboration with the Unaccompanied Latin American Minor Project (U-LAMP) at John Jay College of Criminal Justice/Safe Passage Project, will host a book drive for children who were apprehended and detained at the Mexico-U.S. border and are currently in deportation proceedings in the New York City area.

The children and teenagers who are living in local shelters or residing with legal guardians need new and gently used Spanish-language books in good condition. Bookstore staff will deliver books to local shelters and provide them directly to children and teenagers who are currently in deportation proceedings.

The store is asking for donations of books in Spanish that are age appropriate and culturally relevant for mostly Central American and Mexican children and teenagers, most of whom fall between the Pre-K to 8th grade reading levels.

Those who would like to support the project can purchase the books at a 10 percent discount at La Casa Azul, or they can ship new/like new books to the store.

Questions should be addressed to [email protected].

Left Banks Books to Celebrate 45 Years

Left Bank Books in St. Louis is celebrating its 45th anniversary from Friday, July 11, through Sunday, the 13th, with special events, cake, drinks, audience participation, prizes, discounts, and more.

For Friday’s Writers Under Glass event, authors Mark Tiedemann (Gravity Box and Other Spaces), Ann Leckie (Ancillary Justice), Kevin Killeen (Try to Kiss a Girl), and Scott Phillips (Hop Alley) will be writing live in the store’s front window based on a prompt chosen by Left Bank customers.

Kris Kleindeinst, who co-owns the bookstore with her husband, Jarek Steele, was recently featured in a wide-ranging C-SPAN interview about the store and its place in the community.

Granada Books Marks First Anniversary

Granada Books: A Community Bookstore celebrated its first anniversary last weekend, on the Summer Solstice, with a Midnight Madness sale. The Santa Barbara, California, indie, which is owned by Sharon Hoshida and Emmett McDonough, also hosted an after-hours Thank You Party for volunteers and loyal customers on Sunday. As favors, Granada offered partygoers as many advance reading copies as they were willing to tackle, with the caveat being that they write a "Community Review," which will be posted on the store’s website and Facebook page.

“We are proud to be among the more than 2,000 independent bookstores striving to keep books and the stores that sell them on the street and in the community,” said Hoshida.

Orinda Books Changes Hands

Janet Boreta has sold Orinda Books in Orinda, California, to Maria and Danny Roden as of July 1. Maria Roden was formerly a manager of Orinda Books, who most recently was working at another indie bookstore. “She returns to our store and brings her industry expertise, her love of books, and enthusiasm for the place and our community,” said Boreta in announcement of the sale on the store website. “Maria and Danny know the importance a good, local bookstore plays in the lives of children and adults. They will help Orinda Books continue on its happy path as ‘the bookstore in Village Square.’”

Orinda Books was founded 38 years ago by group of local women and continued under the ownership of Boreta for the past 37 years.

bbgb books on the Move

Jenesse Everston and Jill Stefanovich, the co-owners of bbgb books in Richmond, Virginia, are moving the bookstore to a 1,600-square-foot storefront at 3003 W. Cary St. in Richmond’s Carytown neighborhood in mid-July. “We’ve been looking for a couple years for a space in Carytown,” Stefanovich told RichmondBizSense.com. “We treated (our current shop) as our test space.”

The new location will give them more space to host events for visiting authors. The shop’s last day of normal business at its current location will be July 12.

Bbgb started as a children’s bookstore, but about a quarter of its inventory is now aimed at young adults and adults. Everston and Stefanovich are using a grant from author James Patterson to help fund the move.

Iowa’s Book People Hosts Summer Selfie Sale

Thanks to Beth Golay’s Books & Whatnot for sharing a summer promotion idea from Book People in Sioux City, Iowa. For the “Summer Selfie Sale,” Book People owner Chriss Camenzend is encouraging customers to send the store a book selfie (a picture of themselves with a book) via e-mail or Facebook and they’ll receive 25 percent off one regularly priced item. Entries are being posted on the store’s Book Selfie Wall, and customers are encouraged to come in to check out the wall and vote for their favorite selfie. The winner will receive a $25 gift card.