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Delivering bubble tea to the well-off dwellers who reside inside the Oxford Ring Road was never the dream for Oliver Mason. 'As far back as I can remember I knew [...]

One day, Katharine Douglas walked into the Ullapool Bookshop and asked for a job. This was in 2011, and it had been a few years since she had moved to [...]

Light is central to the Belfast bookshop Books Paper Scissors; it was what the store was built around. Everything in the shop looks like it was given its place to [...]

BY EUGENE HOLLEY JR. In every part of our nation, bookstores have faced big changes in 2020 and 2021. Black booksellers have had to bear the brunt of those changes, [...]

Liosban Business Park, Tuam Rd, Galway City, Co Galway, Ireland Since the Second World War, the independent family-run Kenny's Bookshop & Art Gallery in Galway has been a refuge for [...]

Waterloo, Iowa's Soul Book Nook is the first and only Black-owned indie in a state where, according to the most recent U.S. Census, less than 4% the population identifies as [...]

Thomas Wolfe famously wrote, 'You can't go back home to your family, back home to your childhood.' Unless, that is, you're Calvin Crosby and your home is The King's English [...]

Gretchen Treu and Wes Lukes, co-owners of A Room of One's Own in Madison, Wis., were named PW's 2021 Star Watch Superstars at last week's virtual celebration. Launched in 2015, [...]

In the past few years especially, sidelines have become an increasingly important way for bookstores to diversify their inventory and gain margin. At the Bookstore at Fitger's in Duluth, Minn., [...]

Oren Teicher, who joined the American Booksellers Association in 1990 and has been its c.e.o. for a decade, shares his tips for indie bookshops to thrive. Foremost among them? Be [...]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] BANGKOK SECOND-HAND SUCCESS With big book chains in Bangkok's luxurious supermalls battling each other for consumer attention, the concept of neighbourhood bookshop has been pushed aside. However, very [...]

I MAGINEA RESORT BOOKSTORE THAT functions like an accordion, its staff and inventory shrinking by as much as two-thirds during the long off-season, then expanding again after six months, in [...]

On any given day, identical parcels wrapped in brown paper as thick as parchment, the folds crisp as hospital corners, may be delivered to Gore Vidal on Italy's Amalfi coast; […]

When HMV Media chief operating officer Brian McLaughlin took the podium at Waterstone's annual management conference last week, he launched a forthright attack on those who tell Waterstone's how to [...]

For over thirty years, feminist bookstores have been on the front lines of the women's movement. Sometimes these stores are the closest thing to a Women's Center that their community [...]

After exhaustive research (The Bookseller, 20th April), Richard Barker and Sally Ann Palmer found and acquired their ideal bookshop earlier this year Richard Barker reports on the many joys and […]

Barnesandnoble.com, which struggled at first with e-commerce, is finding its balance. The bookseller has learned the value of integrating its chain of stores into an online strategy.

The work of Steven Benjamin as risk manager of two bookselling enterprises, a retain chain and an on-line business, is described, with focus on the risks attached to running an Internet business.

Book publishers realize that they must improve their distribution and warehouse systems to enter the electronic age. Different retailing options and different distribution options have become available with electronic commerce and electronic publishing. Other publishers take into account their customers, such as schools.

Amazon.com's stock price is falling as investors realize that the company is not based on a new business paradigm, after all. Amazon shares fell to 118 3/4 the week ended May 28, 1999, down from an Apr 1999 high of 221 1/4. Amazon had negative operating margins of 10% for 1st quarter 1999, and margins are expected to slip further in 2nd quarter 1999, to 23%, reflecting increased spending on advertising and warehouses. The company is facing intensified competition now that Bertelsmann has taken a 41% stake in barnesandnoble.com, and now that independent booksellers are launching their own BookSense.com Internet program.

Reading International reported that it has received a positive zoning change decision on its 64.0-acre Manukau site in Auckland, New Zealand. According to a media release, in July, the Independent [...]

Chapters is rewriting the conventional wisdom on retailing. The bookstore superstar insists that customers really don't want to save time - they want to waste it 'Look at this store [...]

In recent weeks, no one walking or driving down the strip on Harvard Street near Coolidge Corner in Brookline, Mass., could miss Brookline Booksmith. A huge banner hanging over the [...]

On the retail front, heavy returns have filled the remainder tables, and non-traditional sales opportunities are expanding Publishers may not read them as such, but, in many quarters, these are [...]

Independent bookstores are struggling to survive as bookstore chains enter their markets. Some communities are taking steps to keep out superstores. Independents are fighting to keep customers with personalized service, regional collections and special events.

Hastings Books, Music & Video brings the superstore concept to small markets EVER HEARD OF Warrensburg, Mo.? Marshalltown, Iowa? Hastings Books, Music & Video has. In fact, towns like these, [...]

Barnes & Noble is betting that the printed word will be a best seller in cyberspace. Barnes& Noble sued Amazon.com for its claim that it is the world's largest bookseller. [...]

It's the Monday following the Friday, April 26, opening of Joseph-Beth Booksellers' spectacular 47,000-sq.-ft. store in the former atrium of the Mall at Lexington Green, Lexington, Ky. Neil Van Uum, [...]

For the second week in a row, a bookseller has complained to Publisher's Weekly that Barnes and Noble Superstores are stealing the bookseller's business. Now I know that Barnes and […]

Sharing a space just one floor up from the hustle and bustle of Manhattan are a couple of shops that appeal to two very specialized markets. Everything Angels and the [...]

Book selling has a distinguished history and, until recently, has not been subject to rapid structural change. Up until 1982, it was a duopoly between W H Smith and the specialist booksellers. Between 1980 and 1982 total book sales fell and pessimism was rampant. The industry changed when Tim Waterstone shops. His example was followed by others, particularly Terry Maher of Pentos who increased the number of shops in his Dillons chain from 15 in 1985 to 47 in 1989. W H Smith responded with the acquisition of Websters Bookshops amalgamating it with the Bowes shops under the name of Sherratt and Hughes. In 1989 Waterstones was acquired by W H Smith and in 1990 Pentos acquired the Hatchard/Gill Group. Waterstones' target is the serious book buyer and its strategy was based on having the best stock and the most informed and enthusiastic staff. Dillons like Waterstone's targets the serious book buyer, but had adopted a more confrontational approach to the book publisher. In fact Mr Maher led a vigorous campaign against the Net Book Agreement (NBA). W H Smith supported the NBA. W H Smith dominates the middle market. It is also a major wholesaler and distributor of books. The changes following 1982 were dramatic. Corporate culture played a key role. The core beliefs of the key players were critical and defined the areas for management attention, choice and change within the firm. Waterstones developed a strong culture which emphasized an interest in and concern for books. The strategy was acceptable to the trade; Tim Waterstone himself was admired and respected. Terry Maher was primarily a financial manager. His expansion policy was an aggressive one; consequently the culture stressed retailing rather than books. The change occurred for W H Smith in 1978 with the appointment of Sir Simon Hornby as Chief Executive. A programme was implemented to recruit, train and plan better management. The Specialist Chains Division was set up based on a strategy to retain entrepreneurial flair but not interfering, provided targets were met, and to maintain a culture different from the high street shops. With the acquisition of Waterstones, its book culture spread through the group. The most significant effect of the restructuring has been the change in relationship between publishers and booksellers. The booksellers' major objective of increasing market share is to increase negotiating power, so relationships with publishers are unlikely to improve. Demands for discounts, and full returns privileges will not decrease. For the future, the challenge facing the booksellers will be to become more retail oriented without destroying the traditional bookshop culture. Thus management of culture will be a significant factor in maintaining competitive advantage.

Booksellers have the industry connections to publish their books just about anywhere, and some do, like fiction writers Emma Straub at Bookin New York City (Other People We Married), Ellen [...]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The old college bookstore, which traditionally sold everything from textbooks to logo sweatshirts to convenience foods, isn't the only game in town anymore. Increasingly, retailers are setting up [...]

How Seven Are Coping Hungry Mind Bookstore The 3 R's of Promotion: Readings, reviews, and a restaurant DAVID UNOWSKY, owner of Hungry Mind Bookstore in St. Paul, has been told [...]

Best Seller Robert Di Romualdo, CEO for the company that oversees Borders, says customers are en-titled A stocky woman balances on a stool at a local Borders Book Store, one [...]