Here's one way to fight students' complaints about textbook prices.
The University Book Store at the University of Washington in Seattle is
paying for six students' textbooks during the quarter, up to $400 for each student,
according to the university
Daily.
Store CEO Bryan Pearce called the program "a random act of bookstore
goodwill toward students." The store plans to offer similar free prizes
during buyback at the end of the quarter and possibly on other
occasions. At least one student was surprised yesterday at the cash
register when buying a book.
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After announcing a month ago that it is in "growth mode," Indigo Books & Music has launched a revamped children's section,
CBC
reported. The section is "geared toward kids up to 12 years of age and
features in-store specialists with an emphasis on 'edutainment,'
including educational toys, books, software and games that encourage
literacy."
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Congratulations to Changing Hands Bookstore, Tempe, Ariz., which has
won the Spirit of Enterprise Award from the W.P. Carey School of
Business at Arizona State University. Some 75 businesses were
nominated. Before an audience of 950, owner Gayle Shanks gave an
acceptance speech talking about the importance of independent
businesses in a community. For the school's citation and a profile of
the store, go to the Carey School's
Web site.
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Just as the movie
Capote opens, Random House
announced plans to publish
Summer Crossing, Capote's first first novel (as opposed to
Other Voices, Other Rooms), long
thought to have been lost,
Reuters
reported. The story, set in New York after the war, resurfaced late
last year and is now owned by the New York Public Library. The book
will be published October 25.
Incidentally the movie, being released today, Capote's birthday,
continues to garner excellent reviews. Today Joe Morgenstern in the
Wall Street Journal called it a "remarkable film. . . . the most thoughtful mainstream feature ever made about writers and writing."
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A 362,000-sq.-ft. expansion of the already huge Tysons Corner
Center in
McLean, Va., which opens today, is representative of several trends in
mall development: it caters to teenagers and offers a variety of
entertainment possibilities, including a huge theater and restaurants,
the
Washington Post reported.
Barnes & Noble has a new two-story, 33,000-sq.-ft. store in the
middle of the restaurant area. David S. Deason, v-p for development at
B&N, told the paper that the bookstore's location offers mutually
beneficial opportunities. "We help [the restaurants] maintain their
waits," he said. "As opposed to sitting and waiting for a table, [customers can] come
on in and browse."
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Erin and Brian Wolfe, employees of Emerald City Fine Books, Eugene,
Ore., have bought a majority interest in the used and collectible store
from owner Jerry Weinstein, according to the
Eugene Register-Guard. They closed the store last Sunday and are re-opening it today as Wolfe Bros. Books.
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Today's
Wall Street Journal notes that tomorrow 18 states are
implementing the "Streamlined Sales Tax Project," which aims to make it
easier for Internet sellers to charge state and local sales taxes. The
group is also offering an amnesty on past taxes not collected by the
retailers. Amazon.com called the plan "a good first step down the long
road of truly simplifying sales taxes."
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Forget about one city/one author. As a way to "celebrate all the
distinctive voices" of Harper Perennial, according to Carrie Kania,
senior v-p and publisher, on Thursday, October 20, the trade paperback
imprint is putting on a night of readings--by 25 Perennial authors in
20 cities and four countries. Called the Harper Perennial World Tour,
the event includes appearances by Russell Banks, Louise Erdrich, Bruce
Feiler, Ann Patchett, Jonathan Safran Foer, Bobbie Ann Mason, Joyce
Carol Oates, Francine Prose and Simon Winchester, among others. Events
will be held at a range of locations, from Barnes & Noble and
Waterstone's (in the U.K.) to college stores like Arizona State
University to independents like Bookshop Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz,
Calif., Carmichael's in Louisville, Ky., Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh,
N.C., and Newtonville Books, Newton, Mass., to libraries such as the
Exeter Central Library in Exeter, England, and even the Missouri
Botanical Gardens in St. Louis.
Perennial did not overlook the Frankfurt Book Fair, which takes place the week of the "tour." Michael Perry, author of
Off Main Street, will appear at the Weinstube im Hinterhof in Frankfurt that night.
Anyone who buys a Perennial title will receive a road tour-style
T-shirt listing all authors and cities involved in the World Tour.
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Calling all booksellers and prospective booksellers!
NEBA notes that Brighton Main Streets, which is seeking to revitalize
the Cleveland Circle business area in Brighton, Mass., a Boston suburb, would love to
have a bookstore open in available retail space of about 7,000 square
feet that was previously leased by CVS.
Brighton Main Streets executive director Rosie Hanlon writes:
"Cleveland Circle is a densely populated business district with a
healthy mix of professionals of all ages and college students. There is
tremendous expendable dollar leakage here, and a bookstore could
certainly capture a great share of these dollars. Pedestrian traffic is
heavy. . . . A bookstore here would be ideal, and we are working hard
to see it happen."
Hanlon may be reached at rosiebms@verizon.net.
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Lyman W. Newlin, whose career in bookselling and publishing lasted almost 70 years, died on Tuesday. He was 95.
He was the manager of the Follett Book Co. in Chicago before managing
Kroch's & Brentano's in Chicago and the Minnesota Book Store at the
University of Minnesota. In the 1960s and 1970s, he was v-p of Richard
Abel & Co., the book distributor, and then was merchandise manager
for Coutts Library Services. He also ran his own company, Broadwater
Books, which markets books to academic and professional organizations.
Three years ago,
Scholarly Publishing,
which he co-wrote, appeared. In the 1990s, Newlin, who lived in
Lewiston, N.Y., led the drive to build a library and was chairman of
its board.
A memorial service will be held tomorrow in the Lutheran Church of the Messiah, 915 Oneida St., Lewiston.
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After a renovation, the Tufts University Bookstore, Medford, Mass.,
aims to boost trade book sales, both by offering more author events and
making trade books more visible in the front of the store, according to
the
Tufts Daily.
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