Pottery Barnes?: B&N Expanding Home Products
Barnes & Noble is "making a big push in home furnishings," an
effort that features an exclusive partnership with designer Jonathan
Adler and selling Mitchell Gold furniture, according to the June 18 issue of Home Furnishings News.
(For now at least, the full story is not available online.) Bill
Miller, B&N's v-p of gift, said that the retailer aims to expand
"home
business" to 10%-15% of company revenues, up from about 6% today.
"Because books [are sold everywhere], we're trying to make a stake in
the non-book business," he told HFN.
Among elements of the change:
Among elements of the change:
- The Jonathan Adler line of pottery, frames and more will make its debut in September "front and center" in some 500 B&N stores.
- The company has begun selling Mitchell Gold leather reading chairs in the seating areas of 10 stores--along with copies of Gold's book, Let's Get Comfortable.
- A test of framed art in 18 stores that began last fall and was particularly successful in urban areas is being expanded to 65 more stores this month, including many in the Chicago, Los Angeles and Seattle markets. The selection of framed art will grow from black-and-white photographs from the Getty archive, National Geographic and Life magazine, among other sources, to artwork and prints, too.
- The Botanique "seasonal home décor program with floral, archival images reminiscent of [B&N's] greeting card collection" has passed its test with flying colors, and another seasonal home program will make its debut in the fourth quarter.
B&N is also considering adding or increasing picture frames, mugs, lighting and storage and organization products in many of its stores.
Below is the Mitchell Gold reading chair now available in a leatherbound edition at 10 B&N stores:
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Camp
Half Blood Atlanta at the Little Shop of Stories, Decatur, Ga.,
convened this week. Based on Rick Riordan's series Percy Jackson and
the
Olympians, the camp has 32 campers who will be introduced to all things
Greek, including myths, language instruction, history, warrior
training, astronomy, art and music. The first day featured a visit
by Julia Prettie from Emory University, who led the group in an
improvisation exercise of Heracles and his Twelve Labors. Cabins of
Athena, Apollo, Ares, Hermes and Demeter also compete against each
other in daily Capture the Flag games.
Lay aside the skepticism for a moment (and the cover, which is not the illustrator's strongest painting). Puybaret, a French artist making his American debut, allows us to experience the classic lyrics about a special friendship between a boy and a magic dragon as if for the first time. The title page acts as an invitation to the land of Honalee, an "autumn mist" clinging to the shoreline of a tranquil sea, broken by mountaintops ringed in clouds. A green-striped turret with an onion-shaped dome in the foreground suggests an exotic land. On the first page of text ("Puff the magic dragon, lived by the sea . . ."), Puff and Jackie Paper enter together, the dragon's head even with the boy's, establishing from the start their equality in friendship and adventure-seeking. Throughout, the landscape feels both foreign and familiar. Fairies dressed in full-length gowns and earth-toned tunics flit about; a flurry of candy-stripe dolphins sporting commencement caps circles the graceful schooner on which Jackie and Puff sail. Even the rocks and trees express joy as they observe the pair "frolick[ing]." Puybaret adheres to a child's sense of fairness as pirates bow to the duo with the same elegance as the "noble kings and princes." But the mist and the somber shades of fall create the sense of foreboding that leads to that "one gray night" when Jackie comes no more. To the artist's credit, Puff seems crestfallen but also possesses the sage look of a creature who knew this day would come. As a "dragon [who] lives forever," he has perhaps witnessed this scene before. Pirate, noble and a now-bareheaded dolphin come to Puff to share his grief; Jack's playthings rest on the floor of Puff's cave. Yet the artist ends the tale on a note of hope, as a girl enters a springlike landscape where blossoms bloom, Puff's face lights up and a man peeks contendedly from around a corner. Could it be Jack? It may well be. After all, a CD (enclosed in the back cover) includes a poignant version of the song recorded by Yarrow (sans Paul and Mary) and his daughter, Bethany. Don't we all want to introduce to the next generation the pleasures of our most treasured days of childhood?--
