Brad Dempsey

Brad Dempsey has been appointed interim CEO of the Tattered Cover bookstore, Denver, Colo. CFO Margie Keenan had been interim CEO since Kwame Spearman took a leave of absence in February to campaign unsuccessfully to become mayor of Denver. (Spearman resigned as CEO in April, remains an investor, and is running for school board.)

Dempsey is a lawyer and Colorado native with more than 20 years of legal experience and has represented Coloradans in First Amendment matters before the Colorado Supreme Court and Colorado General Assembly. Tattered Cover said that he has "a strong track record of leading diverse community groups and building positive partnerships between the private sector, academia, and the nonprofit sector. As a dedicated supporter of independent bookstores and their crucial role in fostering literary and civic life, Dempsey’s vision aligns perfectly with Tattered Cover's mission."

Earlier this year, he founded his own law firm, Brad Dempsey Law, which specializes in corporate restructuring/bankruptcy proceedings, commercial/financial litigation, and collection/loan enforcement/foreclosure. He is also co-author of Injunctive Relief: Temporary Restraining Orders and Preliminary Injunctions, published by the American Bar Association.

"I am fully committed to working with the Tattered Cover team to remedy its immediate financial obstacles and refresh the company's operations to continue Tattered Cover's legacy of being a favorite Colorado destination for locals and visitors," Dempsey said. "I look forward to supporting the company's dedicated employees and senior leadership team who have worked hard to serve the company's customers and mission in challenging times. I believe in the Tattered Cover family and its mission and know that this next chapter will be bright and successful."

He also called Tattered Cover "a legendary Colorado institution that has been a vital pillar supporting literature, Colorado thought leadership, local community, civic connection, and First Amendment values for five decades. While the company has financial difficulties stemming back to the Covid years, Tattered Cover has earned strong customer support over the decades, and it continues to have an important mission and purpose of supporting Colorado's literary and civic life."

Tattered Cover intends to appoint a CEO with bookselling experience later this year.

The Denver Post noted that Dempsey has been acting as an advisor to Tattered Cover for the past two months. Dempsey told the newspaper that Tattered Cover, which has seven stores in the Denver area and three satellite stores at Denver International Airport, has "pretty substantial financial obstacles" but has "incredible intrinsic value," considering its history and reputation. His primary immediate goal, he continued, is to build sales and inventory, "to sell more of what sells." He also intends to make the stores "more attractive" destinations.

In late 2020, Tattered Cover's previous owners Len Vlahos and Kristen Gilligan sold the bookstore to an investor group that included Spearman; David Back; former American Booksellers Association CEO Oren Teicher; former Macmillan CEO John Sargent; and Dick Monfort, chairman and CEO of the Colorado Rockies baseball team.

Watchung Booksellers in Montclair, N.J., is expanding this summer with the opening of a dedicated children's store. 

Beginning this week, the Watchung Booksellers team will be moving the store's children's inventory from the flagship store at 54 Fairfield St. to the new space at 44 Fairfield St., just down the block. The move is expected to take place gradually throughout the summer, with timing dependent "on the town, some dedicated carpenters and handy-men, and of course the strength and speed of our booksellers."

Once the move is complete, an expanded selection of children's books will be available at 44 Fairfield St. Store owner Margot Sage-EL said the children's store spans 1,300 square feet, about the same size as the main store, but in the shape of one big square. Author events will move to the new store because of the more manageable layout, and Sage-EL and the team plan to have more robust children's programming.

At the flagship store, meanwhile, the former children's room will be renovated and become home to additional adult books and gifts. And although the two stores will have separate inventories, customers will be able to order for pick up at either store and have their full orders transferred to a single location.

For the moment, the flagship store's children's room is still open for browsing, though it will officially close at some point in the coming weeks. Once that happens, children's books will be available for pick-up. Watchung Booksellers will provide customers with frequent updates, and the tentative plan is for a soft opening later this summer with a grand opening celebration in September.

"Our kids' room is beloved by multiple generations of children and we've had steady feedback that families in Montclair wish we could expand our selection or provide more dedicated space for children," said Maddie Ciliotta-Young, Sage-EL's daughter. "So here we are, expanding into a second location!"

Simply Books, a new and used bookstore, opened recently at 2701 Powder Basin Ave. in Gillette, Wyo. The News Record reported that for more than 10 years owner Sara Marker had wanted to open up a bookstore, but she never followed through on that dream until this year.

The bookshop will offer primarily adult fiction, along with some nonfiction and children's and YA titles. Stickers, bookmarks and other sidelines also will be featured. Marker is currently working on getting the store's website set up for online ordering.

"The community support has been overwhelmingly positive," Marker said. "Everything has fallen into place."

While Marker has loved books and reading for as long as she can remember, her path to opening a bookstore was not direct. After graduating from high school in 2005, she joined the Navy, serving until she was honorably discharged in 2007. She then went to work at Black Thunder mine, where she spent the next five years, followed by a series of jobs until she landed at the Harley-Davidson dealership, where she shadowed Maria Ruiz.

"I learned more from her than anywhere else," Marker said. "She was the best resource and teacher for business stuff that I've ever had."

She recalled that a conversation with her grandfather over Christmas break last year spurred her decision to open the bookstore: "The main thing he told me was, 'You're always going to find a reason to not do it. Something's always going to come up, you're going to feel like you're not good enough or you don't have what it takes....' Without that conversation, I don't know that I would've taken the initiative."

She eventually found a space in the old Alien Ink building, next to the former K's Koffee and Deli. "This is a great location," she said. "I wanted something in the retail corridor, and it just--the timing was right."

As last weekend's opening approached, she observed: "I'm kind of panicking a little bit, but it feels like I actually have a purpose for myself."

WH Smith at Gatwick Airport

Bookstore chain WH Smith will not be opening any more U.K. High Street stores, focusing instead on airports and train stations there, as well as opening new shops in the U.S. and Europe, the Guardian reported.

"We've got a very healthy High Street business in the U.K.. But we've got no ambitions to grow that," CEO Carl Cowling told BBC World Service Marketplace Morning Report, adding that the company currently operates about 550 U.K. High Street stores and opening more "would just be a duplication.... When you look at the main cities across England, Wales and Scotland, we are present in those cities."

Cowling noted that WH Smith's biggest growth market is the U.S., where it bought Marshall Retail Group and InMotion in 2018 and 2019, respectively, and has captured about 12% of the retail market in airports. "Our ambition is to get to 20% over the course of the next four years and then that will mean probably only the best parts of 150 stores," he said, adding that the company will spend about £120 million (about $150 million) this year opening shops in the U.S. and Europe. "So in the first half of this year, we opened 30 shops in North America and opened another 30 shops in the second half of this year."

Cowling added the rise in interest rates has increased the costs of the company's investments: "It's something we have to think about because we bought two businesses in the U.S. and and of course we have debt in the purchase of those businesses. But our business has come out of the pandemic in a good place. We're very cash generative, and we haven't got a ceiling on our investments at the moment."

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French book publishers' sales fell 5.4% last year, and the number of units sold fell 7.7%, according to the French Publishers Association (Syndicat National de l'Edition). The Bookseller reported that "the comparison sounds worse than it is, because 2021 was an exceptional year as the world rushed to catch up after the Covid-19 pandemic. In fact, compared with the pre-Covid reference year 2019, the French book market grew last year by an inflation-adjusted 3.1% and 3.7% in numerical terms, the SNE said."

French national statistics office (INSEE) figures show that retail book prices rose by only 1.48% between 2021 and 2022, against 5.9% for all consumer goods over the period. Editorial production increased by 1.8% from 109,480 titles from 111,503, but this was due mainly to reprints as the number of new titles fell 2.9% from 2021 and 15.3% from 2019. 

"This shows publishers are trying to manage their editorial policy better in order to limit the increase in new titles and not saturate the market," the SNE said. The Bookseller noted that market saturation in France has long been a sore point for booksellers. In addition, the average print run for all books shrank by 4.8% and by 10.2% for reprints.  

Looking ahead, SNE director Renaud Lefebvre said current indicators suggest sales will rise this year: "It is difficult at this stage to give a forecast, particularly in view of inflation, but we think the increase could be about 2%." 

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A new survey commissioned by Swedish online bookstore Adlibris has shown that almost 70% of Swedes intend to read a physical book during the upcoming summer. The European & Independent Booksellers Federation's Newsflash reported that "thrillers and detective stories are the most popular summer reading genre, especially among readers aged 60–64, while the younger generations prefer fantasy and romance." 

"There are also differences between the genders, where women mostly read to relax and men to a greater extent read for knowledge," said Taru Raita, manager for fiction at Adlibris.

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"This London bookstore lets you try the recipes before you buy," Great Big Story reported in a video profile of Book for Cooks in Notting Hill, which was launched in 1983. Heidi Lascelles "came up with an intriguing concept, a bookstore with a small kitchen that could put cookbooks to the test. A different book would be chosen every day and recipes from that book would be cooked and served for lunch in-store. Regular customer Eric Treuille would frequent the shop hoping to get the attention of a charming staff member named Rosie and before he knew it, they would eventually take over running the store together." --Robert Gray

The crowd at Elliott Bay Book Company's anniversary bash.

On Saturday, Elliott Bay Book Co., Seattle, Wash., celebrated 50 years of business with a party that invited several generations of booksellers and members of the broader book community in the region to commemorate this special milestone with current owners Tracy Taylor, Murf Hall, and Joey Burgess.

Attendees were treated to a series of reminiscences by prominent figures in the bookstore's decorated history, each charting the establishment's journey from its iconic origins in the Pioneer Square neighborhood in 1973, to its current iteration on Capitol Hill.

From left: current owners Joey Burgess, Murf Hall, and Tracy Taylor, with founding owners Walt and Maggie Carr.

The evening's master of ceremonies was local drag superstar Irene "The Alien" DuBois, who was recently featured on RuPaul's Drag Race season 15. Speakers included founding owners Walter and Maggie Carr; Holly Myers, a staff member since 1980, reading a prepared statement from interim owner Peter Aaron (who could not attend); Congressional Representative Pramila Jayapal; and Rick Simonson, whose career as the events coordinator spans roughly the entirety of the store's existence.

Longtime bookseller Rick Simonson.

Elliott Bay has been an influential pillar of literary engagement both locally and nationwide. It has hosted multitudes of guest speakers and authors over the course of its long-running events series, which has featured Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama; Bruce Springsteen; Dave Matthews; Anne Rice; Annie Leibovitz; Raymond Carver; and David Sedaris. The coffee shop in the hit television show Frasier was based on the original Elliott Bay Cafe.

In 2010, the bookstore relocated to its current location, a former Ford truck repair shop building, circa 1918, at 1521 10th Ave. in Capitol Hill's Pike/Pine corridor. The 20,000+-square-foot bookstore features 19-foot-tall ceilings, rows and rows of cedar shelves lined with more than 150,000 titles, and Little Oddfellows Café.

In June 2022 the store was purchased by Elliott Bay's longtime former general  manager, Tracy Taylor, along with married team Murf Hall and Joey Burgess, of Burgess Hall Group. Under the current ownership, Elliott Bay Book Co. is one of the largest queer- and woman-owned bookstores in the U.S. --Dave Wheeler

Zenith Bookstore, Duluth, Minn., commissioned local artist Jonathan Thunder to create a wall-size 90'x20' mural on the side of its building to celebrate storytelling, reading, and community, and be infused with the spirit of Duluth. It's now "complete--and here it is!" the indie bookseller announced on social media yesterday. "But of course there's nothing like seeing it up close and in person! We are filled with so much gratitude for everyone who helped make it happen and who supported us along the way. First of course is Jonathan Thunder, who brought tremendous vision, energy, inspiration and heart to this project. Thank you to the @hennepintheatretrust and @mcadgallery for support, to @wussowscoffee and @midcoastcateringco, to Mayor Emily Larson, @westduluthbusinessclub and @duluthchamber and to all the amazing artists and muralists in the Twin Ports who have inspired us. And a big thank you to our community and to everyone in West Duluth who came by and gave us encouragement and words of support throughout the work."

A dedication and ribbon-cutting celebration is scheduled for July 13.

"What's red and white and was the star of the parade? Waldo, of course!" Birch Tree Bookstore, Leesburg, Va., posted on Instagram. "It was our first time participating in Leesburg's Independence Day parade and it definitely won't be our last!"

A Feast Beneath the Moon: Bertie and Friends Hit the Road by Christiane Duchesne and Jérôme Minière, illustrated by Marianne Ferrer (The Secret Mountain).

Tomorrow:
Good Morning America: Jonathan "JP" Pokluda, author of Why Do I Do What I Don't Want to Do?: Replace Deadly Vices with Life-Giving Virtues (Baker Books, $15.99, 9780801094965).

Book TV airs on C-Span 2 this weekend from 8 a.m. Saturday to 8 a.m. Monday and focuses on political and historical books as well as the book industry. The following are highlights for this coming weekend. For more information, go to Book TV's website.

Saturday, July 8
9:30 a.m. Lindsay M. Chervinsky and Matthew R. Costello, editors of Mourning the Presidents: Loss and Legacy in American Culture (University of Virginia Press, $29.50, 9780813949291). (Re-airs Saturday at 9:30 p.m.)

2:45 p.m. Charlene M. Boyer Lewis and George W. Boudreau, authors of Women in George Washington’s World (University of Virginia Press, $34.50, 9780813947440).

3:55 p.m. Philippa Strum, author of On Account of Sex: Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the Making of Gender Equality Law (University Press of Kansas, $21.95, 9780700633432).

5:25 p.m. Ashley Brown, author of Serving Herself: The Life and Times of Althea Gibson (Oxford University Press, $29.95, 9780197551752).

Sunday, July 9
8 a.m. Stephen Bezruchka, author of Inequality Kills Us All: COVID-19's Health Lessons for the World (Routledge, $42.95, 9781032278391). (Re-airs Sunday at 8 p.m.)

10 a.m. Jason Del Rey, author of Winner Sells All: Amazon, Walmart, and the Battle for Our Wallets (Harper Business, $32, 9780063076327). (Re-airs Sunday at 10 p.m.)

3:19 p.m. James Daunt, CEO of Barnes & Noble, discusses the bookselling industry and bookstores at the 2023 U.S. Book Show in New York City.

6:25 p.m. Edward Chancellor, author of The Price of Time: The Real Story of Interest (Atlantic Monthly Press, $28, 9780802160065).

7:30 p.m. Jerry Craft, author of School Trip: A Graphic Novel (Quill Tree Books, $14.99, 9780062885531).

A shortlist has been released for this year's Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award, which "celebrates crime fiction at its very best" by U.K. and Irish authors. The prize is run by Harrogate International Festivals and sponsored by T&R Theakston. This year's shortlisted titles are:

The Locked Room by Elly Griffiths
Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister 
Into the Dark by Fiona Cummins
The Botanist by M.W. Craven 
Black Hearts by Doug Johnstone
The It Girl by Ruth Ware 

A public vote is now open. The winner, who will be named July 21 on the opening night of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, receives £3,000 (about $3,760) and a handmade, engraved beer cask provided by T&R Theakston.

Selected new titles appearing next Tuesday, July 11:

The Beast You Are: Stories by Paul Tremblay (Morrow, $30, 9780063069961) collects 15 horror and suspense short stories.

Flags on the Bayou: A Novel by James Lee Burke (Atlantic Monthly Press, $28, 9780802161697) follows slaves, soldiers and more in Civil War-era Louisiana.

Wild Cards: Pairing Up: An Anthology edited by George R. R. Martin (Bantam, $28, 9780593357866) contains sci-fi short stories set in the Wild Cards universe.

Must Love Flowers: A Novel by Debbie Macomber (Ballantine, $28, 9780593600559) follows a lonely widow and the college student she rents a room to.

Tabula Rasa: Volume 1 by John McPhee (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $28, 9780374603601) is a memoir about unrealized writing projects.

The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet by Jeff Goodell (Little, Brown, $29, 9780316497572) chronicles the coming impact of extreme heat from climate change.

62: Aaron Judge, the New York Yankees, and the Pursuit of Greatness by Bryan Hoch (Atria, $29.99, 9781668027950) is the biography of the baseball star.

Thunderclap: A Memoir of Art and Life and Sudden Death by Laura Cumming (Scribner, $32.50, 9781982181741) explores a gunpowder stockpile explosion in 17th century Holland that killed painter Carel Fabritius and almost killed Johannes Vermeer.

Bruce and the Legend of Soggy Hollow by Ryan T. Higgins (Disney Hyperion, $18.99, 9781368059589) features the crotchety bear and a spooky apparition.

Grumpy Monkey Don't Be Scared by Suzanne Lang, illus. by Max Lang (Random House Studio, $10.99, 9780593486955) has Grumpy Monkey and his friends trick-or-treating amidst scary noises--and smells.

Paperbacks:
Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates (Poisoned Pen Press, $15.99, 9781728270258).

The Traitor: The Covenant of Steel Book 3 by Anthony Ryan (Orbit, $18.99, 9780316430838).

Last Rites by Sharon Sala (Sourcebooks Casablanca, $9.99, 9781728258577).

A Lady's Guide to Scandal: A Novel by Sophie Irwin (Penguin Books, $16.99, 9780593492000).

From last week's Indie bestseller lists, available at IndieBound.org, here are the recommended titles, which are also Indie Next Great Reads:

Hardcover
Everything's Fine: A Novel by Cecelia Rabess (Simon & Schuster, $27.99, 9781982187705). "It's hard to step away from this wonderful debut. Part romance, part office politics, Everything's Fine addresses race, class, money, ethics, and identity for two twenty-somethings, Josh and Jess, out navigating the world as adults." --Terry Gilman, Creating Conversations, Redondo Beach, Calif.

Leg: The Story of a Limb and the Boy Who Grew from It by Greg Marshall (Abrams, $28, 9781419763601). "Fans of David Sedaris and R. Eric Thomas will love this memoir of a man who loved creating and acting from a young age. The family is hilarious, and I loved that Greg being gay was no big deal--just one part of a moving, touching story." --Sissy Gardner, Parnassus Books, Nashville, Tenn.

Paperback
Ghost Eaters: A Novel by Clay McLeod Chapman (Quirk Books, $16.99, 9781683693789). "A dark and chilling story about a group of friends who discover an addictive drug that allows them to see dead people. Well, more like forces, and it gets intense. This was impossible to put down, but please read it with the lights on!" --Laura Harvey, Copper Dog Books, Beverly, Mass.

For Ages 4 to 8
We Are Going to Be Pals! by Mark Teague (Beach Lane, $18.99, 9781665911863). "Opposites do attract! And when the rules of friendship are applied even in the unlikeliest pairs of--people?--the results can be golden. Mark Teague nails it with a Serengeti's worth of wit, wisdom, and charm." --Kathy Adams, Valley Bookseller, Stillwater, Minn.

For Ages 8 to 12
Greenwild: The World Behind the Door by Pari Thomson (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $17.99, 9780374391379). "Greenwild is pure magic. It grabs you and never lets go for an instant. The world-building is reminiscent of Harry Potter (in the best ways), but the plant magic wielded by the Botanists was refreshingly original and utterly captivating." --Kate Snyder, Plaid Elephant Books, Danville, Ky.

For Teen Readers
The Faint of Heart by Kerilynn Wilson (Greenwillow, $18.99, 9780063116221). "In this world, June is the only person left with a heart; when she finds an abandoned one, she starts a quest to put hearts back into others. A metaphorical story about the importance of feeling and connection, with absolutely gorgeous art." --Melissa Fox, Watermark Books & Café, Wichita, Kan.

[Many thanks to IndieBound and the ABA!]

A woman crosses multiple universes to find her mother in Bridge, a mind-bending, multiverse-tripping sci-fi thriller from Lauren Beukes (Afterland; The Shining Girls).

Bridge arrives at the home of Jo, her estranged mother, to tackle what her nonbinary best friend, Dom, calls "sadmin" tasks, namely cleaning out the belongings left behind now that Jo has died. The brain tumor that caused Jo to run away with Bridge when she was seven years old and drag her into a world of hallucinations and dreams was defeated back then, but it resurfaced and took Jo's life. Bridge and Dom discover that someone has broken into Jo's house; it looks as if a burglar was looking for something specific. Then they find hidden in the refrigerator "a lumpen yarny cocoon, thawing out in the gory remains of the ratatouille... like a spindle wrapped in rotting elastic bands." Bridge remembers this disturbing bundle: the dreamworm, a substance that allows its consumer, under the right conditions, to switch bodies with another self in a parallel universe. Suddenly the dreams of her childhood seem all too real. Bridge begins to wonder: If the dreamworm isn't imaginary, is it possible that Jo might still be alive in some other world? She embarks on a quest to relearn the secrets of the mysterious substance, much to Dom's dismay, switching places with many versions of herself. Each Bridge is different, and each world is different, including one where the popular social media platforms, such as Facebook, have unfamiliar names. Bridge races to find Jo, unaware that a stranger with deadly motives is circling ever closer. Someone else knows about the dreamworm and will take any measures to stop it from being used, including murder.

Beukes's space-time-continuum distortion of a novel is like that rare blockbuster film that delivers on both special effects and thought-provoking moral dilemmas. The psychedelic journeys into altered realities and close brushes with death keep the suspense high, while underpinnings of body horror lend a gruesome edge. The emotionally complex plot also meditates on the road not taken, the importance of found family, and the ethics of interdimensional travel. Just because one can, it reminds readers, doesn't necessarily mean one should. Bridge and her complicated relationship with Jo have center stage, but loyal-to-the-hilt Dom frequently steals the spotlight with their humor and heart. Bridge is high-concept entertainment at its finest, with a heavy dose of wistfulness keeping the fantastical elements grounded. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger at Infinite Reads

Shelf Talker: A mysterious psychedelic substance lets users switch places with themselves in parallel universes in this entertaining, thought-provoking sci-fi thriller.