The News of the Week section of yesterday's New York Times flew
down out of the clouds and "discovered" that airport bookstores no
longer stock just mass market bestsellers. (Ironically, as noted in the July 26 Shelf Awareness, Paradies will open its first licensed New York Times airport store in October.) Still, the piece included
interesting flight data from some booksellers:
- "A lot of business travelers go for the hardcovers. It keeps their mind off the stress of travel."--Mustafa Jackson, assistant manger of Barbara's Bestsellers, LaGuardia Airport, N.Y.
- "When we look through our bestseller list at the end of the year, there are always a few nonfiction titles that outsold everything. What might be also affecting this is the fact that there are a lot of these quality narrative nonfiction books out there. . . . [Our typical airport customer is] very highly educated, high-income, male, techno-savvy."--Sarah Hinckley, v-p, book purchasing, Hudson Group.
- "People aren't going just to John Grisham for entertainment anymore. People are looking for substance now."--Terry Kraml, Trofie Productions, an airport bookstore marketing consultant.
- "[Fiction] remains the largest percentage of our business."--Terry Bell, regional director, Borders specialty division.