The four Wendell Holmes bookstores in London, Ont., have
closed although owner Stephen Klein is trying to secure financing to
allow at least a few to reopen, the London Free Press
reported. In the past, Klein has blamed the opening nearby of Chapters
superstores for the closing of other independents in London. The first
Wendell Holmes opened 99 years ago.
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Is Amazon a bigger threat to the book industry than Google? At least one member of a London Book Fair panel thought so and speculated that the online seller has big publishing plans. See Publishers Lunch and Reuters coverage. Not to be outdone, Nigel Newton, CEO of Bloomsbury, last week called for a boycott of Google, as reported by the Guardian.
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Oops. Here's one outtake from Sunday night's Oscar ceremony. There is an entertaining "making of" tie-in to Wallace & Gromit, the winner for best animated-feature length film: The Art of Wallace & Gromit (Titan Books, $19.95, 18405762150).
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The Shreveport Times toured New Orleans last week and stopped by one of the city's loveliest bookstores, the Faulkner House Bookstore, which Joe DeSalvo reopened on December 5, his birthday. Many longtime local customers have returned and shopped, but the store is dependent on out-of-town visitors, such as attendees of the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival. Since tourism is way down, business on average has fallen by two-thirds, DeSalvo said.
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In a "kind of anthropological study of human nature," as she described it to the Boston Globe, over the past two and a half years, Sara Theriault has collected some 5,000 notes and objects from used books that have come through Lorem Ipsum in Cambridge, Mass., which she co-owns. Among the collection: a letter that begins, "I am returning your book along with this check for $27,000 as a small token of my appreciation." Some of the items serve as wall décor in the store's bathroom.
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An item in its entirety from the Winston-Salem Journal in North Carolina:
"Encore! Books Inc., a secondhand bookstore at 1130 Burke St., is going out of business. Mark Redmond, the owner of the six-year-old store, said he is returning to his previous occupation as a school social worker. He hopes to find a buyer for the business. He expects to close the store by April 1."
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The Edward McKay used bookstore in Greensboro, N.C., is moving in late April to a new 10,000-sq.-ft. space with better parking and will add vinyl records to its mix of books, CDs, DVDs, videogames and graphing calculators, according to the Greensboro News-Record. The 19-year-old store has sales of $1.7 million and is the most profitable of the four Edward McKay stores, which are owned by Jason Books Corp.
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In a story with the delightful headline "What would Jesus download?" the Asheville Citizen-Times in North Carolina notes the growing popularity of the Bible on iPods and other handheld devices "in versions ranging from the New Living Translation to the King James." In addition, "electronic pocket Bibles that resemble calculators are also replacing bulky Bibles in the pews these days."
The paper lists several sites offering digital versions of the Quran, Torah and the writings of the founder of the Baha'i faith.
---
Is Amazon a bigger threat to the book industry than Google? At least one member of a London Book Fair panel thought so and speculated that the online seller has big publishing plans. See Publishers Lunch and Reuters coverage. Not to be outdone, Nigel Newton, CEO of Bloomsbury, last week called for a boycott of Google, as reported by the Guardian.
---
Oops. Here's one outtake from Sunday night's Oscar ceremony. There is an entertaining "making of" tie-in to Wallace & Gromit, the winner for best animated-feature length film: The Art of Wallace & Gromit (Titan Books, $19.95, 18405762150).
---
The Shreveport Times toured New Orleans last week and stopped by one of the city's loveliest bookstores, the Faulkner House Bookstore, which Joe DeSalvo reopened on December 5, his birthday. Many longtime local customers have returned and shopped, but the store is dependent on out-of-town visitors, such as attendees of the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival. Since tourism is way down, business on average has fallen by two-thirds, DeSalvo said.
---
In a "kind of anthropological study of human nature," as she described it to the Boston Globe, over the past two and a half years, Sara Theriault has collected some 5,000 notes and objects from used books that have come through Lorem Ipsum in Cambridge, Mass., which she co-owns. Among the collection: a letter that begins, "I am returning your book along with this check for $27,000 as a small token of my appreciation." Some of the items serve as wall décor in the store's bathroom.
---
An item in its entirety from the Winston-Salem Journal in North Carolina:
"Encore! Books Inc., a secondhand bookstore at 1130 Burke St., is going out of business. Mark Redmond, the owner of the six-year-old store, said he is returning to his previous occupation as a school social worker. He hopes to find a buyer for the business. He expects to close the store by April 1."
---
The Edward McKay used bookstore in Greensboro, N.C., is moving in late April to a new 10,000-sq.-ft. space with better parking and will add vinyl records to its mix of books, CDs, DVDs, videogames and graphing calculators, according to the Greensboro News-Record. The 19-year-old store has sales of $1.7 million and is the most profitable of the four Edward McKay stores, which are owned by Jason Books Corp.
---
In a story with the delightful headline "What would Jesus download?" the Asheville Citizen-Times in North Carolina notes the growing popularity of the Bible on iPods and other handheld devices "in versions ranging from the New Living Translation to the King James." In addition, "electronic pocket Bibles that resemble calculators are also replacing bulky Bibles in the pews these days."
The paper lists several sites offering digital versions of the Quran, Torah and the writings of the founder of the Baha'i faith.