Sad news and hopeful news from Milwaukee, Wis. The Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops, which have four stores in and around Milwaukee, are closing on March 31. But if all goes according to plan, two of the stores will reopen as separate businesses owned by current Schwartz managers.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, sales at Schwartz fell 17% in 2008 "on top of a substantial decline" in 2007.
Schwartz's sister company 800-CEO-READ, which specializes in business books and sells to businesses and organizations, will continue to operate under the leadership of founder Jack Covert and president Todd Sattersten. Its first book, The 100 Best Business Books of All Time by Covert and Sattersten, appears on February 5.
Daniel Goldin, general manager of Schwartz, plans to open a bookstore called Boswell Book Company--Boswell's for short--in the Schwartz location on Downer Avenue in Milwaukee. Goldin has worked at Schwartz since 1986 as a buyer, head buyer and in other roles. He will use the Boswell image used by Schwartz.
"This is a very interesting time to be a book retailer," Goldin told the Journal Sentinel. "We know there's a lot of change coming, and I feel that you sort of need to start from scratch to do all the things you need to do to make a retailer work."
Goldin added that he wants Boswell's to be a community destination, to work with local groups and to offer good author events in the Schwartz tradition. We wish him best of luck. To our mind, Goldin is one of the nicest and most knowledgeable people--about books and, well, everything--we know in the book business.
Lanora Hurley, manager of the Schwartz store in Mequon, is planning to
open a store in the same space called Next Chapter Bookshop. Before
joining the company in 2002, she was a manager and buyer at Politics
and Prose in Washington, D.C., and worked at a Borders in Columbus,
Ohio. Hurley told the Journal Sentinel that she and Goldin plan "to split the authors that are coming to town."
Founded in 1927 by Harry and Reva Schwartz, Harry W. Schwartz has a long and colorful history. The first store was in the back of a beauty parlor, and Harry Schwartz sold banned and censored titles like Ulysses and Tropic of Cancer when others did not. The Schwartzes' son, A. David Schwartz, grew up in the family business, which he joined formally in 1963. He became its owner in 1972 and remained the owner until his death in 2004. He, too, championed free expression and literature. During his time, Schwartz had several other stores, including sites in Racine and the Bay View section of Milwaukee.
The four current Schwartz stores are in Milwaukee, Brookfield, Mequon and Shorewood. It also has an office in Milwaukee. Schwartz employs about 65 full- and part-time people.
In a letter to customers expressing their "immense sadness," Schwartz president Carol Grossmeyer, David Schwartz's wife, and chairman Rebecca Schwartz, his daughter, wrote, "Unfortunately, profound shifts in how people shop and equally great changes in the book industry left us and many other well-established bookshops with dwindling sales. Although David Schwartz successfully led us into the new century fighting for our ground, the winds of change became gales--and with David's passing in 2004, we were a wounded business. The most recent economic crisis was, for us, the final blow. David spoke frequently about the social profit of bookselling as the most important bottom line, the essential result being the positive impact the books have on a community. Nevertheless, to have such an impact a business must be viable, something that is no longer the case."
They added, "All of us at Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops take pride in the belief that we have brought you the best literature the world has to offer. We like to think that our bookshops have played a vital role in the intellectual life of our city. Our bookshops have hosted more than 200 authors a year during the past 10 years, and we hope we can take some credit for introducing new writers to the many enthusiastic readers. We’re equally proud of the Schwartz Gives Back program, which, with your support, has donated more than $460,000 to nonprofit organizations throughout the community."