A bankruptcy court judge has approved the sale of the Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver, Colo., to Barnes & Noble, the last hurdle to finalizing the $1.83 million deal announced on June 17. Under the purchase, Tattered Cover will retain its name, keep its four stores open, and continue to employ most staff.
B&N CEO James Daunt acknowledged to the Denver Post that there is "skepticism" about B&N's purchase of Tattered Cover, "but really in truth this is something that Tattered Cover will sort out. We at Barnes & Noble are not going to be running these stores. Tattered Cover is going to be running these stores. They have very good store managers. I think we now have to put them back on their feet and get them all ordering books and assorting their stores properly."
Tattered Cover filed for bankruptcy last October, closing three of its seven stores and letting go about a quarter of its 103 employees. In March, it submitted a plan to emerge from bankruptcy by June, but in April, it announced that there was interest from "individuals and businesses across the U.S." in buying the company, a move it had decided was "in the best long-term interests of the company, current investors, employees, suppliers, and Colorado's literary community." In May, Tattered Cover court filings indicated that at least eight groups were interested in participating in the auction that was to be held June 12, but the day before the auction, it was cancelled.
One striking result of the sale is that Tattered Cover will no longer be eligible for membership in the Mountain & Plains Independent Booksellers Association or the American Booksellers Association.
Heather Duncan, MPIBA's executive director, said the association's "bylaws and policies are very clear. In order to be a bookstore member of MPIBA, a business needs to be independent and 'locally owned.' "
The ties between the association and Tattered Cover run deep. The late Joyce Meskis, Tattered Cover's longtime owner, was a co-founder and first president of the association, when it was officially formed in 1980 as the Mountains & Plains Booksellers Association.
Duncan called the situation "a truly unfortunate consequence of the upcoming change of ownership. The MPIBA board and I wish the store, and especially the dedicated booksellers, all the best."
ABA, meanwhile, confirmed that if Tattered Cover is owned by B&N, it will no longer be eligible for ABA membership. Meskis was also deeply involved in and supportive in myriad ways of the ABA, including serving on its board and as president and teaching regularly at the association's booksellers schools.