Around Indies

President Obama Shops Local

On Small Business Saturday, President Obama demonstrated his support for independents by patronizing One More Page Books in Arlington, Virginia, with his daughters. The president purchased 15 children’s books to give as gifts to family members, the Washington Post reported.

At the store, the President used his BlackBerry to look up a title as he spoke with store owner Eileen McGervey. “Preparation,” he said was the key to his shopping.

NPR on Upbeat Booksellers

NPR also reported on the President’s bookstore visit and talked to three indie booksellers about their prospects for the holiday season.

“People choose to come to this store to do their Christmas shopping on a regular basis,” ABA Vice President Steve Bercu, owner of BookPeople in Austin, Texas, told NPR. “It’s a place you can bring your family; it does not have the overwhelming intensity of a shopping mall; it’s a single store,” he said. “And it’s just part of the season here in Austin.”

It’s not just the shopping experience, but the quality of physical showpiece-type books, such as coffee-table books, that cannot be replaced by e-books, the booksellers agreed.

“I think the smarter publishers are realizing that the way the physical book matters is in the design of it,” said Jessica Stockton Bagnulo, one of the founders of Brooklyn’s Greenlight Bookstore.

And Daniel Goldin of Boswell Book Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, said, “People buy the book to have the book, to show off the book, to enjoy the book, to be enraptured by the book.”

Harvard Book Store Celebrates 80 Years

Congratulations to Harvard Book Store in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which is celebrating its 80^th anniversary tonight, November 29, with a party for customers and local authors.

The landmark bookstore was founded in 1932 by Mark Kramer, and was later operated by his son, Frank. In 2008, the store was purchased by Jeff Mayersohn and his wife, Linda Seamonson.

Greenlight’s Stockton Bagnulo on MSNBC

Jessica Stockton Bagnulo, co-owner of Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn, New York, appeared on MSNBC’s Up With Chris Hayes, where she discussed the quest for a level playing field.

“I just think it means everyone being asked to follow the same rules,” she said. “And a certain level of bigness [should not exempt] you from rules like paying sales tax in your state and paying workers a living wage.” She added that larger companies should undergo “the same amount of scrutiny, the same standards, have the same deals from vendors and offer the same deals to customers. I think all of that needs to be equal.”

Sebastopol Copperfield’s Introduces New GM

Mimi Figlin has joined Copperfield’s Books in Sebastopol, California, as general manager. Figlin was most recently regional narketing manager for Whole Foods Market in Emeryville, California, and has 15 years bookselling experience, including a position as a district manager for Borders Books in the Washington D.C. market.