Booksellers Invited to Come Together in Bloomington

ABA recently extended an invitation to upper Midwest booksellers to come together at a Booksellers Forum on Saturday, March 6, at the Comfort Inn Airport, in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington. The forum is part of a program that will run from 1:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. and is co-sponsored by the Upper Midwest Booksellers Association (UMBA). Booksellers traveling to attend the ABA/UMBA programming can combine their trip with a visit to the Minneapolis Gift Mart Spring Show (www.mplsgiftmart.com/), which will be held from March 5 - 9.

The day's events begin with a new financial seminar, "The 2% Solution," presented by ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz. The 2003 ABACUS study of independent bookstore operations showed that the average profitability of all 197 participants was -1.67 percent. This seminar looks at the drivers of profitability and examines the steps to be taken to help make independent bookstores profitable businesses. The session will show exactly how a bookseller can work on sales, gross margin, compensation, and occupancy expenses. While moving from negative profitability to a positive two percent is a long journey, this seminar will help book sellers create a road map to begin the journey.

The financial seminar will be followed by a Book Sense Gift Card demonstration, from 3:15 p.m. - 3:45 p.m., which will examine how the gift card program works and how easy it is to get started. It will also take a look at specific case studies from bookstores that converted from paper to plastic during this past holiday season.

The Open Forum will follow at 4:00 p.m. Attendees will have the opportunity to hear about, and discuss, current industry issues as well as ABA/UMBA programs and services. Among the many topics open for discussion are sales tax initiatives, efforts to repeal the Patriot Act, net-pricing proposals, plans for BookExpo America, Book Sense and its fifth anniversary celebrations, ABACUS, LIBRIS, and more.

After the forum, UMBA is sponsoring a session on selling gift items in bookstores. "Getting Into Gifts" will be presented by Gay Lynne Liebertz and Paula Ellis, former gift shop owners and now gift reps for Adventure Publications. They will explore how gift items can be a great source of revenue if a bookseller knows how to select, buy, price, and sell them effectively.

The day will end with a cocktail party with hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar, co-sponsored by ABA, UMBA, and Adventure Publications.

Booksellers planning to attend the day's events are asked to RSVP to ABA's Kristen Gilligan at (800) 637-0037, ext. 1286, or at kristen@bookweb.org.

Participants in the Open Forum will automatically be entered into a drawing to win a grand prize of five nights' accommodations and admission to BookExpo America for the next five years, or one of four other prizes.

Here's a re-cap of what's planned:

Saturday, March 6, 2004
1:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Comfort Inn Airport
1321 East 78th St. (I-494 south frontage road, 12th Ave./Portland Ave. exit off I-494)
Bloomington, MN 55425
(952) 854-3400

• 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. -- The 2% Solution, a new financial seminar
  
• 3:15 p.m. - 3:45 p.m. -- Book Sense Gift Card Program demonstration
  
• 4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. -- ABA/UMBA Open Forum
  
• 6:15 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. -- Getting Into Gifts
  
• 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. -- Cocktail Reception