Prospective Booksellers Take Part in Full-Week Workshop

Prospective booksellers ranging from Warwick, New York, to Santa Barbara, California, gathered on Amelia Island, Florida, last week to discuss industry trends and to learn about the business of bookselling at the full-week spring workshop retreat “Owning a Bookstore,” sponsored by The Bookstore Training Group of Paz & Associates and the American Booksellers Association.

From retail best practices to how to serve customers with e-readers, the trainees sharpened their business skills and developed competitive advantages at the workshop, which featured 14 trainers, including ABA Content Officer Dan Cullen, a loan officer from the Small Business Administration, new and experienced booksellers, as well as wholesalers and computer vendors.

ABA is offering a free, full-day introductory seminar, “How to Succeed at Retail Bookselling:  Introduction to the Bookstore Business,” facilitated by Paz & Associates, on Sunday, June 3, at the St. Giles Hotel, in New York City, in conjunction with BookExpo America. (See this week’s related story.)

The next full-week Paz workshop retreat is scheduled to begin on Monday, September 10, on Amelia Island, Florida. (Learn more.)

Pictured in front (left to right): Toni McKnight, Nelle Robb, Sarah Johnson, Sharon Hoshida; middle: Devin Phinney, Mary Ann Peters, Ann Berlin, Joseph Justin (book-ended by trainers Mark Kaufman and Donna Paz Kaufman); back: Thorne Donnelley, Emmett McDonough, Mark Zolezzi, Tom Roberts.