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To celebrate Tuesday’s release of E.L. James’ Fifty Shades of Gray in paperback, R.J. Julia Booksellers [1] in Madison, Connecticut, held a party in the store, complete with afternoon martinis. WTNH, a Connecticut affiliate of ABC, covered the celebration with a video clip of customer reactions [2]. The store sold about 50 copies in 20 minutes, WTNH reported.
The National Retail Federation has announced the 20 finalists in its “This is Retail” [3] video contest, and among them is Bookmans Entertainment Exchange [4], which has several Arizona locations.
The contest was created to remind consumers that retail lies at the heart of every community. The finalists are in pairs of “match-ups” and voting is now open to the public [5] to choose their favorite videos. Contest finalists range from small businesses to national retail chains, and from wine shops to sporting goods retailers. Visit the NRF website to vote for Bookmans [5].
Yesterday, Queen Anne Books [6] in Seattle, Washington, tweeted that the store has been sold to Katharine Hershey, a regular customer of the store.
The news that owner Patti McCall was selling was announced last month [7], when she emailed her customers, saying she was looking for a buyer “who will bring fresh energy and ideas to a business undergoing a radical and exciting transformation.”
On Thursday night, Local Thunder, an organization in Portland, Maine, organized a cash mob of 50 people to raid Longfellow Books [8] with $20 in hand. Co-owner Stuart Gersen told the Bangor Daily News [9] that he hadn’t seen this many people in the store at once since Christmas.
“I only recognize a few of these people,” Gersen said. “So this could be a lot of new customers, which is probably as important as the $20 they’re carrying. … You know how much effort businesses go through to get people through the door? I don’t know how much this is worth in advertising.”
After six years of campaigning, Aurora Anaya-Cerda will be opening La Casa Azul, a bricks-and-mortar bookstore specializing in Latino culture.
“I feel like this bookstore is a perfect fit for this neighborhood, because it will have those traditional (Latino) components and those elements in terms of design,” Anaya-Cerda told the NY Daily News [10]. She has plans to make the store into a “community place” that combines her passions and culture.
Anaya-Cerda started a traveling bookstore six years ago, and launched a website in 2008. With the funds she raised through an IndieGoGo campaign last fall, [11] and the contributions of an anonymous “angel investor,” Anaya-Cerda will be able to open her store in the Spring.
Links:
[1] http://www.rjjulia.com/
[2] http://www.wtnh.com/dpp/news/new_haven_cty/women-discover-their-sexuality-through-book
[3] http://www.retailmeansjobs.com/contest
[4] http://www.bookmans.com/
[5] http://www.retailmeansjobs.com/ThisIsRetail/Matchup
[6] http://www.queenannebooks.com/
[7] http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/02/20/queen-anne-books-is-for-sale
[8] http://www.longfellowbooks.com/
[9] http://bangordailynews.com/2012/03/22/news/portland/portland-cash-mob-raids-store-with-money/
[10] http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/uptown/aurora-anaya-cerda-wins-6-year-battle-open-la-casa-azul-bookstore-el-barrio-article-1.1054182
[11] http://archivenews.bookweb.org/../../news/campaign-open-east-harlem-bookstore-gains-momentum