Industry Voices - All

By Oren Teicher, ABA COO From December 16 to December 18, ABA COO Oren Teicher joined the booksellers at The King's English in Salt Lake City, Utah, for a three-day stint as a frontline bookseller. This is his account of the final, hectic holiday sales days at one of the country's leading independent stores.

For Karen Spengler, owner of I Love a Mystery bookstore, there's no real mystery as to why her town of Mission, Kansas, should rethink the idea of allowing a Borders to open in the suburb of Kansas City: It's all simple economics.

By Carrie Sutherland of J.W. Beecroft Books & Coffee in Superior, Wisconsin

Gayle Shanks on the Importance of Independent RetailersChanging Hands Book Store in Tempe, Arizona, was recently honored by the Center for the Advancement of Small Business at the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University with a 2005 Spirit of Enterprise Award, recognizing ethics and excellence in entrepreneurship. In accepting the award on behalf of the entire store, co-owner Gayle Shanks spoke eloquently about why "independent, local ownership is the essence of our unique American experience."

By Liz Murphy of The Learned Owl Book Shop in Hudson, Ohio I always return from the Great Lakes Booksellers Association fall trade show re-enthused, re-vitalized, and (almost) ready to face the holidays! This show was no different.

By Lisa Baudoin of Main Street Books in Pella, Iowa

By Andrea Avantaggio of Maria's Bookshop in Durango, Colorado

By Scott Foley of Grass Roots Books & Music in Corvallis, Oregon On a day rumored to be the last truly warm day of the summer, members of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association gathered at Portland, Oregon's Convention Center to begin three days of networking, education, and business, from September 8 to 10.

By Neal Coonerty, Owner of Bookshop Santa Cruz Every disaster brings its own unique destruction. The Gulf Coast devastation that resulted from Hurricane Katrina is Biblical in scope, overwhelming with sorrow, and is our national shame to bear. In the midst of all this death and human suffering, it is hard to think about dealing with the problems created for businesses in a disaster zone. But we do, because healing involves recreating a healthy community that includes such businesses as independent bookstores.