New Booksellers

Eleven ABA member stores that opened for business from July through September 2009: Bertram & Oliver Booksellers 73 Main Street Amesbury, MA 01913-2823 (978) 388-2665 www.bertramandoliver.com Books N Beans 2830 New Pinery Road, Suite K Portage, WI 53901-9263 (608) 742-6300

Janet Geddis plans to open a new bookstore -- Avid Bookshop -- in Athens, Georgia, by late spring 2010. "The project was hatched about two years ago, but personal and economic issues caused me to put it on the back burner for a while," she told BTW. "Now we're up and running again at a remarkable speed!"

Despite a tough economy, or maybe because of it, more than two-dozen prospective and current booksellers participated in the most recent "Opening a Bookstore" workshop run by Donna Paz Kaufman and Mark Kaufman of Paz & Associates. The program was held from March 16 through March 20, in Amelia Island, Florida.

Three new ABA member businesses opened in January and February 2009:

This week, BookExpo America announced the opening of online registration for this year's trade show, at New York City's Jacob K. Javits Convention Center from Thursday, May 28, through Sunday, May 31, 2009.

ABA Calls on Members in Other States to Contact Legislators

Two upstate New York college towns have welcomed the openings of new independent general bookstores with a steady stream of appreciation and business. The Green Toad Bookstore launched on November 1 in Oneonta, and a month earlier RiverRead Books opened in Binghamton. The Green Toad Bookstore New bookseller Michele Pondolfino launched The Green Toad Bookstore with about 6,500 titles and a plan to expand her inventory according to customer interest.

Fourteen American Booksellers Association member stores opened for business in August and September, including one branch store (DIESEL - Brentwood), a non-storefront location (Reading Chair Books), and a store in Panama (Safari Bookshop). Bookworks 101 West Beverley Street Staunton, Virginia 24401 (540) 887-0007

When Shannon Cullip and her husband, Leonard Cullip, opened Pandemonium Booksellers in Wasilla, Alaska, with business partner Rex Weltz this past June, their aim was to create a "community destination." They didn't expect that their community would become a major focal point for the press or that a local writer's biography of Alaska's governor, Sarah Palin, would become a national bestseller. But they're enjoying the attention, and the sales.

Six ABA member bookstores opened for business during July. Chapters Book Store, Inc. 78 North Street Pittsfield, MA 01201 (413) 448-2366 Echo Books, Inc. 1024 Pottstown Pike Chester Springs, PA 19425 (484) 341-8362