New Booksellers

Although the two dozen graduates of last week's Paz & Associates workshop, "Opening a Bookstore: The Business Essentials," had a wide range of bookselling experience, or lack thereof, each found participation in the program an invaluable experience.

As the six founding partners of 17-year-old River Lights Bookstore in Dubuque, Iowa, prepare to close the store and dissolve their partnership on May 31, one of those partners, Sue Davis, is preparing to open River Lights, 2nd Edition on June 1. The 2nd Edition will open in a new location, with new fixtures, inventory, POS system, and sidelines. What will remain the same, said Davis, is the same great staff, the phone number, and the square footage -- 2,000 square feet. One of her former partners will continue to work at the store as a part-time employee.

Rita Maggio, a retired public school principal, is opening BookTowne, a general bookstore in Manasquan, New Jersey, this May. Her 900-square-foot store will occupy the space that was previously home to Landmark Books. When Maggio learned that the owner of Landmark Books was relocating, she acted quickly and secured a lease, which begins today, March 1.

Dennise Sleeper of Spellbound Books & Gifts in Homestead, Florida, described the store's soft opening on December 21 as "quiet." At the grand opening, however, which took place one month later, the 3,250-square-foot general bookstore was so packed "there was hardly room to turn around."

On the Sunday following Thanksgiving, Laura and Troy Weeks opened Lorelei Books in Vicksburg, Mississippi. The two had moved to Vicksburg from Virginia and purchased an 1870s building in the historic downtown in 2005.

By Ann Lacefield October 5, 2006: What's in a Name?

A Prairie Home Companion's Garrison Keillor has, of course, been part of the literary world for years: he's the author of more than a dozen books, including Lake Wobegon Days, The Book of Guys, Love Me, and Homegrown Democrat, and has been a writer for the New Yorker, a writer and host of The Writer's Almanac, and an emcee of the National Book Awards.

Reports presented to American Booksellers Association members at the ABA Annual Meeting on Friday, May 19, at BookExpo America are available to all members in a PDF document on the association's trade website, BookWeb.org.

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) has announced that a wealth of items donated by publishers during BookExpo America is being added to the online auction that is currently underway at www.abffe.org. "We are adding the new items to the website just as fast as we can," said Caitlin Delohery, ABFFE's auction manager.