Archive for the ‘News’ Category
IBNYC Roundup – December 2008: NYC Booksellers in the News
Who’s talking about New York’s independent bookstores? Here are links to stories and mentions from the past month – most are from December 2008, but a few are older ones we missed for our last roundup, plus one or two bits of news out this week:
Current Bookstores in the News:
Frommer’s mentions the IBNYC website as a resource for book lovers visiting the Big Apple, and highlights four shops: Strand, Left Bank, Bank Street and Books of Wonder.
Men’s Style shoots a video of chef David Chang obsessing over cookbooks at Kitchen Arts & Letters.
Marva Allen of Hue-Man Bookstore (pictured, at right) shares her top picks for coffee table books with the TODAY Show.
The owner of Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks chimes in with a comment worth noting (scroll to the bottom) after a WNYC Leonard Lopate radio show about “Changing Reading Habits”.
Writer and McNally Jackson bookseller Cheryl Pearl Sucher writes about bookselling’s Glimmers of Hope in Publisher’s Weekly.
Design Art Daily’s Holiday Book Report gives an “A” to Urban Center Books.
Publisher’s Weekly features PowerHouse Arena’s event space in DUMBO and highlights their marketing/publicity vp, Sara Rosen, as one of their 50 under 40 for 2008. (Powerhouse Arena website)
New York Magazine asks a few questions of Idlewild’s David DelVecchio.
Updates on Future Shops – Ones to Watch:
The Columbia Journalist runs a business feature on Aurora Anaya-Cerda and her plans to open La Casa Azul in El Barrio. Aurora was also interviewed on WNYC recently.
Jessica Stockton Bagnulo gives an update on her blog about plans for a bookstore in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene neighborhood. Includes announcement of a name for the future store, Greenlight Bookstore!
Shop Closings and Bookstores of the Past:
The new year begins with sad news from Radio France about the closing of Rockefeller Center’s Librairie Francaise. According to the article, the shop will remain open until September 2009, so there is still time to visit! (store website here)
Several news sources and blogs, including the New York Times City Room blog, cover the news that over 200,000 items from NYC’s former Gotham Book Mart have been donated to the University of Pennsylvania.
Happy Holidays – Books Make Great Gifts!
Hello friends of the Independent Booksellers of New York City,
Just a brief note of thanks for your support of our stores during this holiday season. The IBNYC greatly appreciates the efforts you make to shop local and support independent businesses.
Of course, if you still have gifts to get, we’d like to remind you to please consider buying books (and other goodies) from an independent bookstore, or other business, in the neighborhood where you live or work.
Check out our extensive Google map of area indie booksellers – there are over 90 around New York City!**
IBNYC Roundup – November 2008: NYC Booksellers in the News
Each month we will post a roundup of news stories that mention independent bookstores in New York City. We’ll try to be as comprehensive as possible, but will surely miss some, so please add additional articles that you know of in the comments below. Also, check out our IBNYC_news delicious page, where we will be tracking all the news about indie stores in New York City.
Some highlights from November:
New York Magazine celebrates the city’s indie culture, including a collection of indie bookstores, in The Curated Bookshelf.
The Brooklyn Paper covers BookCourt’s expansion.
The Onion’s AV Club highlights a few favorite shops (plus an interview with Chris Doeblin of Book Culture about the IBNYC.)
The Daily News on literary venues for latinos mentions Librería Calíope, McNally Jackson and La Casa Azul.
Support Independent Businesses: America Unchained Day
This Saturday, November 22, choose to shop outside the chain. America Unchained Day is a nationwide initative to promote awareness of and support for independent businesses. The choice of where you buy your coffee, your prescription, your books, your lightbulbs, or your dinner might seem like just a matter of convenience. But when you choose to shop at a locally owned independent business rather than a chain store, you’re making a choice for what kind of city, and what kind of world, you want to live in.
The IBNYC invites you to visit independent bookstores and other locally-owned businesses throughout the city on Saturday, to show your support for neighborhood businesses, and to help inject some valuable dollars into the local economy. Learn more about America Unchained here, and find independent businesses in your community at Indiebound.
Special events or sales happening at IBNYC stores this Saturday:
Bauman Rare Books: Open House Intro. to Rare Book Collecting from 11 am – 2 pm.
Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks: Home-made chocolate-chip oatmeal cookies!
Book Culture: 10% off most items in the store and 20% off select Random House titles. Join us for a holiday showcase from 2-4 pm with reps. from Random House, who will talk about their favorite titles.
Housing Works: 10% discount on all books, music and movies for the entire day.
PowerHouse Arena: 50 Photographs book signing with Jessica Lange from 4-5:30 pm. 50 Photographs gathers Lange’s impressive portfolio into her first-ever photography monograph.
Thanks for supporting IBNYC bookstores and other independent businesses, this Saturday – and always!
IBNYC and IndieBound
Earlier this year, the American Booksellers Association launched Indiebound, an online community and nationwide initiative aimed at supporting independent bookstores and other indie businesses, to celebrate what makes them unique.
From their website:
It’s about reaching out, it’s about raising awareness, and it’s about taking pride in your community. It’s about what makes our hometowns more interesting.
The IBNYC wants to point out a couple of specific ways in which New York booklovers and booksellers can get involved with the Indiebound program:
For consumers: Create a personal profile and join the community! You can become a fan of your favorite NYC indie bookstores (and a fan of the IBNYC), you can become friends with other Indiebound users, and you can create your own wish lists for the holiday season. (You can become fans of independent businesses around the country too!)
For NYC booksellers and other indie business owners: Make sure your business is listed on the Indiebound website, and if it’s not there — add it, and then spread the word to others about this great online network of independently owned businesses. For stores that already have profiles, make sure your profile includes store photos, hours, etc. You can even make a sample wish list for your store, as an example to your fans of what books your shop is recommending this season.
With America Unchained Day right around the corner, we thought that now was a perfect time to mention this wonderful online community. Please remember – this week, and always: When you shop at an independently-owned business, your entire community benefits!
Learn more about the Indiebound program here.
IBNYC Board Members
These five booksellers have volunteered to serve as board members of the IBNYC for the coming year:
Chris Doeblin, Book Culture
Susie Lupert, Housing Works Bookstore Cafe
Terry McCoy, St. Marks Bookshop
Jo Steffens, Urban Center Books
Henry Zook, Book Court
Media Release Announcing Formation of IBNYC
September 11, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New York City independent booksellers join forces to form alliance
The IBNYC to promote independent bookstores across the city
At a time when globalization threatens retail diversity and the publishing industry continues consolidation, the role of the independent bookseller in guiding the reading public has never mattered more. In particular are the community-based shops of New York City—new and used, specialized and general—which constitute the largest concentration of independent book retail in the country. In an increasingly homogenized world, these local businesses contribute to the city’s rich character and long tradition of bookselling by providing shelf space for voices that might not otherwise find a home and by serving as venues for the presentation of important works and new ideas.
Recognizing the common opportunities, virtues and values they share, New York City’s independent booksellers have united to raise awareness of the contributions their stores make not just to the local economy, but to the literary and cultural fabric of the city. Representatives from twenty stores met recently and formed the Independent Booksellers of New York City (IBNYC)— a group that is voluntary, non-exclusionary and cooperative in design. Member stores must primarily sell books, have a storefront that is open to the public, and be located within one of the five boroughs.
The IBNYC’s primary goal is to encourage New Yorkers and visitors to patronize independent bookstores. The group will serve as a resource for consumers (producing events and tools like a website and printed maps); as a professional support group for member businesses both longstanding and brand new (a rare forum for sharing methods and best practices); and as an advocate to publishers and lawmakers on behalf of bookseller concerns.
“The IBNYC is a really wonderful opportunity to do well by doing good,” says Book Culture owner Chris Doeblin. “As a group, we’ll endeavor to create citywide programming and marketing tools to promote our stores, and celebrate the unique contributions we make to New York’s social, cultural and economic wellbeing.”
To officially celebrate the group’s formation, the IBNYC will participate in this weekend’s Brooklyn Book Festival (booth 20). The first edition of an IBNYC bookstore map will be available, as well as tote bags, free giveaways, announcements about upcoming bookstore events and literature about the importance of supporting independent businesses. Consumers can also access an online map, links to member stores, and a newsletter sign up form at http://ibnyc.org/, the IBNYC’s new website, which is still in development.
“This alliance, embracing sellers of books both old and new, will prove that the independent bookstore—a touchstone of New York City life—is here to stay,” says Bonnie Slotnick, owner of Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks.
Although in its infancy, and intentionally informal in structure at this early stage, the IBNYC already has several working committees and includes over sixty participating bookstores—from veteran stores like St. Mark’s and Bank Street to the recently opened Word in Brooklyn and Idlewild Books in Manhattan.
While not yet requiring dues, the alliance has collected “founding contributions” from: Bank Street Bookstore, Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks, Book Culture, BookCourt, Computer Book Works, Freebird Books, McNally Jackson, PowerHouse Arena, St. Mark’s Bookshop, Strand Book Store and Urban Center Books. Additional start-up support (monetary or a donation of product/service/meeting space) has been provided by: Book Expo America, NAIBA, Random House, Harper Collins, Office of the Brooklyn Borough President and Housing Works Bookstore
Welcome to the IBNYC Blog!
Welcome! Our main website is under construction, so until it’s completed, this blog will be the place to learn about what is going on with the IBNYC.
You can sign up for our email list, join our Facebook group, follow us on Twitter or subscribe to this blog’s RSS feed to receive updates about news, events and other activities of NYC’s independent booksellers.
Be sure to check out our May 2009 Indiebound Spotlights – great NYC indie booksellers tell us about their favorite neighborhood businesses.
