In case you missed it, there was an upbeat article in the New York Times yesterday reporting better-than-expected holiday sales this year at bookstores across the country:
Facing economic gloom and competition from cheap e-readers, brick-and-mortar booksellers entered this holiday season with the humblest of expectations. But the initial weeks of Christmas shopping, a boom time for the book business, have yielded surprisingly strong sales for many bookstores, which report that they have been lifted by an unusually vibrant selection…
Booksellers are noticing that photography and coffee table books are selling particularly well.
We’re proud to introduce paper-hammer.com, the on-line version of our brick-and-mortar store in downtown Seattle that shares space with Marquand Books. The sale of each one of our products helps to revive the economy of Tieton, a small orchard town in Central Washington that is an incubator for artisan businesses under the association of Mighty Tieton.
Our products combine thoughtful design, careful production, a respect for tradition, and smart use of contemporary technology. We believe that the future belongs to creative thinkers and doers who put style, imagination, energy, talent, and creative ambition into everything they do.
Have a look around and visit often. We’ll keep listing fresh found objects, seasonal gifts, Northwest-inspired housewares, and letterpress and handmade paper goods.
We’ve been charmed by Portland, Oregon’s Monograph Bookwerks, a shining example of how an independent bookstore can thrive in the age of the digital reader, especially when its concept fills a niche.
Opened in May 2010 in the Alberta Arts district, the shop sells new and used art books and objects carefully curated by owners John Brodie and Blair Saxon-Hill. Even better, you can browse new arrivals on the shop’s Web site and Facebook page before visiting. Are you a fan?
UK-based on-line bookseller The Book Depository is a good resource for finding publications that are either out of print or not widely available in the US.
Check out the “Watch People Shop” feature. Tracing tabs on a world map as they ping-pong between recent sales in real time in entrancing. Someone in California just bought African Animal Stickers. Then someone in South Africa bought The Last Snake Man. Someone in Canada bought The Stars, and someone in Australia bought Bright Star a few minutes later. It’s like six degrees of book separation.
In major cities worldwide during the pre-burst bubble, many independent, street-level retail businesses were priced out of the cool neighborhoods they helped establish. Corporate conglomerates selling luxury goods drove commercial rent into the tens of thousands of dollars.
Many of these shops are simply environmental installations-as-advertising. While Nike, Chanel, Ralph Lauren, Gucci, and others of their ilk still drive many rental markets, it’s shifted a bit here in NYC, where desirable shopping districts such as Soho and Nolita are full of empty storefronts.
Continue reading: “Pop-up Shops Take Manhattan”
Bookselling has held an uncharacteristically prominent place in Seattle newspapers and Web sites of late. Elliott Bay Book Company, the flagship retailer in the historic Pioneer Square neighborhood, is moving to the Pike and Pine corridor on Capitol Hill. Bailey/Coy Books, the longtime Broadway bookseller, has closed its doors. Everyone agrees that bookselling in Seattle is changing. But there’s plenty of disagreement about what the change means.
Here’s a roundup of relevant stories. This collection represents but a small fraction of the ink spilled and pixels lit about the changes afoot for bookselling in Seattle.
Continue reading: “Seattle Bookselling News Roundup”
Subscribe
RSS
Email Newsletter
Find us on Facebook
About
Marquand Books designs and produces fine illustrated books for art museums, galleries, trade publishers, artists, collectors, and architects.
Recent Publications
