Struggling Bookstores Turn to Remainders for Help Coping with Economic Slump

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One tactic for coping with the retail slump, the American Booksellers Association says, is for independent bookstores to consider building more inventory from remainders, which can be bought on the cheap and sold at high margins.

Knoxville, Tenn, December 04, 2008 — Retailers are growing increasingly concerned about a bleak holiday selling season, and booksellers are no exception.

Net book sales decreased two percent in September 2008 to $1.062 billion, according to results reported by 80 publishers to the Association of American Publishers. Net sales for the nine months through September fell 1.5 percent to $7.718 billion.

In a special series advising independent booksellers on how to survive in the slumping U.S. economy, the American Booksellers Association tells retailers that buying remainders can help them get through tough economic times. The advice appeared in the Oct. 30 issue of ABA’s online newsletter Bookselling This Week.

Remaindered books are books that have had much of their run and whose remaining unsold copies are being liquidated by the publisher at greatly reduced prices. Because they’re often sold for as little as 10 percent of cover price, retailers can usually buy and then resell them for higher margins than they can new titles from the major publishing houses.

“In both good times and bad, many booksellers turn to remainders as a way to supplement and complement their inventory without breaking the bank,” says Larry May of Bargain Book Bids, a Knoxville service that auctions remainders.
According to May, remainders in the U.S. are sold year-round by 100 or so dealers. They are also sold at several major trade shows. The first major remainder show upcoming is the Spring Book Show, scheduled for Friday-Sunday, March 6-8, at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta. Information on the show is available at www.springbookshow.com.

Educational seminars being held in conjunction with the show will be held in the Galleria’s salon area. Accommodations for the show are being offered by the Renaissance Waverly Hotel

About the Spring Book Show: The Spring Book Show is the largest of three bargain book shows held in the United States. It is staged annually in the spring to permit retailers to buy inexpensive stock for marketing during the summer season. The show is organized by L.B. May & Associates of Knoxville, Tenn. Further information at www.springbookshow.com

Contact:
Noel Griese
Anvil Publishers
3852 Allsborough Drive
Tucker, GA 30084
770-938-0289
[email protected]
http://www.anvilpub.net

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