Subscribe via RSS 2.0by Paul McNally - Monday Nov 05 2007 3:44 pm permalink Post a comment
Posted in: Discussions, Store News, Publishing News
WalMart Canada has made a big deal of the fact that they are going to sell books at US prices. Big gesture, small cost. They are of course a general merchandiser, so books are a sliver of their sales. And their head office and supply systems are in the US, so they can readily source their inventory where the real price really is American.
No such luck for Canadian booksellers. Pretty much all we sell is books, and pretty much everything we buy is in Canada.
by Paul McNally - Monday Oct 01 2007 4:19 pm permalink Post a comment
Posted in: Discussions, Publishing News
Current book pricing in Canada is actually a huge good news story for readers.
The exchange rate is raising a lot of hackles, and booksellers are at least as angry as book buyers. Not only are we taking flak from customers because prices are not dropping fast enough, we’re enduring revenue deflation as prices do fall.
And they are falling. Long term, the news on pricing is actually wonderful for Canadian readers and, by extension, for the literate culture we like to think we’re promulgating here in Canada.
by Paul McNally - Friday Aug 17 2007 4:45 pm permalink Post a comment
Under the reader line “How did a couple from the Peg end up with the best bookstore in NYC?” Maclean’s Magazine published a positive profile of McNally Robinson in this week’s issue.
by Paul McNally - Friday Jul 27 2007 9:28 am permalink Post a comment
Posted in: Discussions
It seems that the trend among some bookstores these days is to remove their comfortable chairs.
McNally Robinson has a history with comfortable chairs and, yes, from time to time I have to tell people to take their feet off the upholstery. What I love is how they respond (a bit like guilty children), because even the occasional ne'er-do-well hanging out in our stores sort of gets it: there is a certain respect due to a place dedicated to books.
Maybe it's an atavistic cultural memory of librarians hissing for silence. Or maybe an independent store has a pride of ownership that subtly permeates the space and reminds people that they are guests.
Whatever. Sitting and reading go together. I've tried every kind of standing/walking/leaning and reading; and of course we've all stretched out with a book, only to fall asleep. Sitting is best. We'll keep our chairs.
Loading...
