PW’s top 10 bookselling stories this year included tales of activism, advocacy, and acquisition. We saw booksellers, publishers, and others in the industry step up to aid stores that sustained extensive hurricane damage, call for greater rights and representation for people with diverse identities, and more. Here are PW’s top 10 bookselling stories of the year.
10. Unionized Bookstore Workers at Hold Pre-Holiday Rally at Barnes & Noble Flagship
Booksellers are wielding their power to make their work more sustainable, and their workplaces more, equitable with the help of unions. Barnes & Noble has contended with worker unrest all year, including a Nov. 14 rally outside the NYC flagship store led by union members determined to push B&N into resolving a disagreement over wages and reach a contract with workers. Indies also have recognized the power of unions this year: Seminary Co-op Bookstores in Chicago voluntarily recognized its workers’ union in May, while New York City’s Strand Bookstore was threatened with a Black Friday strike that was called off on Nov. 27, two days before the biggest retail shopping day of the year, when the two sides agreed to resume contract negotiations. Following a strike held the weekend after Thanksgiving, an agreement was reached on December 10.
9. Lauren Groff Opens Her Bookstore, the Lynx, with a Little Help from Her Friends
Encouraged and inspired by such literary friends as Ann Patchett, the author and owner of Parnassus Books in Nashville, and author Emma Straub, the owner of Books Are Magic in Brooklyn, The Vaster Wilds author Lauren Groff opened the Lynx in Gainesville, Fla., this April. The Lynx, a full-service bookstore, emphasizes books that are banned in Florida’s schools and libraries, as well as books by Florida authors. Groff told PW that she hopes her bookstore will be a beacon of hope to Floridians appalled by book bans, as well as proof to those outside the Sunshine State that not all Floridians are right-wing extremists.
8. Danny Caine Sells the Raven Book Store to Co-owners
Caine, one of the country’s most high-profile independent booksellers and a prominent critic of Amazon, announced in October that he would sell his majority shares in the Lawrence, Kans., institution that he purchased in 2017 to a trio of booksellers who are currently minority co-owners. The transfer in ownership takes effect January 1. Caine is moving on from bookselling to become a multimedia content creator for the Center for Local Self-Reliance, a Cleveland-based advocacy organization that supports local retailers hold their own against big box stores and Amazon.
7. Booksellers Step Up to Help Bookstores Hit by Hurricane Helene
After Helene tore through the Southeast U.S. in September, devastating communities throughout the region and particularly in western North Carolina, the Book Industry Charitable Foundation, publishers, and fellow booksellers located elsewhere stepped up to help bookstores in the most impacted areas with information, resources, and financial and moral support.
6. Bookselling Activists Call for ABA to Take a Stand
During a raucous community forum at Winter Institute 2024 in Cincinnati, angry booksellers chastised the American Booksellers Association board and its CEO, Allison Hill, for the organization’s refusal to take a stance on the conflict between Israel and Palestine, as well as for what many speakers said they perceived as a general lack of interest in the needs and concerns of BIPOC booksellers and nontraditional bookstore models.
5. Are Bookstore Sales Really Down?
Puzzling 2023 data from the U.S. Census Bureau appeared to show bookstore sales declining in comparison to 2022. After reviewing August–December 2023 and first-quarter data from 2024, our reporting suggested that college bookstore sales—which vary depending on enrollment and how students are billed for course materials—could be negatively skewing the numbers on overall bookstore sales.
4. Costco to Keep Book Sections in 100 Outlets Year Round
Rumors circulated last spring that Costco might implement a “holiday season model” for its bookselling, following reports of softer-than-expected book sales at mass merchandisers including Walmart. In November, sources said that the big box chain will keep bookstore sections year-round in 100 of its more than 600 locations, with remaining stores selling books only in September through December. Costco had no comment on the report.
3. Barnes & Noble Buys Denver’s Tattered Cover Bookstores
In June, Barnes & Noble acquired the Tattered Cover, the 53-year-old Denver bookstore chain known for its staunch defense of the freedom to read, for $1.83 million. The Tattered Cover retained a majority of its 70 employees across its four Colorado locations, and also kept its name and branding, in keeping with a strategy B&N CEO James Daunt has followed when acquiring such venerable U.K. brands as Blackwell’s, Hatchards, Foyles, and Hodges Figgis. As of November, B&N was on track to open 60 new stores in 2024.
2. How Booksellers Are Taking On Book Banners
As part of our Freedom to Read issue, PW spoke with booksellers who joined educators and librarians to advocate against book bans. By filing lawsuits against restrictive state bills, bringing literary programming to their communities, fundraising for literacy, and creating book clubs and collections to spotlight controversial books, these indie booksellers are spreading the word for free expression.
1. Independent Bookstore Day 2024: ‘An Indie Bookseller’s Christmas’
More than 1,200 booksellers in all 50 states participated in an Independent Bookstore Spirit Week and the 11th annual Independent Bookstore Day. Celebrated on the last Saturday of April each year, IBD acquaints consumers with their local shops, and indie bookstores rake in remarkable sales, stamp bookstore passports, and provide shopping incentives. Areas with far-flung stores, including Chicagoland and San Diego, even arranged shuttle buses to deliver bibliophiles across neighborhoods in 2024. Can Indie Bookstore Day 2025 top this?
