ABA's Spring Program Travels to Pennsylvania in March

ABA will be holding a Booksellers Forum and Education Program in conjunction with the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association (NAIBA) at the Tudor Bookshop in Kingston, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, March 6. All area bookstore owners and staff are encouraged to attend the event, which includes a substantive educational component and an update on ABA programs and initiatives, as well as an opportunity to meet with association senior staff to ask questions and to offer comments. Attendees will get a broader perspective on how their individual stores fit into the larger book industry.

The program will run from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and lunch is included. Representing ABA will be CEO Avin Mark Domnitz, COO Oren Teicher, BookSense.com Director Len Vlahos, and Associate Director of Programming and Constituent Groups Liaison Kristen Gilligan.

The first education session, running from 10:00 a.m. to noon, will be Cost of Goods Sold, 101. This seminar, an expansion of the Cost of Goods Sold component of "The 2% Solution," will examine what Cost of Goods Sold is, how it fits into and affects a bookstore's operating results, and the most accurate way to calculate it.

Lunch will run from noon to 12:30 p.m.

From 12:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. will be the ABA Booksellers Forum. This is an opportunity for members to ask questions, express opinions, and hear from ABA senior staff, as well as from their bookseller colleagues. Past forums have proven very effective in helping shape future ABA programs and initiatives.

An ABACUS Workshop will be held from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Members who bring their fiscal 2004 financial statements will receive one-on-one help in completing the 2005 ABACUS survey and will get a coupon for $50 off their next ABA dues renewal. The ABACUS study is helping all independent booksellers by establishing a standard against which individual financial results can be measured.

All events will be held at The Tudor Book Shop & Cafe, located at 651 Wyoming Avenue in Kingston. The store's phone number is (570) 288-9697.

To help ABA finalize arrangements, booksellers planning to attend are asked to RSVP to Kristen Gilligan at [email protected]. For more information about NAIBA, visit www.newatlanticbooks.com/, or contact Eileen Dengler at (877) 866-2422 or [email protected].

Booksellers who are unable to attend this forum may be able to attend either of two other forums/educational sessions this year: in Huntington, New York on April 5, sponsored by NAIBA or on March 8 in New Haven, Connecticut, sponsored by the New England Booksellers Association.