Optimism Reigns at Well-Received MPBA Trade Show

The Mountains and Plains Booksellers Association (MPBA) 2003 Trade Show was held at the Marriott Denver Tech Center in Denver, from October 2 - 5. This year's show was a hit with many booksellers and included new author events and a great selection of educational seminars. "It was the best trade show in years," said Lisa Knudsen, executive director of MPBA. Overall, the show was "great, great, great."

Knudsen told BTW that publishers and exhibitors were all really pleased with the trade show and remarked that booksellers seemed optimistic about this holiday season.

ABA events at the show started at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, October 2, with "Technology as a Bookselling Tool," led by MPBA Board member Bob Sommer of Changing Hands in Tempe, Arizona, and BookSense.com Director Len Vlahos. The three-part session featured live demonstrations and a discussion of the technological needs of booksellers; focused on getting the most out of ABA's online resources and how to use BookScan; and addressed how to turn Web Sites into profit centers.

Vlahos remarked, "It was a very upbeat show. Our members were there in force, and were excited about the upcoming holiday season. It was great to have an opportunity to have a number of in-depth discussions about the Book Sense Gift Card and BookSense.com Co-op Program, and to be able to demo the new gift card, as well."

Booksellers who participated in the Book Sense gift card demonstrations or who brought a photo of a recent Book Sense display had the chance to win a free gift card training session and a color inkjet printer. Second Story Books in Laramie, Wyoming, was the Grand Prize winner of a free gift card training session and the printer; Bookworks in Albuquerque, New Mexico, won a free gift card training session.

Bookworks' Nancy Rutland raved about the show. "Everyone -- booksellers, sales reps -- thought it was the best show in years," she said. Rutland told BTW that Bookworks was "definitely signing up for the gift card," but she wasn't yet sure if they were going to get the equipment or use the Givex Web Site to process transactions. About the gift cards, Rutland said, "We're excited. Customers will adore the credit card format."

On Friday, October 3, Chris Finan, president of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, led the session "From Monica to the Patriot Act: Customer Privacy Today." Finan discussed updates on efforts to pass the Freedom to Read Protection Act (H.R. 1157), Rep. Bernie Sanders' (I-VT) bill designed to restore customer privacy. A documentary, Reading Your Rights, about Tattered Cover's fight to protect the privacy of a customer was shown to a full house.

Tattered Cover's Cathy Langer said the ABFFE event went very well and was standing room only. "Chris Finan did an excellent job of giving a preface to the documentary and answering questions afterwards," she said.

ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz

Later on Friday, ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz presented "ABACUS: Year One." The ABACUS study contains rich data that shows the financial performance of almost 200 participating stores, as well as "data slices" grouped by profitability levels, sales levels, area of the country, and much more. Rutland said of the ABACUS session, "I think it's helpful…. It's a wonderful introduction if a bookseller is unfamiliar with ABACUS or unsure of how to interpret the numbers."

After ABACUS, MPBA held its General Meeting and, then, the MPBA Welcome Cocktail Party, which was sponsored by Ingram Book Company. At the meeting, Langer said, she and other booksellers urged everyone who hadn't already done so to sign up for BookScan, the system that makes reporting to the Book Sense Bestseller List extremely easy. "We really need to get more booksellers in our region to report to the Bestseller List," said Langer.

The last ABA seminar of the trade show, "Economic Impact of Locally Owned Businesses," focused on the study "Economic Impact Analysis: A Case Study, Local Merchants vs. Chain Retailers," conducted by Civic Economics for Liveable City and the Austin Independent Business Alliance. (To read the study, click here.)

At the Saturday session, BookPeople's Steve Bercu, one of the driving forces behind the study, revealed that new data is being developed to further bolster the report's findings that locally owned businesses contribute more to the community than do chain stores. (Watch for more on this in upcoming issues of BTW).

Bercu said of the session, "It went really well. A lot of discussion about chains in general, as opposed to just chain bookstores and the affect on local communities and what small Colorado communities are doing to maintain their towns. There was discussion about zoning laws ... some small towns have a 75,000 - 85,000 square-foot maximum -- which is large, but not large enough for a Wal-Mart, and they're doing this to keep out super centers."

Also on Saturday, the Author Breakfast for Literacy featured Peter Sis (The Tree of Life, FSG); Joyce Carol Oates (I'll Take You There, Ecco); Marisol (The Lady, the Chef, and the Courtesan, Rayo); and Karol Griffin (Skin Deep, Harcourt). Knudsen described the breakfast as "fabulous." Tattered Cover's Cathy Langer said "nobody breathed" during the breakfast because the authors were so engaging, especially Joyce Carol Oates.

The Saturday Night Reception was sponsored by Baker & Taylor during which the Gordon Saull Bookseller of the Year and Sales Rep of the Year awards were presented. Langer won the Bookseller of the Year Award. Past recipients include Joyce Meskis and Gayle Shanks of Changing Hands in Tempe, Arizona. "I'm very honored to be in such company," said Langer. A $300 prize is attached to the award to be given to any charity the winner chooses; Langer donated hers to ABFFE.

John Zeck of HarperCollins was named Sales Rep of the Year.

New, this year, at the reception were author signings during which booksellers had the opportunity to eat, drink, and visit with authors including Michael Hague (The Nutcracker, Chronicle Books); David Jenson (Gift of the Soul, Eternum Press); and Adrian McKinty (Dead I Well May Be, Scribner). Book Works' Nancy Rutland listed this as one of her favorite events since she could "mix and mingle with different authors."

Overall, Knudsen said, the trade show was a glorious success. "I think booksellers are feeling really optimistic about going into fall." --Karen Schechner