Bookstore News, In Brief

A darkly funny anecdote from a seriously depressing news item (or: Why hate tourists when you've got locals like this?)
Via Canada.com:
169-year-old Halifax Bookstore Closing
The fate of Canada's oldest independent bookstore was sealed just before Christmas when it mistakenly received a delivery of books destined for a resident of one of the apartments upstairs. Staff at The Book Room, a 169-year-old shop presently located on a corner of Halifax's bustling Barrington Street, unwittingly opened the box to discover the same titles they already had in stock -- plus an invoice from one of the big Internet booksellers. "Somebody had ordered a bunch of books from Amazon," Charles Burchell, who managed the bookstore for more than 40 years, recounted in a recent interview. "To find that it was books we had on our shelves that they could have had in five minutes rather than five days if they'd walked downstairs ... that really made us sit up and take notice."
You ask me, they should have pooped in that box.

Amazon Bookstore for sale! No, jackass, not that Amazon. This one's a 38 year old co-op in Minneapolis, and while it doesn't carry the Kindle, it is the country's oldest womens' bookstore. Oh, and then there's this great selling point, via WomensPress.com: It's common knowledge that like many independent bookstores, Amazon has struggled financially in recent years. Although the store hasn't made a profit in a couple of years...it's in relatively good shape.
Wow! Where do I sign?

Bad news for behemoth online bookstores is good news for their brick & mortar indie enemies.
Via Chinapost.com: Hackers obtained credit card information and other personal data from several thousand customers who purchased books on Eslite's online bookstore after gaining unauthorized access to a third-party computer system, the company said yesterday. Eslite is currently the largest bookstore chain in Taiwan, with nearly 50 branches and more than 400,000 online customers. The company was established in Taipei City in 1989 by Wu Ching-yu.
While I want to believe that this is some sort of V for Vendetta-like act of sabotage instigated by the anti-big business underground, I'm guessing it's actually just the act of a bunch of hyper-intelligent, internet thieves.

Comic Book Galaxy has posted a thorough interview with comic book shop owner, Jim Crocker. Crocker's shop, Modern Myths, sounds like heaven, the kind of place that makes you ask yourself, "Why can't all comic/book/gaming stores be like that?" Store owners and employees interested in inspiring similar reactions might want to click on over. Crocker's spilling all his retail secrets.