Indie bookstores, Barnes & Noble join to fight common foe Amazon
NEW YORK — When Barnes & Noble Chairman Len Riggio delivers a keynote address at this week's publishing convention, he will be introduced by a man once considered a bitter rival, CEO Oren Teicher of the American Booksellers Association.
“Len has had this incredible, distinguished career as a retailer,” Teicher said of the superstore executive, praise unthinkable when Barnes & Noble helped put thousands of independent stores out of business in the 1980s and 1990s.
“I've always liked him,” Riggio said of Teicher. “He's a good leader — caring, intelligent.”
Riggio and Teicher will appear together Wednesday at BookExpo, which runs Wednesday-Friday in Manhattan, followed over the weekend by the fan-based BookCon.
BookExpo once was an occasion for high tension between Barnes & Noble and the independents, peaking in 1994 when on the eve of the convention the ABA sued several publishers for allegedly giving B&N and other chains favorable treatment on prices. In 1998, the ABA sued Barnes & Noble and Borders for unfair business practices (both suits were settled out of court).
But in 2018, Teicher noted, physical retailers have a common foe in Amazon.com.
“That does end up changing the dynamic a little bit,” he said.
For now, Teicher has good reason to be of generous spirit. While Barnes & Noble has struggled in recent years, the ABA has continued its rebound after a long decline brought on by Barnes & Noble and Borders, and then Amazon. Membership in the independent's trade group grew over the past year from 1,757 to 1,835, and the number of store locations from 2,321 to 2,470.
Independents have been helped by the slowing of B&N and of the e-book market, but Teicher has cited factors ranging from the “buy local” movement to increased interest overall in owning a bookstore. The ABA currently has 168 “provisional” members, those thinking of or planning to open a store.