Non-books

This fall, booksellers looking for inventory to complement their bestselling Moleskine notebooks and planners need look no further.

Magazine publishers have committed to participating in a program developed by Trofie that is designed to expand magazine sales in independent bookstores.

The Ingram Content Group’s expanded gift and game catalog, which includes more than 125 vendors selected by Ingram buyers and former booksellers, can be used to help launch or augment a store’s non-book inventory.

At the session “Selling Non-book in the Children's Department," ABA President Becky Anderson of Anderson's Bookshops in Naperville, Illinois, moderated a panel discussion with Beth Puffer of Bank Street Bookstore in New York City and Andrea Vuleta of Mrs. Nelson’s Toy and Book Shop in La Verne, California, about their ordering tactics and top picks for toys and games.

Booksellers who attended the Museum Store Association’s recent Retail Conference & Expo found the event, which focused on non-book products, a worthwhile complement to BEA.

ABA has launched a completely redesigned and expanded online Booksellers Resource Directory in partnership with Multiview, Inc., a publisher of digital buyer’s guides and e-news briefs.

Bookstores have found a sideline that everybody likes: food. Booksellers from Books and Greetings, Readers’ Books, and  Clinton Book Shop recently spoke to BTW about the food or food-related items they’ve added to their inventory.

Becky Anderson was “blown away” by the scope of Germany’s Nürnberg Toy Fair, where she recently found several new toy lines for Anderson’s Bookshops and came away with ideas for how indie booksellers can share information about favorite products.

Hundreds of booksellers are supporting the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression and its all-important work in the fight against censorship by selling products in the ABFFE affiliate program, including reading glasses, bookmarks, and incense.

Maroma, a supplier of incense and other aromatic products from India, is the newest partner in the affiliate program sponsored by the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression.