A Holiday Letter...

As we prepare for the final months of our bookselling year we ask the reader, either our loyal customers or possible first time patrons, to consider the following. Listed below are five important reasons to take action by coming out to Essex and visiting our locally owned, independent, unique, beautiful, and fully stocked store:

Our holiday catalog represents the world of the independent bookstore as it prepares for the holiday season. In it you will find books for the season that have been recommended by indie booksellers from all across the United States and from our own staff here at Phoenix Books. These are not the cookie-cutter, talking-head choices you see at Costco or online but books that indie booksellers believe in. Yes, there are bestseller selections but there are also many, many treasures available in our store that were selected by real book readers and not algorithms. These selections are books that we believe will stand the test of time and not disappear under the next wave of faddish popularity. For those of you who read this and have never been to Phoenix Books and Cafe in Essex at the Shoppes and Cinema, please make a choice to come out and see for yourselves what a locally owned, independent, front list bookstore has to offer. Try Phoenix Books once at least, perhaps include us in a bucket list of things to do before the end of the year. We think you will be both surprised and delighted by what you find within this lovely place of books, art, and gustatory delights.

Shopping Local and Internet Sales Taxes: We really do believe that shopping locally is important. We support shopping locally at brick and mortar stores of any kind. Although no one can be philosophically perfect, we can be mindful of what we purchase and where we purchase it. When you buy online, for example, you are likely not charged sales tax. A plus, you say. Possibly so, but most of us believe in shared responsibility for ourselves and our fellow citizens. If you avoid paying sales tax you shift the burden for state services to our neighbors and to our own real estate taxes. You diminish the quantity and quality of those important state services available to our friends, neighbors, and community members. And yes, this finger is pointed directly at Amazon.com, whose influence has convinced our own state government and legislature to take no action in this area even as the state chokes on a budget shortfall and unanticipated expenditures needed to put our state back together after those summer storms. If you do business, no matter how big or small, the regulatory playing field should be the same for all players. Creating an unfair retail environment by allowing some entities to avoid collecting tax while requiring others to do so seems to me to be the height of inequality. By the way, you should know that even though the online retailer does not collect the state sales tax the consumer is required to report and pay it in their annual tax filings. Thus, nearly all of us violate the law on an annual basis.This issue should be addressed by our elected officials and not ignored out of misguided fear. If you are interested in this please feel free to call Mike DeSanto directly.

A Full Service, Front List, Bookstore for Downtown Burlington: As you read this, the owners of Phoenix Books, Mike DeSanto and Renee Reiner, are engaged in a serious effort to open a bookstore in Burlington. At this time we are in the planning stage. So now is the time to contact us if you have any interest in exploring the possibilities for such an enterprise, as a supporter, investor or partner. Reach out to Renee by calling the store at 802-872-7111 or by email at "Renee Reiner" renee@phoenixbooks.biz. We plan to keep the Essex store open and establish a nearly 6000SF store on or near Church Street within 6 months. And feel free to let us know what you might like to see from a front list store in Burlington. Oh yes, Mike and Renee believe the future can be profitable for a unique, local and independent front list book store in downtown Burlington! So call us and find out why this is true.

The Gallery At Phoenix Books: As a sign of the continued evolution of Phoenix Books in Essex, we recently completed the addition of many new gallery-style fixtures for local art and pottery as well as the installation of a large art show around the walls of the store. Without boasting too much, we have it on good authority that Mike loves this new look and feels like he has achieved the look, the feel, the color, the freshness, the spaciousness, and the ambiance he sought upon opening the store in October of 2007. He has said " I would proudly place the design and floor plan of Phoenix Books next to any other bookstore I have ever seen. We are a feast for the senses and the mind. You really do have to see it to believe." Come out for a visit, the gallery tour is free and Mike, who fancies himself quite the barista, is always ready to whip up a fresh latte or cappuccino for a first time visitor or our loyal returning patrons. And that leads us to...

The New Kitchen at Phoenix: You may have missed the modest renovation of the interior of the kitchen but we call your attention to the shiny, high end sandwich refrigeration unit. These improvements serve to enhance our capacity as a restaurant and cafe and the investment serves to emphasize our commitment to stay in Essex. Rachel M will give free tours of the facility. You really should come out for a visit merely to sample the almost daily creations the cafe features.

On behalf of our dedicated staff of booksellers, Mike and Renee wish everyone a healthy, happy and, yes, a prosperous holiday and new year. We ask you to come out to Phoenix Books to see for yourselves what literary treasures populate our shelves and what surprising treasures you can find amongst the art works, gifts, stationery, toys, games, and stocking stuffers of the most unique and special sorts.

Mike DeSanto and Renee Reiner
Owners of Phoenix Books and Cafe

Introducing the Phoenix Theater Group

Essex, Vermont – Sunday, November 13: Local bookstore owner Mike DeSanto announced the formation of Phoenix Theater Group just weeks after opening The Gallery at Phoenix Books & Cafe in Essex, Vermont. The new theater group will present Edward Albee's play At Home at the Zoo from December 7th to December 10th at 7:30 p.m. in the Off Center for the Dramatic Arts in Burlington’s Old North End. Tickets are $15 for open seating, and more information can be found at www.offcentervt.com. Student and senior tickets are $10.

The mission of the Phoenix Theater Group is to produce an eclectic offering of contemporary plays that present strong political, social or philosophical statements which speak to current and universal issues in our society. Actors will demonstrate their skills in productions that are faithful to the playwright’s intentions. Plays which have minimal production requirements will allow for the emphasis to be on the play and the performers. Mike DeSanto is the artistic director/producer of the group.

DeSanto says "I seek plays that are didactic in the classical sense, in that the play teaches the audience about life - the way early Greek plays taught citizens the right way to be citizens. I sense a dearth of challenging theater in the area and want to produce plays with roles actors can really get their teeth into and wrap their minds and imaginations around - roles that are provocative and new. I'd love to form a core group that keeps coming back to do plays."

Examples of plays under consideration in the future include, but are not limited to: Circle, Mirror, Transformation by Annie Baker; Dead Man's Cell Phone by Sarah Ruhl; Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee; Marie and Bruce by Wallace Shawn.

The Phoenix Theater Group will seriously consider producing plays by local authors, as well as plays by talented new and emerging playwrights. Gender-neutral casting will be considered when appropriate. The group will be funded by private sources, and efforts to gain 501.c.3 status are underway. The intention is to use the Off Center for the Dramatic Arts as the home stage, but future productions could be staged at any venue in the region. Submissions by local authors may be made directly to Phoenix Theater Group, c/o Mike DeSanto, 34 Valley View Drive, Milton, VT. 05468. Inquiries may also be made at mike(dot)desanto(at)gmail.com, or at 802-363-6116.

Recession? What Recession!

In all the years I have been a bookseller, I have never been so optimistic about the future of my bookstore. Phoenix Books has enjoyed surprising growth in this first quarter of 2010. Coming on the heels of a very strong final quarter of 2009, the store has cut losses dramatically and is nearing break-even status. Only a bookstore would boast of not losing money!

We continue to add new customers, and that reflects the success of our "one customer at a time" philosophy: one customer at a time who receives our full attention and the best service we can offer with a smile; one customer at a time who discovers us for the first time and leaves feeling this was a place to return to for community, connection and customer service; one customer at a time who decides that there is something... some je ne sais quoi...that makes Phoenix Books special, unique, local, and worth spending time and money to support.

So, unlike Richard III, now is not the winter of my discontent but the spring of my reborn optimism. The naming of the store has come full circle. :)

What Phoenix Does Inside The Doors
By the way, we have created a mini gift & stationery store within the walls at Phoenix! In addition to our unbelievable selection of cards and expanded offerings in journals, there are new choices in jewelry, hand bags, scarves, and wrapping papers. There are some fabulous new lines of journals on the back wall. We try to buy domestic-made or fair trade products whenever possible. Even some of the standard lines include generous amounts of recovered or recycled materials. My favorite is Elephant Poo - yes poo - made from that very product, dried and pressed into paper. Try it, you will like it.

Open Letter To The Governor And Legislature

As the owner of Phoenix Books and Café, an independent, locally owned bookstore in Essex Junction, I am urging you to support H.661. We employ three full time and seven part time employees. This e-fairness legislation would clarify state laws to require non-Vermont merchants with online affiliates in the state acting as sales agents on their behalf to collect sales tax on purchases shipped to Vermont. The bill would play a role in establishing sales tax equity for Vermont businesses and would help secure needed revenue to support essential local services. It is very similar to legislation enacted in New York and Rhode Island.

The tax avoidance being practiced by these out-of-state retailers is unfair to the retailers throughout Vermont that are collecting sales tax for online sales, and it has clear economic implications for the state, especially considering the current economic climate. It is no secret that Vermont is projecting a huge gap of $28 million. This deficit is only going to grow worse if states continue to subsidize out-of-state businesses by allowing remote merchants with nexus in Vermont to skirt existing tax laws, thereby letting millions of dollars in sales tax revenue go uncollected.

At a time when Vermont is expected to lose more than $21 million in sales tax revenue to out-of-state retailers in 2010, it seems crazy that the state taxing authorities are allowing these out-of-state retailers to get away with this tax dodge at the direct expense of in-state businesses and communities.

The results of sales tax inequity create a ripple effect seen throughout Vermont's economy, resulting in higher property taxes and budget cuts for police and fire departments. For the good of in-state businesses -- and all of the residents of Vermont – I hope that you will take a stand for equity and support H.661, which will require out-of-state online retailers with nexus in Vermont to collect and remit sales tax.

I have owned and operated an independent bookstore in Vermont from1996 to 2003 and opened Phoenix in November of 2007. I have never considered Vermont to be an unfriendly state for my local business but this tax inequity is extremely unfriendly to bricks and mortar stores. Why wouldn’t the state turn over every stone in an effort to collect taxes already owed? Why would the state subsidize these out of state companies by allowing them a 6 or 7 % competitive advantage over my taxpaying, tax collecting, mini economic engine? Why put my sizable investment at risk to the ever encroaching use of the internet for commerce? And what do you suppose will happen to sales taxes when all of us bricks and mortar retailers have gone the way of the Dodo bird?

Sincerely,

Mike DeSanto
Owner
Phoenix Books and Café
Essex Junction, VT 05452

New Posting and New Products

Recession? What Recession!

In all the years I have been a bookseller I have never been so optimistic about the future of my bookstore. Phoenix Books has enjoyed surprising growth in this first quarter of 2010. Coming on the heels of a very strong final quarter of 2009, the store has cut losses dramatically and is nearing break even status. Only a bookstore would boast of not losing money! We continue to add new customers and that reflects the success of our "one customer at a time" philosophy: One customer at a time who receives our full attention and the best service we can offer with a smile; One customer at a time who discovers us for the first time and leaves feeling this was a place to return to for community, connection and customer service;One customer at a time who decides that there is something..."je' ne sais quoi"...that makes Phoenix Books special, unique,local, and worth spending time and money to support. So, unlike Richard III, now is not the winter of my discontent but the spring of my reborn optimism. The naming of the store has come full circle:)

What Phoenix Does Inside The Doors

Customers should notice a new emphasis on some non-book items. There are some fabulous new and expanded lines of journals on the back wall. We try and buy domestic made, or fair trade products when ever it is possible. Even some of the standard lines include generous amounts of recovered or recycled materials. My favorite is Elephant Poo, yes poo, made from that very product, dried and pressed into paper. The poo originates in Thailand. Try it, you will like it. There is also a new mini journal made out of...Panda Poo. There are also products by Sustainable Threads, a Fair Trade company from India with recycled, handmade, products. Hope For Women features fair trade, hand made cards from El Salvador and the Himalaya region...these are quite unique and very beautiful. The headquarters is right here in Vermont, in Burlington...how cool is that? There are also new collections from Paperblanks, and the very trendy folks at Moleskine. We also added a new line of journals from Eco System which are made in the USA and feature 100% post consumer recycled paper! There are also new chocolates and new teas available, and keep an eye open for new boxed cards, writing papers and wrapping papers.

Reaction to ABA's Letter to Justice Department Abounds

October 29, 2009

Last week, the Board of Directors of the American Booksellers Association sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice requesting that it investigate practices by Amazon.com, Wal-Mart, and Target that it believes constitute illegal predatory pricing. The letter stated that the price wars on new hardcover bestsellers, including books by John Grisham, Stephen King, Barbara Kingsolver, Sarah Palin, James Patterson, and others, of between $8.98 and $9.00 was damaging to the book industry and harmful to consumers.

The letter drew widespread media coverage, including the New York Times, Time magazine, the Boston Globe, CNBC (see video below), other news outlets, and bloggers. Many media outlets simply reported the facts in a straightforward manner; however, in some coverage, authors, including Stephen King, and some publishing executives spoke out against the practice. On the other side are some columnists who argued that such loss leaders were a part of standard business practices. Here, BTW provides a sampling of comments in recent coverage.

The New York Times (October 17) quoted David Gernert, John Grisham's literary agent, who noted, "If you can buy Stephen King's new novel or John Grisham's Ford County for $10, why would you buy a brilliant first novel for $25? I think we underestimate the effect to which extremely discounted bestsellers take the consumer's attention away from emerging writers."

Stephen King himself concurred in an interview with Entertainment Weekly (October 23): "It's time to give the smaller bookstores a little breathing room (although not much chance of that, with Walmart offering Dome for nine bucks)," he said.

In the New York Times (October 23), David Young, chief executive of Hachette Book Group, publisher of James Patterson's I, Alex Cross, said that he would like the U.S. to follow France's prohibition of selling books for less than the cover price. "I do think this massive devaluation of the industry's crown jewels could very quickly be extremely harmful," Young said. "And I would not be alone in thinking that."

On his blog, Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson, offered his opinion as to why the price wars "will prove damaging to publishers, authors, booksellers, mass retailers, and ultimately consumers." Because "Amazon, Walmart, and Target are systematically conditioning consumers to expect these lower prices," Hyatt wrote, "eventually, these retailers will be in the position to force publishers to lower their retail prices." About booksellers who don't rely on sales of household goods and other items to boost sales, he asked, how can they "compete with big box or online retailers who are willing to sell books at below-cost prices?... Most [bookstores] are willing to discount the books and accept lower margins, but few are in a position to actually lose money on every sale. It is not a sustainable model." And, while Hyatt acknowledged that such prices might be good for consumers in the short run, "they are not good in the long run if authors and publishers are no longer willing to assume the risk of creating and producing the kind of quality and selection consumers currently enjoy."

Time magazine (October 27) quoted Michael Norris, a publishing-industry analyst for the research firm Simba Information, who said, "The fear is that people get used to paying less for books than it costs to make them, which puts downward price pressure on everything," including wholesale prices for publishers and advances for authors. In the same article, David Heupel, a senior equity portfolio manager at Thirvent Financial in Minneapolis, observed, "I wouldn't want to be a mom-and-pop bookseller right now."

However, in a Boston Globe (October 28), Jeff Jacoby considered the price war "spirited competition" that spurred sales: "If 'the very concept of the book' is being shredded by low prices, the message hasn't reached the millions of Americans who buy books.... The rise of discount book chains and online booksellers has certainly altered the industry, but it has only increased the appetite for books." He added that "as in every other industry, innovation and technology have changed the way books are bought and sold -- and in the wake of change there are always winners and losers." Indies, he said, should tout their advantages -- "attentive and knowledgeable service, eye-catching displays, a reader- and author-friendly atmosphere, community involvement, the serendipitous joys of browsing."

And in The Atlantic, business columnist Megan McArdle wrote: "The American Bookseller's Association represents independent bookstores, whose members cannot afford to sell top bestsellers as loss leaders. But the interest of antitrust law does not lie in protecting small, inefficient sellers for the tiny minority of Americans who prefer to shop there. They lie in making sure that there is robust competition in the bookselling market. What they're trying to do here is stop bigger, more diversified companies from competing with them, because they'll lose." The recent price wars, she said, make it clear "the big players are competing: with each other, and this "is where the market is going to end up anyway."

In a column on the Huffington Post and reprinted in today's BTW, Bill Petrocelli, co-owner of Book Passage in San Francisco and Corte Madera, California, offers a thoughtful argument about why all this is not a simple price war, but rather a fight over what consumers get to read. "Some readers think that if their favorite store closes they can always buy the book they want somewhere else. But that's a dangerous delusion," Petrocelli said. "The books they want may not be there at all. In fact, these types of disruptions in how books are sold or distributed have a profound effect on what publishers decide to publish in the first place." And, he noted, "It's hard to exaggerate the consequences of this mass-merchandiser dominance. These outlets carry, at most, a few hundred titles at any given time. This means that a handful of books -- far less than one percent of all the books published -- are probably accounting now for more than 30 percent of all sales in America. Price wars in this segment of the market only make matters worse, driving more customers to these merchandisers in search of quick bargains on a handful of big-name books." (Read Petrocelli's column in full.)

Reprinted with permission from Bookselling This Week, a publication of the American Booksellers Association, on the web at news.bookweb.org.

Nourishment is a two way street

Good morning,

The article pasted below comes from an industry email; called "Shelf Awareness" and it hits upon some themes I have been writing about of late. Please note that Ms Ripley was a legendary leader of our industry. I believe and I hope you do as well, that there is something inherently valuable about the existence of Phoenix Books. We offer a sense of community to our customers that doesn't exist on the internet. There is nothing anonymous about sitting across from your friend over a cappuchino and catching up on life. There is nothing overwhelming or depersonalized about chatting with our booksellers about new books, old books or hard to find books. Nor do I feel like a salmon swimming upstream or a futile gesture because I believe that there are enough thoughtful and mindful folks in our community who will come and sustain Phoenix Books in return for nourishing your appetite for literature and coffee:) Read on and feel free to comment!

* * *Sad Ending for Second StorySecond Story Bookshop, Chappaqua, N.Y., is closing, according to the New York Times.
Owner Joan Ripley, who founded the store 37 years ago, told the paper, "Our customer count is so far down, and I attribute that mostly to Amazon, and then you have the double whammy of the economy. . . . Especially for younger people, it's like a game now: You look on the Internet and find where you get something for $10.29 here instead of $10.39 there. We can't compete with that, but there are things you lose in ways that are not numerically measurable when a place like this closes."
The store had come close to shutting its doors in the past, but Ripley, who is 75 and a former ABA president, managed to keep going. She had been helped in part by former President Bill Clinton, a book-buying resident of the town since 2000 who regularly has sung Second Story's praises.
The Times allowed as how indies that are doing well share two attributes:
"Many of the most successful independents, like Bookends in Ridgewood, N.J., or R. J. Julia Booksellers in Madison, Conn., are increasingly in the business of book events and real-world social networking as much as walk-in sales. Despite the aura of predigital charm, they're like any other business: Change and adapt, or die.
"And most of them, whether explicitly or implicitly, have managed to get across the message that we need you, but you need us: A community that wants a vibrant downtown with a local bookstore that's about books, and about something more as well, needs to support it. So, in New Canaan, Conn., for example, Elm Street Books exists because seven local residents put up the money to keep it going, more as a civic gesture than an entrepreneurial one."