Denver's Tattered Cover Bookstore announced the other day that it has accepted a 1.83 million sales bid for its four stores from national bookstore chain Barnes and Noble. The agreement states they will retain the Tattered Cover name and maintain the bookstore's culture and focus, but I have my doubts. To me, it sounds like what an American Major once said during the Vietnam War: "We had to destroy the village in order to save it." Granted, the Tattered Cover is in pretty bad financial shape, but certainly they might have tried a little harder to find a buyer with deep pockets and experience running bookstores (I'm thinking Powell's Bookstore in Portland here) to take over the operation. Let's face it - it will never be the same. All decisions will be made from corporate headquarters. I suspect the book buyers, accounting people, and HR folks, among others, will either be laid off or offered sales floor positions at lower pay. I am guessing even the marketing and promotions will be handled by the home office. I hope I am wrong, but we will just have to wait and see. I could go into detail about what occurred when the University of Denver Bookstore, where I worked as the Finance Manager, was outsourced to Follett Higher Education Group, but I'm afraid it would just depress the TC employees even further.
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