What if you could program a retail environment like you program a desktop application? Miniature computers, pervasive networking, and affordable tablet interfaces make programmed retail environments seem inevitable. Instead of using the familiar mice and monitor for system interaction, a programmed retail operation like my brick-and-mortar bookstore, Lorem Ipsum in Cambridge, Massachusetts, connects cameras, RFID readers, monitors, speakers, and motion detectors to software designed to maximize customer happiness and store profit. But it's not as easy as just adding sensors and a few monitors to the store. Here's what you learn when hacking retail in real life. When Lorem Ipsum Books started up in 2003, I built a web-based inventory and point-of-sale system because that's what I knew. Then I made an architectural choice that would haunt me for years: I chose to move the Linux server from under the sales counter to a data center down the road. This simple system was run on an in-store Linux machine running an Apache web server with a MySQL database of inventory on it. Most web developers today would be familiar with this simple LAMP stack. Employees accessed the inventory system through a web browser running on the computer sitting on the checkout counter. For a cash drawer and receipt printer I went on eBay and purchased the cheapest I could find. With this hardware and a found Cuecat barcode scanner I was in business. I built the computers with spare parts, so the... Continue reading at 'Fast Company'
[ Fast Company | 2013-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The bookstore chain landscape has undergone seismic shifts over the past 20 years and will enter the fall with approximately 1,100 fewer stores than dotted the country in 1991. Just as it is today, Barnes & Noble was the country's largest bookstore chain 20 years ago, closely trailed by... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-08-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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#barnes noble
When iconic bookstores like Politics and Prose Bookstore in Washington, D.C., and the Red Balloon Bookshop in St. Paul, Minn., changed hands earlier this year against the backdrop of the closing of Borders, it reaffirmed the importance of independents. But as the new owners quickly learned,... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-08-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jay Hancock: Is the death of Borders a bell that tolls for the book trade? Or a business opportunity? Continue reading at Baltimore Sun
[ Baltimore Sun | 2011-07-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Google has launched an affiliate program for its eBooks service, offering to pay commissions to Web publishers who promote titles on their sites and send buyers... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2011-06-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bloggers bring an energy about books and authors that's unfettered by the day-to-day concerns of running a bookstore. Even the namesDevourer of Books, Bookalicious, the Book Ladyimply a voracious appetite for books. For an employee discount and an opportunity to interview authors who come to... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-05-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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E&P Exclusive: Small publishers don't need deep pockets to build mobile apps for their newspapers. Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2011-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The appeal of paid content is growing. Last month, The New York Times embarked on one of the largest tests yet around paid content, introducing a subscription plan for the heaviest users of its site. The plan offers three digital subscription options across a variety of devices. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-04-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Longtime Time Inc. executive John Squires, last seen running the magazine industry's version of Hulu, has a new gig: He's at Akademos, a Connecticut-based company that runs digital bookstores for small and mid-sized colleges. Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2011-04-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Several years ago, when I was not a bookstore employee but merely a regular customer, I wrote up BookCourt, an independent bookstore in Brooklyn, for the Village Voice's Best of New York. My entry posited, though I had no evidence to support it, that single people claimed the bookstore was good... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2011-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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#finding love
#village voice
Just one week before Borders filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Powell's Books in Portland, Ore., laid off 31 employees, or 7% of its workforce, a move that followed downsizing the staff through attrition in 2010. While the situation at Powell's is not dire, unlike that of the nation's... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The clothing boutique Kitson sold twice as many books in 2010 as the year before. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2011-02-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bookstore sales fell in 2010, although not as much as many had feared, helped in part by a holiday rally that pushed sales up by 5.3% and 2.3% in November and December, respectively. For 2010, bookstore sales were down 1.4%, to $16.5 billion, the third consecutive year that store sales have... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-02-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bookstores may be many things, but fashionable isnt usually one of them. That could change now that designer Marc Jacobs has put his imprimatur on Bookmarc stores on both coasts and added branded Bookmarc sections to a handful of MJ stores from Provincetown, Mass., to San Francisco, as well as... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-02-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In two acquisitions this month, Fry Communications, a leading publication printer, has added to the array of services it offers customers. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-01-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Morgan Entrekin, holding book, publisher at Grove/Atlantic, met with booksellers at the Winter Institute book fair last week. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2011-01-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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