A number of recent surveys into the retail sector and consumer trends have produced conflicting results.The Australian Bureau of Statistics retail trade figures for December 2006 showed an increase in...

Woolworths has lodged an application with New Zealand regulators asking for clearance to acquire up to 100% of discount retailer The Warehouse.Woolworths already has a 10% stake in The Warehouse,...

Peter Lothian, formerly the owner of publisher Lothian Books, has been appointed as the CEO of Collins Booksellers.Duncan Johnston, who has been acting as CEO, chairman and finance director since...

Australia's booksellers have had another strong Christmas, with over 40% of respondents to WBN's post-Christmas survey saying that the season was ‘excellent', and two-thirds reporting that 2006 Christmas sales were...

Melbourne's Technical Bookshop closed its doors on 23 December last year, after trading under family ownership since 1941.The business went into voluntary administration in August last year and was forced...

The overall mood of the book trade leading into Christmas is positive, but cautiously so: compared to recent years far fewer booksellers are reporting ‘excellent’ sales so far, or predicting...

Melbourne's Technical Bookshop, which went into voluntary administration in August owing more than $1 million, has failed to find an investor or purchaser and the administrators will close the shop...

The WBN team will be hitting the phones later this week and early next to conduct our annual pre-Christmas survey.The survey will be published in the last WBN for the...

Coles Myer shareholders have agreed to a proposal to re-brand the retailer as Coles Group Limited.While the new name will take effect immediately, stores will not begin to be physically...

Dymocks' Booklover customer loyalty program has won a bronze award in the annual Australian Direct Marketing Awards.‘Booklover has received recognition from ADMA before,' Dymocks CEO Don Grover told WBN, ‘but...

Dymocks has re-launched its website at www.dymocks.com.au, incorporating many new features based around the world-class Endeca search technology. The Dymocks site is the first Australian-based retail site to use Endeca.‘With...

Derek Dryden, president of the Australian Booksellers Association (ABA), is expecting a ‘fantastic Christmas' for booksellers, despite today's decision by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to increase interest rates...

The takeover bid for retailer Coles Myer by US-based venture capital group Kolhberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) has been abandoned.The Coles Myer board last week rejected a revised KKR bid that...

While retail figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) show slight growth has continued from July into August, the result of a National Australia Bank (NAB) business confidence...

The creditors of Melbourne's Technical Bookshop, which went into administration in late August, have voted to accept a Deed of Company Arrangement (DOCA) proposed by the administrators.The DOCA hands back...

ABC Enterprises hosted the 2006 ABC Retail Conference over three days in Sydney last week. The conference was attended by 170 delegates--ABC Shop managers, staff of ABC Centres, and head-office...

WA-based educational bookseller Encompass Infoshop is for sale.After starting Encompass Infoshop in 1994, owner Allen Gianatti has decided to put the business out to tender. ‘It has been 12 years...

The 2006 annual conference of Book City franchisees was held in Melbourne on the weekend of 9 and 10 September, with the theme ‘working to improve our business.' Book City's...