Bookshelf
A complete gift bookshelf, offering capsule summaries and reviews of business books to better your store, plus gift titles and cookbooks to stock.
Gift Books: Just for Kids
Gift books for kids that keep them entertained, educated and engaged are a the perfect answer to that age-old summer complaint, “I’m bored.” Offer parents and kids a selection of interesting books that are fun and offer an alternative to TV and video games. Rainy Day Games is a children’s picture book that has colorful illustrations and tongue-in-cheek variations on traditional games when played... Read More
Comments (0)Business Bookshelf Grab Bag
If you can’t beat ‘em, learn from ‘em: What I Learned From Sam Walton: How to Compete and Thrive in a Wal-Mart World, by Michael Bergdahl, may not please indies who would just as soon stop thinking about the behemoth down the road. But “know your enemy” is sound advice, and Bergdahl breaks his analysis down into the strategy and tactics of pricing, operations, corporate culture, service, talent an... Read More
Comments (0)Law and Money
That’s What It Means! A Practical Guide to Everyday Finance Terms, by Peter Woan, second edition, is not a book to be read through, it’s a reference to keep by your computer, or wherever you pay your bills and plan your finances. From insurance to taxes to credit reports, Woan will guide you through the maze of fine print. The Employer’s Legal Advisor by Thomas M. Hanna is not a substitute for a... Read More
Comments (0)Starting, and Growing, a Business
Retail Business Kit for Dummies by Rick Segel is now in its second edition, and includes advice tailored for today’s economy, including how to keep your credit good, overhaul your inventory, ramp up online marketing, improve your signage and energize sales staff. Plus evergreens like visual merchandising, hiring and making a business plan. In addition to the book, readers get a CD of forms and tem... Read More
Comments (0)Reading Green
Whether you’re just starting your green journey or an old eco-hand, there’s a green business book to take you to the next level. Beginner Don’t know where to start? Green Business Practices For Dummies by Lisa Swallow, offers tips to green your business without taking green from your bottom line. Scalable advice applies to mom-and-pops as well as big business. Intermediate Getting Green Done:... Read More
Comments (1)Gift Books: Needlearts — Knitting & Crochet
The comfort crafts of needlework— knitting and crocheting — have experienced a resurgence of interest of late. Both men and women are taking it up as a way of relaxing and keeping idle hands busy while creating something useful, beautiful and/or fun at the same time. Just as readers get together regularly in book clubs, needleworkers also make getting together a regular social activity to share ti... Read More
Comments (0)Business Bookshelf: Marketing
Marketing to the New Super Consumer Mom & Kid, by Tim Coffey, Dave Siegel and Greg Livingston, explain how today’s parents and children have developed a close relationship in the consumer realm, with kids influencing parents’ purchasing behavior of high ticket family items like cars and vacations as well as mom’s personal choices, not just kids’ goods. Guerrilla Marketing on the Frontlines: 35 Wo... Read More
Comments (0)Dealing with Debt
How’s Surviving Your Business Debt for a timely title? Kenneth Easton covers the nuts and bolts of business finance including how to recognize and handle danger signs, worst case scenarios, specialized lending, alternative lenders and the chapter for the current economy, "Getting Your Share In Difficult Times." At times the material is technical, but "Real Experiences" and sample forms help make... Read More
Comments (0)Business Bookshelf: EBook Edition
Not the kind you download to read on your Kindle; just the kind you read about doing business online. Amazon Top Seller Secrets by Brad Schepp and Debra Schepp covers how to drive more traffic to product pages, choose products, garner positive feedback and market an Amazon business (yes you still need to.) Includes real life stories from Amazon sellers. Look for more from the Schepps coming soon... Read More
Comments (0)Fight Outside the Box
Battling Big Box, by Henry Dubroff & Susan J. Marks, teaches niche businesses how to go head to head with retail giants. The authors’ five key ingredients are employee empowerment, effective branding, your customers and effective sales, control over your cash and vision that leads to innovation. Don’t look here for surprising contrarian assertions; instead, the authors give a common sense toolkit... Read More
Comments (0)You're Not Alone
Now there’s proof: The Customer is Always Wrong: The Retail Chronicles features true tales of writers who’ve done time behind the cash/wrap. With a blurb by Barneys creative director Simon Doonan, it has to be good. Give it to employees as a holiday gift so you’ll know you feel their pain; mine it for cautionary tales, or just have a good laugh. With an edgy enough customer base, you might even re... Read More
Comments (0)Gift Books: Spotlight on Tea
Tea drinking is trending up. The ceremony and experience that surrounds the serving of tea has attracted new aficionados to enjoy the beverage. But it is its health benefits have really drawn a whole new audience to appreciate its relaxing qualities and savor its various flavors. And if you are in any doubt about tea’s growing popularity, coffee vendor Starbuck’s is trying to woo the tea-drinking... Read More
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