"...Other presentations were more focused on process, like one moderated by former ABA COO Len Vlahos, now head of the Book Industry Study Group, on strategic planning. At it Robert Sindelar, managing partner of Third Place Books in Lake Forest, Wash., spoke about how he turned around a second store that just wasn't working by replacing the cafe and taking the advice of area restauranteurs on how to redesign the store. And Peter Makin, owner of Brilliant Books in Suttons Bay, Mich., described how he stockpiled fixtures from two closing stores and knocked on doors in downtown Traverse City to scout out a second location that opened this holiday season. Both said that they would definitely open another store.

So far the show has been earning high marks from booksellers. 'I love it. I'm completely geeking out,' Stacie Williams of Boswell Book Company, in Milwaukee told PW. She praised the educational sessions for being more focused this year than in the past. 'I'm on overload,' said Sue Boucher of Lake Forest Books in Lake Forest, Ill. 'It's so nice to see people are so up, thinking outside the box...'"

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