Readings, Rated
Barbara’s Bookstore Soon to be Evicted
Via Crain’s Chicago Business, Barbara’s owner Don Barliant didn’t bother paying rent to his landlord — to the tune of $57,000. The store faces eviction if the landlord wins his lawsuit.
Shocked? You shouldn’t be. I worked at Barbara’s for 11 years. Among the bills Don Barliant didn’t pay in the time I was there:
*Chicago Sun Times and Chicago Tribune — both of which the store stopped getting periodically
* Ingram — we couldn’t order books from a major distributor for months at a time
*Various magazine distributors — anything from independent ones to major distributors, meaning the store wouldn’t get in everything from O to Punk Planet
*Insurance premiums — a former coworker once filed a successful lawsuit because of this
*Employees — people who worked there for over a decade rarely broke the $30k mark
I am so afraid I’ll get sued, since Barliant is a lawyer (which, of course, contributes to the culture of fear).
Hey, I’m just trying to preempt any nostalgic musings that are bound to happen. Barliant isn’t some sort of cuddly independent bookstore owner — don’t let his fuzzy grey beard fool you. His former employees (which are legion, because of the extremely high turnover rate) have been known to run in the other direction when they see him at BEA (not that he’d recognize any of them since never was there a hands-off employer such as he, unless we’re talking outsourcing to China).
I remember my tenure there with fondness because working there introduced me to most of my best friends. I also remember it as a time of ass-tacular pay, wrongful firings and bizarre management choices. Employees always half-expected to go to work one morning only to find the doors padlocked and a note saying none of us had a job (this actually happened to two stores in the time I was there — the number may have since gone up).
This post will be removed immediately in the instance of any sort of cease and desist letter, so memorize it now, folks.
I’m having flashbacks too, as I’m sure you can guess. I don’t think I ever laid eyes on Don once during my years at Babs, but the horror stories I heard made me quite glad of that fact.
Hope you don’t get sued …
This is so not a surprise. If it wasn’t for Barbara’s I would not have met so many great people nor would I have begun the career track that led me to the library but this had zero to do with the Barliants. Management hiring practices that bordered on insanity, horrendous wages and unpaid bills that caused stress, on the other hand, had everything to do with Don. After working there for 5+ years and helping to open a new store, he couldn’t have picked me out of a lineup. And I still didn’t make a living wage. Screw ‘em.
Hear hear ladies! I think the general sentiment is that the chain should fall like it should have fallen many years ago. My question: how is Anni?
Nicole and I went in there once or twice after leaving and it just got increasingly depressing. The shelves seemed to be a bit emptier each time and the clerks a little less literate, and more importantly the “charm” was gone, it just felt like a poor man’s Border’s minus the great selection of overpriced CD’s and DVD’s.
I’m extremely grateful for having met my lovely Wife there, as well as all of the great friends, I gained whilst working there, that we don’t get to see enough, might I add. I love all of these people, and I still feel proud to have been a bookseller.
That said, I, on more than one occasion, seriously considered sending Don a box full of excrement…
As manager of the store since early 2009, I would like to say that my booksellers and I have been working tirelessly to reverse the “bad customer service” view caused by former management and booksellers. And have you seen our lit section lately? It’s stacked. I know it takes time to change some of the stigmas surrounding this place but I’ve received lots of positive feedback from customers who are actually in the store.
We won’t be disuaded by snarky ex-employees misguidedly directing their internet-rage at us.
Okay, you guys weren’t saying as much about me and my employees as I thought after first reading this. Misguided rage, indeed.
The store is a lot better these days though.