Labyrinth to replace Micawber

Labyrinth Books, an independent scholarly bookstore, will open a branch on Nassau Street in November 2007, following a decision by Micawber Books to sell their store to the University after 25 years in business, University officials announced at a press conference yesterday.

Administrators also announced that the U-Store will phase out its book business next fall, leaving Labyrinth as the only major bookseller in town. Meanwhile, the U-Store will open a satellite apparel store on Nassau Street, beside Labyrinth. Preliminary plans for the changes were first reported by The Daily Princetonian in October.

"We're extremely pleased to come to this agreement, so that now we can pursue other dreams and interests," Micawber co-owner Logan Fox said at the press conference. "This ensures the presence of a scholarly bookstore on Nassau Street for years to come."

President Tilghman thanked Fox for his store's contributions to the University community over the last quarter century and stressed the importance of replacing it with a similar institution.

"It is virtually impossible to be a world-class university without a world-class, scholarly bookstore," Tilghman said. "We're so lucky to have had Micawber, which is beloved by so many on the faculty. We have depended on them [to provide] the intellectual community that we seek."

The University now turns to Labyrinth Books to fill the void Micawber will leave on Nassau Street when it closes in March 2007.

"I can't imagine a better successor to Micawber than Labyrinth," Tilghman said.

The deal calls for The Children's Place and Foot Locker to vacate their spaces at 116-122 Nassau St. to make room for the U-Store satellite location and for Labyrinth Books, respectively. The University is set to purchase the space Micawber currently leases at 114 Nassau St. and will assume the lease for the space at 110 Nassau St., which is home to the store's used book business. The University will search for a tenant for the space at 110 Nassau St. and will lease 114 Nassau St. to the U-Store for its satellite location.

Known as Labyrinth Books at Princeton, the store will include 70,000 titles of both scholarly and general books, as well as an extensive children's book section. Labyrinth will be responsible for fulfilling the University's course book orders. The U-Store will continue to sell course books until Labyrinth opens next fall.

The 101-year-old U-Store, a coop with some 60,000 members, will consolidate the remainder of its non-book business on the first two floors of its current location at 36 University Place. The store will limit itself to selling dorm furnishings and supplies and will continue its pharmacy service and the U-2 convenience store. When it was first reported in the 'Prince,' the University's move drew criticism from individuals who thought it was reached without proper discussion. "Our campus has a number of inhabitants who are genuine experts on bookstores," history professor Anthony Grafton wrote in his Nov. 27 'Prince' column.

"Though I have asked around, I haven't yet encountered a single member of any of these groups whom the higher ups consulted. Certainly no official committee was assembled to look at the situation and make recommendations."

Administration officials said that, unlike other University initiatives, the nature of the discussions limited the potential for input from students and faculty.

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"Normally, we invite members of the University community to participate," Executive Vice President Mark Burstein said. "But this is a tricky situation. Employees' jobs were at stake, and there were confidentiality aspects as well. We had very few people in the discussions, and we couldn't reach out to kids like we had in the past."

At 7,000 square feet, Labyrinth's Princeton store will be its biggest yet. The company, a division of Great Jones Books, Inc., established an independent bookstore to serve Columbia University in 1997 and a store to serve Yale University in August 2005.

"We are very fortunate to come to a school that's bucking the trend of bringing in chain stores," said Clifford Simms, who serves as president of Labyrinth Books. "We aspire to perpetuate a culture of reading. We want to become a part of the fabric of this community."

Tilghman said discussions between the University, the U-Store and Labyrinth about the future of book sales took place after Micawber had quietly begun a search for a buyer.

"We started thinking about the book business, particularly the scholarly book business," Tilghman said. "To run a really excellent book store that focuses on a large inventory of interest to a university community requires specialized knowledge. That knowledge is difficult to create within the U-Store, and we sought partners who could bring that about immediately."

U-Store officials had mixed emotions about the announcement of their consolidation.

"We have some of the same sadness as Micawber's because we are losing a big part of our business," said Dorothy Bedford '78, who chairs the U-Store's board of trustees. "Despite our efforts, we don't have the same position or expertise that we're looking forward to having from Labyrinth."

But Bedford was quick to say she looks forward to building a relationship with Labyrinth.

"Most of the U-Store board feels the new partnership with Labyrinth lets us do what we do well, and Labyrinth can handle the book aspect. I want the students to know we have done our best to ensure the store remains a viable economic entity and continues to supply their needs."

Burstein said he hopes the move will let the U-Store "focus on being the best student department store at any college or university," he said. "Campus surveys have shown students are very dependent on the U-Store for books, but for so much more than books."

U-Store president Jim Sykes said details regarding the future of the U-Store's 60 to 65 full-time employees are still unclear.

"We don't have a final number yet," Sykes said. "We know we'll have employees on both Nassau Street and University Place. We think probably six to 10 employees will be affected."