“Amazon doesn’t help independent bookstores. Period.”

Amazon’s Clash With Independent Bookstore Day Might Repeat

The we-could-care-less vibes were strong in Amazon’s response to Retail Brew when asked whether they would avoid scheduling their big book sale week around Independent Bookstore Day. This year, Amazon’s second annual Book Sale ran from April 23–28 and Independent Bookstore Day, which has not shifted its schedule for the past 12 years, was held on April 26. This did not go unnoticed and while Amazon, when asked by various media outlets who picked up the story, has maintained that the overlap was unintentional, they did not offer Retail Brew an answer about whether they’d do it again, even when asked explicitly. Indie bookstores are a beloved institution and the optics are bad for Amazon, but I’d guess Amazon is counting on a lack of awareness or perhaps even apathy from its cost-conscious, convenience-seeking user base–if they deigned to think about this at all while planning their book sale. While the question of whether Amazon inadvertently helped Independent Bookstore Day since those sales were up 77% over the previous year came up, the chief communications officer of the American Booksellers Association wasn’t having it. “Amazon doesn’t help independent bookstores. Period,” said Ray T. Daniels.

Plays Starring Celebs Rake in the Green

George Clooney and Grant Heslov’s play, Good Night, and Good Luck, grossed $4 million in one week. The play, based on the film of the same name and written by the same authors, broke records and is the highest-grossing production in the history of the Shubert Organization on top of receiving five Tony Award nominations. Here’s a quote about Good Night, and Good Luck that you might appreciate, as I did: “The play chronicles a time in American history when truth and journalistic integrity stood up to fearmongering and disinformation—and won.” Meanwhile, Othello, starring Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal, has grossed $3 million. Looking at the gains plays have made in this monied progress report from Deadline is staggering. Between Tony Award nominations and great attendance, Broadway is getting butts in seats with celebrated and star-studded shows.

Break Out Your Best Stevie Nicks Shawls

Fall 2026 will serve PSLs, wool fits, and witchery–Practical Magic 2 is hitting screens next year. Multiple people attached to the original 1998 film, based on Alice Hoffman’s Practical Magic, will return for the second installment: Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, and Akiva Goldsman who co-wrote the original. Oscar award-winning filmmaker Susanne Bier, who worked with Bullock on the Bird Box adaptation, will direct. I have to believe that the sequel will be based on the concluding book in the series, The Book of Magic, but that’s just a theory for now. I still listen to the soundtrack from the OG film and while I doubt Stevie Nicks will return for the sequel, a girl can dream. Can we also get aunties Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest back, while I’m asking?

Introducing: Reading and Resistance—And How Literature Has Always Been Tied to American Freedom

We have a new series you won’t want to miss, especially if you’re activist-minded. Hear it from Reading and Resistance captain, Erica Ezefeidi, and get your introduction:

That’s what this new series is: by looking at the history of resistance through reading, we can become fortified in our current fight. Through articles, interviews, podcasts, and more, we’ll both revisit the past to see how people made it through worse times, and highlight what people are doing now. We will explore all the ways that not only Black people have resisted oppression through literacy, but also how non-Black, queer, Latine, and other groups have as well.