Borders Shuffles Merchandising Team

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Borders Group announced Monday that it is making several changes to its merchandising team under the direction of chief merchandising officer Michele Cloutier, including bringing back Kathryn Popoff as vice president for merchandising.

Popoff, 40, will oversee the promotion and merchandising of trade and bargain books for adults. She originally joined Borders in 2002 as director of multimedia. In 2004, she was named director of merchandising for adult trade books. She later became vice president for merchandising, a position she held until 2009.

Larry Norton, 52, will become senior vice president for business development and publisher relations; he was senior vice president for merchandising.

Children's merchandising director Renee Rockwood, 43, will now oversee gifts and stationery as well.

Mike Ferrari has joined the company as merchandise director for trade books. He held several positions, including director of digital content, at rival Barnes & Noble Inc. The company would not provide Ferrari's age.

Joanna Goldstein, 34, will be vice president of non-book merchandising, shifting from vice president for marketing.

CEO Mike Edwards said the company sees strong growth opportunities outside of books, in categories such as digital, stationery, gifts and toys.

Shares of Borders fell 2 cents to $1.20 in afternoon trading Monday.

Comments

[Shelly Santiago]

02:17 PM on 10/06/2010

They are a bookstore so they need to hire people who have a passion for reading books. I only have an Associate’s Degree and I’m five classes away from my Bachelors in Social Psychology, yet I know where to start. They need to make sure that they hire the right people. I would start by asking a few questions about their reading habits. It’s hard to get someone to sell anything if they don’t know anything about the product. How often do you read? What do you read? Do you have a favorite author, and why? These questions would be important because it shows the knowledge of the staff. If they have a working knowledge of reading they should be able to make a connection with the buyer. Who is your favorite author? I would like to see one or two people mentioned. I think they need to remind people why readers come in bookstores. In this day and time the modern form of reading is now taking over the eccentric so to say!! We want to show that the book store is still very much needed and loved. The atmosphere needs to be right, just as the layout of the books. SO, if they look at all these points they will have a start. As long as they make sure they have good material, a warm atmosphere, a powerful display and great workers they will be fine. I applied yesterday at their store in the DFW area.

[inkongirl]

11:02 AM on 10/07/2010

When my husband was a manager at Borders, those are the exact questions that he would ask potential employees. It's not like that anymore. I hope you do get the job though. They need good employees that will share their love of reading!

[inkongirl]

11:18 PM on 10/05/2010

Borders used to be such a great place to hang out, browse, and find great things to read and listen to. Now, the music section is a joke and the staff is too busy pushing the "book of the week". I'm glad we made good use of the employee discount when we had the chance. I don't want to go to Borders to buy toys.

[Alvarask]

11:42 PM on 10/07/2010

I agree, in the UK too, Borders just doesn't have a clue.