Two Out-Of-State Book Wholesalers To Open Here -- Out-Of-State Dealers Follow Pacific Pipeline Bankruptcy

Two out-of-state book wholesalers have announced plans to open in the Seattle area in the aftermath of Kent-based Pacific Pipeline's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

Koen Book Distributors of Moorestown, N.J., has named Pacific Pipeline President Vito Perillo to run its operations here.

Earlier this week, Koen said it would seek to buy some of Pacific Pipeline's assets, including its databases, trade name and some software, for $10,450. But Robert Koen, president of the 26-year-old East Coast company, said today that the company was no longer interested in doing that.

Koen said he is looking for warehouse space in Seattle and hopes to be operating a Koen outlet here by the end of June.

Meanwhile, Partners Book Distributing of Holt, Mich., has leased a warehouse at 1901 Raymond Ave. S.W. in Renton and expects to have its wholesale book distributorship up and running by June. John Henry, a former Pacific Pipeline buyer, is the buyer for Partners West.

As for the books still in Pacific Pipeline's warehouse in Kent, local publishers said they have been notified they can pick their inventory up for a 10 percent handling fee under a book-return program approved by the court.

"When I first read that, I was rather chagrined. But as I understand it, that is a pretty standard practice in bankruptcy procedures," said Pat Soden, director of the University of Washington Press. He said the UW Press has about 1,500 books in the Kent warehouse.

Local publishers were taking a wait and see approach to the news of two new wholesalers coming in place of Pacific Pipeline.

"The plus might be they might be very competitive and offer good terms to publishers and bookstores to attract them as customers. There is always the risk they will offer terms that are less attractive to publishers than what Pacific Pipeline offered," said Linda Carlson, general manager of Barrett Street Productions.

While Koen said he and Perillo haven't worked out a pricing schedule yet, Carlson explained wholesaling like this: On a book with a $10 retail price, a wholesaler might buy the book from the publisher for $5 and sell it to a bookstore for $6.

Soden said he will be reviewing the discounts Koen and Partners West offer publishers, as well as how quickly they pay.

"Frankly, our strategy since the Pacific Pipeline bankruptcy has been to much more aggressively work with the regional retailers rather than try to go through distributors. I think all of us probably depended too much on Pacific Pipeline in the past to do the distribution end of our business, and it came back to bite us," Soden said.