Barnes Noble

Have you been overindulging this holiday season? It's not yet New Year's but maybe it's time to start thinking about working off the gravy and pumpkin pie. There are plenty of new DVDs that can step, dance and bend you into shape. Here are some aerobics, yoga and pilates videos we found: 1. Bollywood Burn with Hemalayaa Price: $14.99 Where to get it: acaciacatalog.com or pre-order on Amazon.com. Jan. 1, it will be available at Barnes & Noble in the Inner Harbor and elsewhere. 410-385-1709 Why we like it: This is your chance to bring out your inner Bollywood star.

Despite the recent failure of the planned merger of huge book retailer Barnes & Noble and top book wholesaler Ingram Book Group, these days are not a happy chapter in the story of independent bookstores.During the past several years, hundreds of independent sellers have closed. Many that remain must compete with a Borders or Barnes & Noble across the street. Online giants like Amazon are taking away business. Even the movies ("You've Got Mail") have found comedy and romance in the independents vs. chains battle.

It looks familiar, at first glance -- book club members gathering at Barnes & Noble every month, squeezing one hour out of their busy lives for pursuits more literary.They're like many book club members, with their hot drinks and myriad opinions. But take a closer look.Their untied tennis shoes and glittery hair clips give it away.These avid readers are pupils ages 11 to 14 from various Howard County middle schools, who have homework and after-school activities, but find time to sit down and read for fun.These sixth- , seventh- and eighth-graders come from all over the county.

Discount bookseller Crown Books Corp. will emerge from bankruptcy within a month poised to take on its mega-bookstore rivals by undercutting their prices, the Landover-based retailer said yesterday.Crown is also searching for a permanent chief executive officer to replace Anna Currence, a turnaround specialist who successfully steered the company through a 14-month Chapter 11 reorganization. Steve Panagos, a partner with New York-based consulting firm Zolfo Cooper, stepped in yesterday as interim chief executive officer.

Crown Books Corp. has emerged from 16 months in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with a reorganization plan that includes discounted books and a "significant" Internet presence, but analysts predict a tough road ahead for the retailer.Steven Panagos, the Landover company's interim chief executive officer and a partner in the New York crisis management firm Zolfo Cooper LLC, said yesterday the reorganization plan cancels all of the company's old common stock.The company, which has 92 stores, will emerge debt-free by distributing 5 million shares of its new stock to its creditors.

The Johns Hopkins University has scrapped plans to open a Bibelot bookstore in renovated, university-owned apartments across from its Homewood campus because of strong objections from the operator of the on-campus bookstore.The university's decision has led Manekin Corp.to pull out of a deal to handle leasing of newly created retail space at Homewood Apartments in the 3000 block of N. Charles St.The Manekin company had intended to take over and manage the 18,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space in the first half of this year.

Online book-buying is all the rage right now.Wall Street is in love with the concept. Bookstores are racing to get on the Internet. And many consumers, judging from company sales figures, are finding that clicking their mouse to buy a best seller is just as satisfying as thumbing through the pages of the book in person.We decided to check it out, and what we found surprised us. Online book-buying is definitely fun and convenient. Sites even are offered where you can plug in the name of a book and let the computer shop for the best deal.

Dozens of books sat stacked on gleaming hardwood floors yesterday at the new Barnes & Noble at the Inner Harbor, as employees sorted titles and filled shelves. Plastic still covered the cushioned armchairs. And 55,000 compact discs and cassettes had yet to be stocked.But otherwise, downtown's first mega-bookstore appeared ready for its Oct. 6 premiere as the Power Plant's third major tenant. Fish swam in a 3,000-gallon freshwater tropical tank built into a wall; cafe counter workers served up lattes and tropical smoothies during a practice run, and two massive copper smokestacks -- from the days when the plant powered city streetcars -- rose through the store's two levels.

After being stalled for months, redevelopment of the long-vacant Hutzler's building -- a key component of Towson's economic rebirth -- is moving forward, with the signing of a Barnes & Noble book and music store.The two-level, 30,400-square-foot bookstore is the first retail tenant of Towson Circle, the name the developer has given to the old department store at the busy corner of York and Joppa roads.The restoration, by Towson-based Heritage Properties Inc. and Cordish Co. of Baltimore, coincides with a $4.3 million county-state project to spruce up Towson's sidewalks with brickwork, lamp posts and planters, and to ease traffic congestion along the busy corridor with a roundabout.

WASHINGTON -- Jennifer Gibbons, a 30-year-old software consultant in New York, had not been closely following the news about the investigation into President Clinton's relationship with Monica Lewinsky. Then something captured Gibbons' attention and drew her in like a haunting novel.Kramerbooks, the hip Dupont Circle bookstore Gibbons visits every time she's in town, and a Barnes & Noble store in Georgetown had both been slapped with subpoenas by independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr, who was seeking information about Lewinsky's book purchases.

Barnes & Noble College Booksellers Superstore will open in The Fitzgerald at UB Midtown apartment tower under construction near the University of Baltimore, university officials said yesterday. The 20,000-square-foot store, slated to open in fall 2010, will include a Starbucks-branded cafe and sections for University of Baltimore textbook sales. It will be similar to a Barnes & Noble in Charles Village near the Homewood campus of the Johns Hopkins University. The lead developer, the Bozzuto Group, started building the 275-unit market-rate apartment project in October on a university-owned site at West Mount Royal Avenue and Oliver Street and plans to complete the residential portion by spring 2011.

DETROIT -- Borders Group Inc. put itself up for sale yesterday, after years of speculation that it would merge with the nation's largest bookseller, Barnes & Noble. While industry analysts said Barnes & Noble would be a likely suitor for Borders, the chain also got an infusion of high-interest cash to keep its ambitious turnaround plan afloat this year. Investors responded harshly, sending Borders stock to an all-time low of $3.97 a share yesterday on the New York Stock Exchange. It closed down $2.03, at $5.07 a share, and has lost 51 percent of its value since January.

The 400 block of W. Baltimore St. is a sorry sight, and efforts to redevelop that stretch between the University of Maryland, Baltimore's stately law school and the classy revival of the Hippodrome Theatre have been unimpressive. But an agreement reached yesterday to relocate the UMB bookstore (under a Barnes & Noble banner) in a renovated building on the northeast corner offers great promise for an expanded, revitalized west side. It's been tough going to finalize this deal, but the agreement is an investment worth making because of the benefits both parties, the neighborhood and the city should enjoy.

Have you been overindulging this holiday season? It's not yet New Year's but maybe it's time to start thinking about working off the gravy and pumpkin pie. There are plenty of new DVDs that can step, dance and bend you into shape. Here are some aerobics, yoga and pilates videos we found: 1. Bollywood Burn with Hemalayaa Price: $14.99 Where to get it: acaciacatalog.com or pre-order on Amazon.com. Jan. 1, it will be available at Barnes & Noble in the Inner Harbor and elsewhere. 410-385-1709 Why we like it: This is your chance to bring out your inner Bollywood star.

Are you sitting down? The "bookstore Barcalounger" is missing. At the Barnes & Noble at the Power Plant in the Inner Harbor, the comfy chair that once sat across from the picture books is gone. So is the one in the Mystery section. Instead, two people sit forlornly on the carpet, open books in hand. Just a decade ago, the trend in the bookstore industry was to fit nooks and crannies with big chairs for browsing, which, it was hoped, would spur buying. The idea was to recast the bookstore as a community place or an extension of the home.

The country's major book superstores, Borders and Barnes & Noble, are constantly competing for your business. And with good reason - in 2005, the two companies made more than $247 million in combined profits. Now it seems you can't pay for a mocha or a magazine at one of these stores without fielding an offer to join their member programs. But do they actually save you money? That depends. If you shop at Borders, do sign up for its rewards program, if only because it's free. If you want to actually reap its rewards, however, you must pay attention.

Christopher Kimball is a reluctant advocate of lighter eating. His history -- I met him 22 years ago when he was throwing a New York soiree honoring James Beard, Craig Claiborne and Julia Child -- is that of a full-flavor guy. If you go Christopher Kimball is to discuss and sign The Best Light Recipe at 7 p.m. today at Barnes & Noble, the Avenue at White Marsh, 8123 Honeygo Blvd. Call 410-933-9670.

Liddy discusses `Fight Back!' At 7 tonight, catch G. Gordon Liddy as he discusses and signs his book Fight Back! Tackling Terrorism, Liddy Style. The event takes place at Barnes & Noble, 8123 Honeygo Blvd., White Marsh. For more information, call 410-933-9670.

I am neither proud nor ashamed of it, but I am a Hampdenite. My grandfather saw to that when he started schlepping groceries on Ash and 36th back in 1929, and we've been living or toiling here ever since. So I can confidently say, with all the love and authority of a long-time insider, that it's a weird old place. I knew that by the time I was 5 years old. Early one summer morning that year, my father and I were traveling east on 41st Street when we witnessed an elderly man wearing a sleeveless undershirt, short pants and black socks vacuuming his front lawn with a Hoover upright.

Sports writing Book signing at White Marsh Tonight at 7, Dave Hollander will discuss and sign 52 Weeks: Interviews With Champions, a compilation of his articles on athletes and others in the sports world. The event takes place at White Marsh's Barnes & Noble, 8123 Honeygo Blvd. For more information, call 410-933-9670.