About Us

Bargain Book Bids is a sister company to the many endeavors of L. B. May and Associates, Inc., based in Knoxville, TN. Larry and Valerie May have been in the bargain book business since the late 1980's when their next door neighbor asked them to help with a new venture---National Book Warehouse. Larry was the Executive Vice President and Valerie the Marketing Director for a company that grew to 60 outlet stores in a matter of 3 to 4 years. Concurrently, warehouse stores were developed and retailed in distressed strip centers throughout the nation. By 1991 the company had grown to nearly 30 million dollars. The President of National Book Warehouse sold the company in early 1990 and May saw an opportunity to start his own company, L. B. May & Associates. The concept was simple: create a cooperative of bookstores that could harness the buying power of a group, buy truckloads, learn from each other and gather together once or twice a year for buying trips. The concept was called "Affiliated Value Booksellers" and grew to 40 members who owned 80 stores. Although the co-op disbanded in the mid1990's, two additional concepts came out of the experience for the May's, Freight Management Systems and the Spring Book Show.

Because of their experience with the co-op the May's recognized two niches that were opportunities for establishing viable businesses. Freight has always been a problem for bookstores. Because independent bookstore owners simply cannot take the time to analyze and route freight and as individual stores cannot harness the buying power and discount levels---a niche was established. Today, Freight Management Systems is the largest LTL shipper of books to independent bookstores in the nation.

Another concept that the co-op generated was the Spring Book Show. Early on in the developmental stages of the co-op the annual meetings became increasingly important. Once a year a trip was planned to the bargain centers in New York and once a year the bargain vendors met at a hotel/convention center and brought their product to the show. Shortly after the cooperative had run its own course they decided to take the show national---that was in 1999 and now the Spring Book Show is in its 8^th year. Today it is the second largest bargain book show in America attracting buyers from all over the U.S. and internationally as well.

In 2004 another venture was launched by the Mays, Bargain Book News. Recognizing that the only thing connecting the bargain book business was the trade shows, the Mays, who had previous newsletter experience (Valerie is a journalism major, University of Tennessee) decided to create an electronic newsletter popularly known in the industry as an ezine. The venture has proved worthwhile and Bargain Book News is widely read by not only the bargain book industry but the book industry in general. Today there are nearly 12,000 subscribers who view the newsletter twice monthly as it is dropped at their email doorstep.

A natural outgrowth of the newsletter has been advertising, promotions, industry tips, news, and popular interviews. Bargain Book Bids, a natural transition for Bargain Book News, will be a way of connecting sellers with buyers during non-trade show times. Bargain Book Bids will help publishers reduce inventory while helping buyers find inventory. Through the newsletter this can be accomplished in a quick and efficient manner reaching the broadest scope of people in the least amount of time.

Happy bidding