NVNR Adds More Bookseller Retreats to 2026 Program
Booksellers have all the best ideas!
After every NVNR, attendees are asked, among other things, "What was the best part of the conference?" And every year, one of the most common answers is "meeting people." Meeting authors. Meeting reps and publishers. And most especially, meeting other booksellers. Booksellers frequently say that some of the best ideas they brought back from NVNR came from talking to other booksellers.
Retreats are a key part of NVNR, always held on the final day so booksellers have the opportunity to discuss what they have learned at the conference, and to ask any questions they still have. It is also the ideas shared at retreats that are most fresh in booksellers’ minds as they return home and start putting what they have learned into practice. It is not unusual for booksellers to cite retreats as the most valuable part of the program.
"I met a million other bookstore owners who all had so much great advice. I'm so glad I made the time to come, even though it meant closing the bookstore for those days I was gone. It was so worth it." --NVNR 2025 Attendee
They are arranged according to bookstore staff roles: Owners, General Managers, Event Managers, and so forth. There are always two retreats dedicated to Store Owners, one specifically for "One-Person Band" owners of very small stores. Other retreats have varied in the past, depending on the needs of that year’s program. All will run concurrently on August 5 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Moderators will be present at each retreat, and all are only open to booksellers. No industry personnel or press are allowed in the room. Owners Retreats are also strictly limited to the bookstore owner(s) of record.
In 2026 the program is expanding the number of available retreats from four to six, and will include the following:
- Owners Retreat
- Owners Retreat (One-Person Band)
- General Managers Retreat
- Children's Booksellers Retreat
- Event, Program, and Marketing Staff Retreat
- Frontline Booksellers Retreat