The Page's Edge

The Page's Edge, Inc. was a Springfield, VA-based company founded by Rich Ball in 2001 after the collapse of regional book giant Crown Books. The company essentially assumed Crown's business-to-business ventures, which retail acquisitor Books-A-Million had neglected in the acquisition.

The Page's Edge was an initial success, due largely to its Fairfax County Public Schools contract, and was featured prominently in regional papers as an example of the post-dotcom world of entrepreneurship and micro-selling. In 2003, in an effort to achieve psitive cashflow, Amazon.com aggressively targeted the same market. Financed by its escalating STOCK price, Amazon sold below cost and, like many other government contractors nationwide, The Page's Edge was unable to compete. The company attempted to open a retail outlet in Arlington, VA in fall 2003, but declining sales led to a host of stipulations by investors that would prove impossible to surmount. The Page's Edge was sold to Washingtonbook in 2004, which itself dissolved in 2005.

References

• Certificate of Incorporation "The Page's Edge, Inc", State of Virginia, September 14, 2001
• "New Bookseller Rises from Crown Ashes", Burke Times-Mirror, September 22, 2001
• "News and Noteworthy", Publisher's Weekly, November, 2001
• "Prometheus Signs New Distribution Partnership", PRNewswire Press Release, October 14, 2001
• "Llewellyn Regional Distributors Update", Llewellyn Books Press Release, January, 2001
• "News and Noteworthy", Publisher's Weekly, July, 2004
• "Business Transactions", The Washington Post, June 14, 2004