The Real MacCoy
The only things I know about Heather MacCoy, the new director of marketing and merchandising at University Book Store, are that she has worked at the bookstore for three years (she used to manage the Husky merchandise) and she refuses to talk to me.
I can tell you that some people saw the departure of her predecessor, Sally McKenzie, as unexpected and bizarre. Taking over McKenzie's position right now is going to be "a big challenge," was all that one mid-level employee would say. MacCoy has to step into McKenzie's projects midstream--namely, the bookstore's effort re-create its brand identity. Months ago, McKenzie hired a high-profile marketing firm to lend its expertise to the brand overhaul, causing discontent among a few employees who thought that the store already had a distinctive identity as the oldest and largest independent bookstore in the city. [Nightstand, June 12]. At that time, none of the store's management would comment on the branding process.
Not commenting, it turns out, is something the management at University Bookstore does well. The store hasn't said anything official about MacCoy's promotion. I only learned about it when a farewell e-mail McKenzie sent out on August 12 got forwarded to me. Giving no reason for her departure, McKenzie's note mentioned that she was going to work for Classmates.com.
This transition is big news--at least to book geeks and, uh, books columnists. University Book Store is a Northwest institution with enormous sway. MacCoy will oversee author events, which can boost the career of an unknown writer, in addition to deciding which books to push on the sales floor. She'll have tremendous influence over writers, book buyers, and local culture. And staff changes at University Book Store have always been considered news; when Kim Ricketts resigned from a lower-level postion at University Book Store in June, the story was covered by the Seattle P-I and The Stranger.
And yet the only shred of information I have about MacCoy's job qualifications (aside from merchandising) is that she "seems like a nice person." Eventually reached for comment, MacCoy herself said, "I really can't comment."
MacCoy's fast rise through University Bookstore's ranks is probably an interesting story, and it will be interesting to see if the branding process moves in a different direction under her oversight, but if University Bookstore CEO Bryan Pearce has his way, you won't read about any of that in this paper. Reached on Monday, Pearce said, "We're not going to comment," adding, "We're not going to support the kind of journalism that you provide."
As The Stranger went to press, University Bookstore's general manager Mark Mouser confirmed that MacCoy started at the store in 2000 as Husky Shop manager, but said he could not tell me anything more about her because he "was not involved in her hiring."
For all I know, MacCoy is a smart, dedicated, book-loving, straight-shooting, outside-of-the-box-thinking, multi-tasking, risk-taking people person, but I really have no idea. No one does. There wasn't even a press release.
