Skylight Books in Los Angeles, which will celebrate its 15th anniversary this fall, used the launch of its Friends With Benefits membership program as the springboard for Sunday night’s panel discussion, “Bookstore Pop-ups, Hybrids, and Rebels: Why Indie Booksellers Are Leading the Movement to Foster and Expand Your Local Small Business Community.”
David Kipen and Colleen Jaurretche of Libros Schmibros Bookstore, Josh Spencer of The Last Bookstore, and Andy Laties of the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art discussed a variety of issues related to new opportunities for indie booksellers with moderator Emily Pullen of Skylight. “Ironically, this hopeless economy is making folks open bookstores,” said Kipen, who sells and lends used books out of a storefront in L.A.’s Boyle Heights neighborhood and a temporary pop-up location at the Hammer Museum in Westwood. “People can’t get jobs, so they’re following their passion.” Spencer agreed. He sold books online for 10 years before opening his store in the lobby of an old bank building in downtown Los Angeles this year. “There’s no risk in the business of selling used books,” he said. The Last Bookstore is thriving, and now includes used vinyl records in its inventory and hosts a variety of musical and literary events several times a week.
Laties, author of Rebel Bookstore (Seven Stories), mentioned that there are more spaces available for rent now, and landlords willing to negotiate on leases, because of the economic downturn. Referring to the controversy surrounding Amazon’s offer to hire 5,000 workers in California in exchange for sales tax exemption Laties said, “Opening 600 more bookstores in the state will create as many jobs as Amazon is promising.” Pullen then noted the irony in suddenly finding herself on the same side as chain stores for the first time in her bookselling career because of Amazon. “Barnes & Noble, Walmart, and Costco – we’re all in this sales tax fight together. I never thought this would happen.”
Skylight is also not alone in the indie struggle to survive, and has devised a new membership rewards program to generate both sales and customer loyalty. Friends With Benefits, which costs $25 for one year and less for multiple years, provides members with a variety of discounts: 10% off books, DVDs, blank journals, cards, and sidelines; 20% off selected Skylight bestsellers and featured titles (updated weekly); free media mail shipping; members-only events and giveaways; and 20% off monthly event books and priority signing line for author events. “We’ve based the program on the one used at Politics and Prose," says Chris Heiser, dedicated Friends With Benefits manager at Skylight. “Our goal is to have 500 new members by the end of the year. We’ve challenged ourselves in order to keep customers coming back, and to stay relevant to this community.”
As Skylight transitions from its former frequent buyer program, Friends With Benefits is being rolled out via personal phone calls from store owner Kerry Slattery to her best customers. This will be followed by an e-mail blast to Skylight’s extensive customer list. “The membership model not only offers meaningful benefits but also gives our customers a stake in the future of the store,” Slattery says. “We want to reward them by offering not just discounts and deals, but expanded access to greater resources.”
At the start of Sunday’s panel, Pullen asked the audience to think about the one thing that would make them want to shop in an indie bookstore. As the discussion wrapped up, there was a call for responses. These included: an excellent staff, events that show imagination, signed books, unique titles, an atmosphere with a pulse, room to sit and read, and interesting shelving categories. After Pullen suggested that there is an important interdependence among indies, Kipen had the last word. “It’s all one bookstore with branches,” he said.
