When the Art Institute of Chicago opened a Taschen “shop within a shop” at its Museum Shop at the beginning of June, it was not only the first time that a museum store created a special section just for books from the German art, architecture, and design publisher, but it also marked the launch of a Taschen branding effort at bookstores in North America. Although The Strand in New York City was the first to have a Taschen area in the U.S., it added a Taschen mezzanine in 2004, the publisher’s new efforts more closely resemble those of art book publisher Assouline or sustainable living press Chelsea Green. In exchange for devoting a set amount of space to displaying Taschen titles along with the Taschen logo and signage, bookstores are given a financial incentive in an effort to boost sales for both. While many presses are using the sections to test consignment, Taschen’s books continue to be sold nonreturnable. Still, for a growing number of stores it’s worth it.
Earlier this month Taschen added a second museum store, the Wexner Art Center in Columbus, Ohio, and has one more museum store pending. By year’s end it will have at least nine Taschen sections in bookstores, lifestyle, and art supply stores in the U.S. and a handful in Canada, including three DeSerres hobby and craft shops. “We started doing this,” said Debra Schram, sales director for Taschen America, "because of our experience in branding in Germany and France. When our books are together, they tend to do better. We see increases [in sales] as soon as they go in.” One thing that makes it different to add a Taschen section, she points out, is Taschen books already require a certain level of commitment because they are not returnable.
At Unabridged Books in Chicago, which added a Taschen section at the beginning of the summer, the books seem to be selling well, said owner Ed Devereux. But then almost everything at the store is. With the closing of a nearby Borders, sales have been up 20% to 40% each week over the year before, and last week was the store’s best week of the entire year. Devereux regards the Taschen branded section as a way to get a better deal on Taschen books. Similarly, for Russ Iler, owner of The Book Loft in Columbus, Ohio, creating a Taschen section “is not a big deal for us. We sell Taschen really well,” he said, adding that “it does actually sell better in the section.” In addition to the highlighted Taschen area in the front of the store, he shelves copies of Taschen books by subject.
As for the Art Institute, Brent Riley, divisional merchandise manager for books, is “very pleased.” The Museum shop is doing best with books on artists, art movements, architecture, design, and photography. “These are books that fulfill our mission to make accessible, both by subject and price, art and artists of significance,” he said. “As an aside, I can also say that in general, book sales from other publishers have fared well.” Although there had been talk of adding a second Taschen branded section in the modern wing shop, because of space the museum decided to go with a spinner for the Basic series and a Taschen shelf.
Next up are Taschen branded sections in Warwick’s in La Jolla and Book Soup in West Hollywood, Calif.
