What does it take for an independent bookstore to stay in business these days? Well, some old-fashioned luck never hurts (such as a chain store not opening two doors down), but some hard-nosed business savvy goes a long way, too, along with a healthy dose of courage. In fact, a common trait shared by many independent booksellers is guts.
"Some days are pretty scary," said Ellen Eagleson of Jade Creek Books in Fort Collins, Colo., whose dream of opening a bookstore took root only after the demise of the city's beloved Stone Lion Bookstore. When she and partner Paula Murray looked for financing, they found most banks skeptical. It took enormous resolve to proceed with their plans.
In other cases, the need for courage grows over time. "When we founded the bookstore, we were two young couples in our 30s with lots of energy," said Martha Neal Cooke, co-owner of Hawley-Cooke Booksellers in Louisville, Ky. "We wanted to do something different with our lives, and we didn't think about the risks. We think a lot more about them now."
Perry Tanner, who recently purchased Atlanta's Chapter 11 Books, is even more blunt. "Fear is a motivator," he said. "Am I concerned? Always. But I walked in with my eyes wide open, knowing the challenges."
Barbara Kaufman, former owner and co-founder of Chapter 11 Books, was very aware of the odds when she opened the first store in 1990. She expanded the business from one to 13 stores in 11 years. "If you look at the statistics, most independents have gone out of business," she said.
What are the successful independents doing? How have they survived where many others have succumbed? There are no definitive answers. But discussions with several bookstore owners across the country show a number of similarities in their approach to the business of bookselling.
Facing Financial Reality
One thing successful bookstore owners agree on is that love of books is not enough. A Booker Prize—winning novel may provide deep moral insight, but it can't sop up red ink. A bookstore is a business. The rent has to be paid; the employees satisfied; the taxes calculated. So while love begins the romance and provides the staying power, it's business sense that keeps the independent bookstore afloat.
Not long ago, Hawley-Cooke stood toe-to-toe with some unpleasant financial realities. A well-known presence in Louisville since 1978, the bookstore recently shuttered one of its three city locations. "It has been sad for loyal customers in the area, who were very vocal about how much they'll miss it. But to be strong, it's better to have two stores than three," said Cooke. "We had to face economic reality."
Chapter 11's Kaufman (whose family owned Turtles Records and who previously founded a small chain of clothing stores) was always aware that bookselling is fundamentally about selling. "I'm a CPA, so I was always very in tune with the bottom line," she said. Having built a successful business—and having "loved every minute of it"—she was ready for a new entrepreneurial adventure. Perry Tanner has eagerly taken up the challenge and is already planning further expansion.
"I definitely don't want to smother the entrepreneurial flavor of Chapter 11," said Tanner, a former v-p of sales and marketing for the cable equipment giant Scientific Atlanta. "But what I learned during 20 years in the corporate world definitely applies in this business. For instance, we just installed high-speed Internet connections in every store so we can communicate with each other and do fast online book searches." A new store in Atlanta's northern suburbs just opened, and he plans to open one or two more locations each year for the foreseeable future.
Publicity, Publicity, Publicity
Kaufman credits an unstinting public relations campaign as a key factor in Chapter 11's success. "We expended great effort getting our name out there," she said. "Every time our name was mentioned somehow [in the media], no matter how small, to us it was the equivalent of a Coca-Cola billboard. The more people hear your name, the more they come shop with you."
Even the smallest bookstores constantly strive to increase their visibility. According to Marcia Lupe, who owns and operates Burnt Hills Books, a small bookstore in Burnt Hills, N.Y., "You have to support your community's activities. We try to promote reading among children. We provide gift certificates or prizes to libraries and schools."
For larger independent bookstores, book signings are an important public relations tool. "We can give authors attention that the chains can't—especially local and regional authors," said Cooke. "The people power it takes [to do a signing] is a real expense. But it's also a competitive strategy for us. It makes us different."
Chapter 11 creates this difference by playing host to high-profile authors. In 1999, Kaufman was named one of the "Most Powerful Georgians" by Georgia Trend magazine, because of her ability to draw big names to the area, including Larry King, Ted Koppel, Annie Leibovitz and Jane Fonda. Tanner plans to continue this tradition, but insists high-profile appearances won't supersede visits by local or literary authors, writers who will never make a bestseller list but whose followers are serious readers—and loyal customers.
Stressing Service
In the long run, it's this customer loyalty that determines a bookstore's staying power. Most owners agree that while public relations brings new customers in the doors, success is achieved after that, one customer at a time.
"We train our staff to be very involved with the customers," said Jade Creek's Eagleson. "When they walk in the store, we can say, 'Hi Jane!' We get to know people, so we can suggest books on an individual basis."
Cooke agrees that it's the personal attention customers receive that sets the independent bookstore apart. "We're blessed with an extraordinary staff," she said. "They love connecting the reader to the book; there's a high that comes from that." Many customers base their buying decisions almost exclusively on staff recommendations.
During Kaufman's tenure at Chapter 11 Books, the store's tagline went along with its name: "Prices so low you'd think we were going out of business." However, "the staff is why people shop with us," she said. "Price has always been a bonus."
Many Burnt Hills Books customers are so loyal, they'll look up books on an Internet site, then come into the store to order them. And when it comes to finding new customers, plain old word of mouth seems to bring in more patrons than any other method. While the bookstore has some success advertising on a local classical music station, Lupe admitted, "It's often our regular customers who say they've heard the ad." Even the recent departure of the grocery store that anchored the shopping plaza hasn't seemed to affect traffic much. Lupe has seen volume drop somewhat over the past five years as big-box stores have come into the area, but she has confidence that her tried-and-true method will continue to generate sales. "The only way to combat [the chain stores] is to provide good service and establish a relationship with customers," she said.
Bonding with the Community
Successful independent bookstores build relationships on a community level as well. For instance, Jade Creek reaches out to Fort Collins residents through its ties with Colorado State University's creative writing department. "We don't make anything on the readings we do for them, but it's good publicity," said Eagleson. The readings draw people into the store, but more than that, they create a link between the community of writers and the geographic community the bookstore serves.
While community involvement is another effective form of public relations, bookstore owners aren't cynical about the reasons they reach out to the public. Locally owned, they feel a sense of obligation to "give back" to the community that supports them. Hawley-Cooke, for example, makes store space available for nonprofit organizations to distribute brochures or publicize events.
Storeowners also feel a responsibility to provide a forum for local and regional authors. Jade Creek sponsors poetry readings and makes presentations in the schools, and even a small store like Burnt Hills Books is generous with its resources. "Hardly a week goes by that we don't get a request for a charity or a playground, and we always try to give something," Lupe said. "It's part of our budget overhead."
Finding Book Lovers
Like any business, a bookstore must prove equal to market realities; it must find a way to define, publicize and fulfill a genuine need. Nevertheless, love does have a lot to do with success—the love of books, which drew the owners into the business in the first place and which motivates store supporters, from financiers to publishers to readers.
The dream Ellen Eagleson shared with partner Paula Murray nearly fizzled from lack of startup financing. Before they talked to Gail Grant at Wells Fargo Bank in Fort Collins, their business plan had been rejected by several other banks. "We were just fortunate we found a banker who likes to read," Eagleson laughed—although she wasn't joking.
Fortunately, most publishers like to read, too, asserted Cooke. "Publishers are like booksellers: they're in it because they love what they're doing. They are cognizant of the fact that it's important to keep independents alive," she said. "It would be easier for them just to deal with chains and warehouses and Amazons, but they know authors won't get special attention from them. Our dollars don't speak as loudly [as the chains'], but our actions speak louder."
The independent voice has gained another decibel or two with the advent of Book Sense, which, of course, allows booksellers to offer gift certificates; publicize the Book Sense Bestseller List gathered weekly from more than 300 stores; and distribute the Book Sense 76, a list of books recommended by booksellers and their staffs. For customers who like the familiar and the popular, Book Sense provides both comforting continuity and reassuring lists. For the stores themselves, Book Sense means a host of different things, which is not surprising considering the independent streak that drives entrepreneurial booksellers. Lupe finds participation in the campaign just too expensive for her small shop. Kaufman describes it as "not unhelpful." And Cooke, whose business went through a painful downsizing, calls Book Sense "a wonderful collective voice" for independent booksellers.
Reaching Readers
In recognition of the importance of readers, Tanner has given Chapter 11 Books a new tagline: "Your Neighborhood Bookstore." He considers the geographic factor so important that he's performed demographic studies within a one-, three- and five-mile radius of each store.
"I choose to think there is a part of the United States that wants individual, independent businesses, whether bookstores or anything else," Cooke said. "I can't believe the world wants everything the same."
In these days of chain stores, Internet sales, industry consolidation and competition with other media, it's the distinctiveness of independent bookstores that captures the loyalty and spending money of bibliophiles. Despite everything, stores across the country are proving they can hold their own—with some luck, solid business sense and a supportive local community of devoted readers.
