The Garden State has both the highest median household income ($58,588) and the densest population (1,030 people per square mile, or 13 times the national average) of any state. The home of Tony Soprano (and the car theft and diner capital of the world) also boasts the ZIP code with the largest dollar volume in retail sales in the country—07652. The borough of Paramus takes in more than $5 billion annually. In fact, New Jersey has the most shopping malls in one area in the world—seven major malls in a 25-square-mile radius.
New Jersey is also home to a variety of publishers, from Wiley to Melville House, as well as wholesalers Baker & Taylor and Bookazine.
Still, New York casts a very long shadow. Like many northern New Jersey booksellers, Mary Ann Donaghy, owner of the Bookworm in Bernardsville, caters to people who work in New York and whose buying decisions are influenced by New York media—the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, The Charlie Rose Show, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. “Our customers want books when they're in the news,” Donaghy said.
Walter Boyer, who purchased Bookends in Ridgewood five years ago, takes advantage of his store's proximity to New York, a 22-mile limo ride away, by arranging a full schedule of events. “We feel we are uniquely positioned and set up to handle 50 to 2,000 people,” said Boyer. “We'll get people who will drive from Connecticut, upstate New York, Philadelphia and Maryland and make a day of it. Without events, it would be pretty tough to compete.”
For Tom Williams, owner of Mendham Books in upscale Mendham, living outside New York is “a double-edged sword.” Although he acknowledged that his store benefits from being near the media capital, he misses a sense of regionalism. He described his demographic as “people who are doing well. There's less pressure on price. Here the hardcover sales outnumber the paperbacks. Before I worked here, I sold how-to books. Here we have the books to show your designer.” His customers think nothing of spending $50 or $75 for a book on home decorating or garden layouts. And his bestseller is a coffee-table book on the mansions of nearby Somerset Hills, published by a local realtor.
Still, there's a lot of competition in New Jersey, as John Bennett, owner of 19-year-old Bennett Books in Wycoff, pointed out. In addition to Bookends, which is five miles from his store, Bennett vies for readers with seven big-box stores within a 10-mile radius. To keep his customers from hitting the highway, he offers a large selection. “Usually we don't have any one book that dominates our sales,” said Bennett. “We have a group of books that sell three to 10 copies.”
A particularly strong category throughout the state is children's books. Bob Kutik is in the midst of rearranging his store, Womrath's Bookstore of Tenafly, to create a larger children's area. At Clinton Book Shop in Clinton, owner Harvey Finkel also said kids' book sales are on the rise. “Today, if you don't buy a book for yourself, you will buy one for your child or your grandchild,” he said.
Change is also in the air along the Jersey shore. This summer, Atlantic Books converted its nine New Jersey stores from bargain stores into full-line bookstores. “We're really looking for merchandise that turns a little faster and doesn't have to be marked down,” said Bryan Lovitz, head buyer. “It's a different retail environment with the Internet and big-box stores. People are used to finding everything in one place.”
Embracing change has long been part of the New Jersey tradition. This is the state where Edison invented the light bulb—and made all that shopping possible.
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