More than 140 independent booksellers participated in the first National Bookstore Day on November 7, an initiative sponsored by PW to get customers to shop at their local bookstores—and many reported a surge in sales on that day.
Better World Books, a bookseller with a store in Goshen, Ind., and a robust online business that funds literacy initiatives, raised about $30,000 for its nonprofit literacy partners thanks to National Bookstore Day promotions on its e-mail list and its Twitter and Facebook pages. The bookseller offered 15% off three or more books November 6—8. V-p of marketing John Ujda said the first day sales were up 215%, and over the weekend up 150%. The retailer shipped almost 16,000 books for those three days from its site (it typically would sell about 9,000 books during that period).
National Bookstore Day events brought more customers than usual into Literary Life Bookstore in Grand Rapids, Mich. The store hosted a bake sale to benefit a local nonprofit, readings for children, musical performances, and poetry readings. Inspiration Hollow in Roseau, Minn., saw a twofold increase in sales, and Angie Grafstrom said “a lot of first time customers” shopped at the store that day. Ben Mahill of Mysterious Galaxy Books in San Diego, Calif., told PW a number of his store's regular customers who do not normally shop on the weekend were in and made qualifying purchases, spending $100 or more for a 20% discount. California independent Books Inc., which has 10 locations, posted signs about National Bookstore Day promotions in its stores and on its Web site, and notified customers via its newsletter and an e-mail blast. A store manager appeared on local station KRON 4 TV on November 7. Margie Scott Tucker, director of marketing and human resource, said, “We had a great day in the stores, lots of coupons came back, so I would call it a success.”
PW publisher Ron Shank said, “We appreciate the store owners and staffs who took this idea and made it their own. PW is already laying the groundwork for a bigger celebration of bookstores next year.... We will challenge our team to engage more stores and get more media coverage to generate more first-time customers and more repeat visits from stores' loyal customer base.”
