Between 2006 and 2008, independent bookselling went through a bit of a revival with the opening of more than 280 ABA stores. In 2009, the pace slowed to 40. Just before the Lehman Brothers collapse in fall 2008, PW talked with nine booksellers in different parts of the country who had recently opened their doors. Six of the nine stores remain open today, and one is about to split in two; its former owner will open a new store in another city. Despite tough times, one bookseller is moving forward with new construction and broke ground for a 6,400-sq.-ft. building with underground parking. That two-thirds of the new bookstores have survived fits with statistics of the U.S. Small Business Administration showing that seven out of 10 new employer firms last at least two years, and about half survive five years.
There were a number of reasons why the three bookstores that didn't make it were forced to close. The current recession was never part of anyone's business plan and made it hard for stores like Imagine Atrium in Jersey City, N.J., a tiny bookstore/discovery store that closed in April, to keep going. Personal circumstances triggered by the economy caused Percy Johnson, who was laid off from his day job, and his wife, Kimberly, to shutter Comics and Classics in Jacksonville Beach, Fla.
For Pages in Cave Creek, Ariz., personal and financial problems were too much to overcome. The collapse of the real estate market immediately after Will and Sandi Pearson closed on a space for their new and rare bookstore meant that few tenants moved into the up-and-coming development. Four months later, Sandi was diagnosed with cancer. Although Pages had a profitable December and January, the Pearsons are in the midst of selling off inventory (inquiries welcome).
On a happier note, six stores managed to find enough business to keep going. “In 2009, when things got interesting,” says Chattanooga Times Free Press columnist David Magee, who cofounded Rock Point Books in Chattanooga, Tenn., with publicity guru Albert Waterhouse, “I thought we had to make this more of a cultural destination.” A self-described MoonPie addict, who wrote a book about the local treat, he approached Chattanooga Bakery to set up a MoonPie store inside Rock Point. About the same time, Magee invited a local gelato shop to take over the bookstore's cafe. “That allowed us to get two unique branding pieces and do what we do with more traffic,” says Magee, who has noticed a decided uptick in business.
To further boost sales, Magee moved his office to the store and began broadcasting his syndicated radio/TV show from the store's elevated stage with seating for 150 people. Later this year, he's hoping to add a POD machine. “If I can pull that off,” he says, “I can just leap ahead.”
In December 2007, Peter Makin opened Brilliant Books in Sutton's Bay, Mich. (pop. 578), sans bookshelves in order not to miss Christmas. A few months later, when the neighboring storefront became available, he leased that as well, effectively opening two bookstores at once. Despite Brilliant's 1,500-sq.-ft. footprint, Makin, whose background is in marketing, has no illusions about surviving on walk-in traffic. “An independent bookstore can't expect to make money from the people that walk past the door,” he says. “You have to get out there and market.”
To do that, he's launched several programs, including paid memberships and a Surprise Book of the Month Club, where the books are tailored to each customer. “We try to have 84 Charing Cross Road relationships,” says Makin, referring to Helene Hanff's biblio-correspondence. Brilliant is also one of the few independents to turn summer customers into year-round Internet visitors by offering free shipping at brilliant-books.net. The Web site accounts for 15% to 20% of the store's business.
Four-year-old Red Fox Books in Glens Falls, N.Y., faced a different set of hurdles when the economy stalled and unemployment in the community hit the highest level in the state. Until then, says Susan Fox, who co-owns the 1,500-sq.-ft. store with her husband, Naftali Rottenstreich, “We were growing so fast we were thinking about breaking our lease. We went from trying to manage growth to figuring out how to maintain. We're realizing that as a small community bookstore, we can survive by being smaller and serving the people we need to serve.” To make books more affordable for their cash-strapped customers, Fox and Rottenstreich added more used titles to the product mix. They also began offering more selective discounts, in addition to teacher discounts and a frequent buyer program.
Three years ago, Flintridge Bookstore & Coffeehouse in La Cañada Flintridge, Calif., opened in a temporary space while it awaited approval of its plans for a new store with a clock tower and parking. In addition to learning how to build a store while running one, co-owner Peter Wannier and his wife, Lenora, have had to cope with a few difficulties that weren't part of their original business plan, including having an 18-wheeler loaded with SUVs poke its nose into their front window last April. “We're carrying on because that's what we believe in and a lot of people believed in,” says Peter, adding that the store lost half its inventory in the accident and had to move into a double-wide trailer. Given the double whammy of the accident and the economy, Wannier notes that the store is not doing as well as they expected. Still, he says, “Our sales have improved year over year. Christmas was up, not by a lot. We're not dissatisfied with where we are.” Like Red Fox, Flintridge has begun selective discounting. Last month, for example, all new releases were 20% off. The store also gives back to schools and made a donation just days after the truck accident.
Local First
Wyn Morris, founder of the Morris Book Shop in Lexington, Ky., which opened in May 2008, credits a vibrant local first organization, which he and store manager Hap Houlihan helped launch, with contributing to a 25% increase at Christmas. But, he cautions, “Opening when we did, we had a lower baseline than if we had opened a year or two earlier.” He also changed his ordering patterns and began ordering five days a week to make use of just-in-time inventory. “I realized pretty quickly that people weren't coming to us for the new Clive Cussler. For 95% of the books in the store, one copy is enough,” says Morris.
One of the more unusual challenges he faced in the Thoroughbred City, he says, is that nobody under 40 remembers a small bookstore. “We have been educating people about what we do. We're not a used bookstore; we're not a Christian bookstore. And we have anything they need, or we can get it in two days.” The message seems to be getting through, especially to people looking for books about Kentucky or literary fiction, the store's most popular sections.
“Books have always been my passion,” says Nancy Graham, who purchased Pearl Street Books & Gifts in Ellensburg, Wash., in July with her husband, Nathan, from Glenna Martin. She attributes a sales increase this past Christmas to a challenge from the local newspaper, the Daily Record, for townspeople to spend $100 downtown. Last fall, Graham pared back on gifts and made books and greeting cards the store's focus, even offering space for book groups to meet. In addition, she enlarged the children's section and upped the store's local flavor by selling and displaying work by Ellensburg artist Tom Pickerel. To compete with online retailers, she offers a 15% discount and 48-hour turnaround on special orders.
After selling Pearl Street, Martin returned to Florence, Ore., and took back the name of her former bookstore there, Periwinkle Station. The new 600-sq.-ft. store—the couple she had sold the old store to closed it last spring due to illness—opened February 17. On the sign outside the store, greeting cards get top billing. “It's a tourist town, and I'm going to do a lot of greeting cards, pop-up books, trade paperback bestsellers, mass markets, and games,” says Martin, who also plans to stock candy and tea. As she did at Pearl Street, Martin will discount special orders.
While all the new booksellers would love to see the kind of double-digit growth of the Morris Book Shop, they have realistic expectations. As Magee of Rock Point notes, “We're sustainable and that's the objective.”
