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The secret how to turn $100K into $1K
Oct. 25th, 2008 11:15 pmjust open a bookstore.
There's a new independent bookstore that opened last month, so this afternoon I dropped by to take a look. First impressions were positive--although the store is on the small side, it's a bright, cheery space and the staff seemed helpful but equally willing to let me browse undisturbed.
The tables at the front held an interesting mix of current titles and popular litfic, including a couple of titles I've been meaning to get around to read.
As I wandered further into the store, the good impression started to fade. The bookcases towards the back are so close together that if you're standing in between them you can only view the top 3 shelves. To view titles on the lower shelves you need to kneel down or stand in the aisle and lean in. It was so frustrating that I simply gave up looking through them.
The selection in some cases was spotty--whoever is doing the ordering clearly has areas where they are knowledgeable but other sections are slighted. There were so few romance titles that it was hardly worthy of a section label. The mystery section was heavy on the first part of the alphabet and then had almost nothing from the middle of the alphabet on, leading me to suspect they ran out of space while doing the initial shelving and never got around to fixing it.
The SF section was also odd. In a literary store it's often non-existent, but here they ordered an assortment of trade paperback all of which were displayed face out, and it was an odd assortment making it look like they ordered by cover design and size, rather than picking bestsellers or new releases. The only hardcovers were local author![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jpsorrow's.
The children's section was extensive and organized into a number of subcategories. So many subcategories that a staff member was unable to locate a book that a customer asked for. The inventory said it should be on the shelves but she she didn't have any idea which section to look in. So she started with picture books and then made her way through the groupings until she eventually gave up and called another staff member at home, presumably whomever had arranged that section.
The history section looked good, but I would have expected to see more of a local emphasis.
In short, it looks like the kind of cute bookstore put together by someone who loves books and has never worked retail bookselling. Much like the store I'd probably put together if I ever won the lottery and wanted to turn a large chunk of money into pocket change. Though I'd like to think that I know enough friends in the booktrade that they could give me good advice.
Much of what I saw was growing pains and hopefully will be ironed out over time. In the meantime, I wish them all the best. It's been too long since there was a bookstore downtown selling new books and it would be nice if to see them succeed.
There's a new independent bookstore that opened last month, so this afternoon I dropped by to take a look. First impressions were positive--although the store is on the small side, it's a bright, cheery space and the staff seemed helpful but equally willing to let me browse undisturbed.
The tables at the front held an interesting mix of current titles and popular litfic, including a couple of titles I've been meaning to get around to read.
As I wandered further into the store, the good impression started to fade. The bookcases towards the back are so close together that if you're standing in between them you can only view the top 3 shelves. To view titles on the lower shelves you need to kneel down or stand in the aisle and lean in. It was so frustrating that I simply gave up looking through them.
The selection in some cases was spotty--whoever is doing the ordering clearly has areas where they are knowledgeable but other sections are slighted. There were so few romance titles that it was hardly worthy of a section label. The mystery section was heavy on the first part of the alphabet and then had almost nothing from the middle of the alphabet on, leading me to suspect they ran out of space while doing the initial shelving and never got around to fixing it.
The SF section was also odd. In a literary store it's often non-existent, but here they ordered an assortment of trade paperback all of which were displayed face out, and it was an odd assortment making it look like they ordered by cover design and size, rather than picking bestsellers or new releases. The only hardcovers were local author
jpsorrow's.The children's section was extensive and organized into a number of subcategories. So many subcategories that a staff member was unable to locate a book that a customer asked for. The inventory said it should be on the shelves but she she didn't have any idea which section to look in. So she started with picture books and then made her way through the groupings until she eventually gave up and called another staff member at home, presumably whomever had arranged that section.
The history section looked good, but I would have expected to see more of a local emphasis.
In short, it looks like the kind of cute bookstore put together by someone who loves books and has never worked retail bookselling. Much like the store I'd probably put together if I ever won the lottery and wanted to turn a large chunk of money into pocket change. Though I'd like to think that I know enough friends in the booktrade that they could give me good advice.
Much of what I saw was growing pains and hopefully will be ironed out over time. In the meantime, I wish them all the best. It's been too long since there was a bookstore downtown selling new books and it would be nice if to see them succeed.