10 things to ask when you've already bought the store

So you’ve just bought yourself a bookstore. Congratulations.  You asked all the big questions before buying, rent, utilities, cash flow, inventory, etc.  but before the old owner moves to Florida make sure to ask some specific questions about the details of doing business.

1. Where are the lightswitches?

Oh you laugh, but I had to call the previous owner the first day because I couldn’t get the lights on.  The lightswitches by the door didn’t work.  All the switches are actually BEHIND the white bookcases. You need to move books to find them!  If you’re in a brand new building, this probably isn’t a problem, but many bookstores are located in repurposed older buildings… which means the lightswitch may not be by the door.

Make sure to ask what ALL the switches do!  If you’re in a subdivided space, it may turn out that some switches in your space control the neighbor’s lights!  Some switches may also be master switches that control whole areas and if they’re off, nothing in that area will come on, no matter how many times you flip the switch.

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A Journey to Opening a Bookstore

After years of dreaming and almost two years of planning, Jessica Stockton Bagnulo and Rebecca Fitting finally opened Greenlight Bookstore in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. I’m well aware of Greenlight Bookstore’s opening even though I live 3,000 miles away and have never been to Brooklyn. How did they do that?

An Uncertain Future in the Used Book Business

An update on Christina Ambrosia’s bookstore Odyssey

Ambrosia’s Books and More

Bad Summer at the Bookstore

This summer, though my first as a bookstore owner, was horrible.  I’ve been agonizing over closing the doors completely or waiting out my lease.  In reality, I’ll wait out the lease, but I dream of being home and writing more.  The work involved in a used bookstore is far more than I ever dreamed.

I do love being here, I love being surrounded by the books, and seeing that it’s been me and them for most of the summer, we’ve become friends.  Seriously, even though sales have been slow(25% drop in sales for August alone) I’ve still been very busy.  Customers are still exchanging books and we’ve had a trickle of new customers. It’s time for changes.

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A Bookshop on St. Catherine Street

Every weekday morning, as I walk my two children to kindergarten, we pass a bookshop. The bookshop is a small independent establishment that sells new, mainly paperback books. The neighbourhood is scruffy verging on run-down, but the bookshop’s location must be the envy of many a potential bookseller…

How To Take Advantage of Used Book Sales

If you own a brick and mortar store or sell books online and want to run a successful business you have to continually acquire new inventory.  Hopefully, you’ll have to do this frequently because your current inventory will be selling so quickly!  Sometimes finding new sources can be a difficult and time consuming task.  Depending … Read more

When another book store moves to town it's good news!

If a chain moves to town, you’ll go out of business, right?

WRONG. You may even make more money than you do now!

Chains don’t move into markets where they don’t expect to turn a  profit.  They moved in by you because you’ve established there IS a market for a bookstore… and they’re convinced that there’s enough demand that they can turn a profit even with another bookstore nearby.  They’ll probably even turn a better profit by having you nearby.

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