Brick and Mortar Thoughts – Page 24

Roll Up Awnings for your Bookshop

July 9, 2010 by Bruce K. Hollingdrake

Are you considering buying roll up awnings for your bookshop? I’ve seen many bookstores use these effectively in a number of situations. We’ll go over the pros as well as a few cons in an effort to help you make the decision on whether or not your shop should install awnings. First a few reasons … Read more

Do you sell Gift Certificates in your Bookshop?

July 9, 2010 by Amber Short

Our bookstores house thousands of options for gifts, but not everyone is confident in choosing a title for a loved one. This is where the almighty Gift Certificate comes into play.

A Unique, Interesting and Friendly Independent Bookshop Can Thrive

July 2, 2010 by Brian Green

In Canada it’s extremely challenging to run a sustainable independent bookstore.
Now, this is, in part, due to the fact that a certain Canadian book conglomerate has devoured roughly 70% of the market share. Other players — Wal Mart, Loblaws (Canadian grocery store chain) — offer a standard 30% off new releases/best sellers, which also draws potential customers away.
What do Indy bookstore owners need to do to stay relevant? Well, like all good solutions, this one is fairly simple and straightforward: They need to come up with ideas that will captivate the hearts and imaginations of their customers.
So, where do we find these ideas? Once found, how do we implement them? What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow? Oh, wait, scratch that last one.
Okay, the first thing to do is see what’s working for other stores and adapt their ideas to your own situation. Yes, this may mean actually talking to your competition and piquing their brain, but the payoff could very well be exponential. If you’re dead set against this idea, you can check out a site like this one and borrow ideas from one of our writers.

The Blockbuster Bestseller Monolith

July 18, 2022June 21, 2010 by Therese Holland

I read an article a while back that had some statistics to show that the best way to sell a new book was to have previously sold a book. What this basically means that as a percentage of the market, popular authors were getting a bigger slice of the pie than say ten years ago. … Read more

What should you ask when buying a Book Store from a distance?

June 20, 2010 by Bruce K. Hollingdrake

Editor: Rebecca is considering making a great leap. Can you help her with questions that you think are pertinent to buying a bookstore (especially from a distance)? Comments below are very much appreciated or click the title if you are reading this on the Front Page. ******************** First, thank you for the website and its content! I … Read more

Hot reads in a cool shop: cutting cooling costs

June 19, 2010 by Nora O'Neill

This is part of an air conditioner. Really.

Any bookshop owner with a small shop knows how quickly a comfortable shop can suddenly get swelteringly hot on a busy summer day. Just add extra people! Once the temperature starts to climb, cooling costs can take a big bite out of your budget. They’re a cost that you’ll have to pay even if sales stink, so shaving money off that cost can really make a big difference in down times.

If your cooling system really isn’t up for the job, it may be time for an upgrade. Of course if you’re in a rental space, this may not be an option. You’re probably stuck with the system you’ve got which was adequate for the space as originally designed and with the original number of people estimated. Even a system that’s the right size for everyday use may struggle on a really busy or really hot day. (and keep in mind a too large system can make it really humid in your shop, not a good thing for a book store!)

Your New Best Friend, Maybe

June 13, 2010 by Therese Holland

The Best Friend She comes in every other day, happy, bright and chirpy; eager to engage in conversation about her favourite books, authors and all things bookish. She says she is moving and offers to sell you antique guides, current cooking and decorating books she has been given doubles of her by her adoring friends … Read more

The Frustrations of Having to Explain Yourself to 'Unaware' Bookstore Patrons

June 2, 2010 by Bruce K. Hollingdrake

Another guest post by Therese Holland

As a Bricks and Mortar book store owner I find one of the most difficult things to manage is unsolicited offers to sell or exchange books. Some offers are so patently unfair it is difficult to fathom whether the customer has any comprehension at all of the costs of doing business (not to mention the fact that I am trying to make a living).

One of my first experiences of this was a retired lawyer who exchanged Mills and Boon romances for her mother. She had a domineering personality and because her books were new releases insisted that she get 2 book in exchange for every one of hers. I stood at the counter dumbfounded holding six paperbacks while she waltzed out of the shop with 12 books. She said the previous owner had been happy with the arrangement. The previous owner was terrified of her. I resolved to let her know that that arrangement was NOT satisfactory to me.

There never was a showdown as for whatever reason she never came back.

Another gentleman had finished reading Dan Brown’s Da Vinci code and wanted to swap for Angels and Demons because as he explained it would be just as easy for me to sell one as the other. I politely declined his generous offer.

The previous owner had given cash on exchange but in an area with a known drug problem we knew that books were being stolen and returned for cash. I gave notice when we moved premises that that practice was going to be discontinued. Four years later I still have the odd customer gleaning our Box Hill stock from Oppportunity/Thift stores and garage sales and hopefully bringing it in expecting to get cash. I blithely inform them that we stopped giving cash refunds in 2006 because people were getting discarded books from charity stores and garage sales to sell back to us.

Not to mention the odd customer who steals my books to sell back to me…

Initially I was giving pretty generous store credit to find customers picking the eyes out of my stock and carefully calculating the prices so they just used up the credit and paid no cash. Too many days of being busy and no money in the til made me rethink that and start to insist that they spend at least $5.