Brick and Mortar Thoughts

Some tips from the Pros on how to operate a successful bookshop.

Ultimate Free Advertising Idea for Used Book Shops

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We all know that we need to advertise, and we all know that it’s very difficult to know how and where to advertise. It tends to be expensive, and so often it doesn’t work. We know that people aren’t going to come to our book store if they don’t know we are there.

I’ve given this a lot of thought.

In my previous piece – ‘The Second Renaissance’ – I wrote about the internet and how it is changing communication and attitudes. It would seem that the internet is a good place to advertise. Websites are neither difficult nor expensive to set up and maintain. The downside is that there are, literally, billions of websites so the book buyers aren’t likely to find your website unless they already know about it.

We also know that book people – and especially used book people – like to visit as many stores as they can, because, unlike B&N or Chapters, every one of our stores is different. So I thought it would make sense to have a lot of used bookshops on one site. Actually, it would be best if ALL the used bookstores were on one site, searchable by location. If that were the case, anyone going for a drive, or moving, or visiting another city, could go to the site and find out what bookstores there were in the area, their hours, location, number of books, etc.

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CPSIA- book banning in the guise of safety

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Empty shelf due to CPSIA
Empty shelf due to CPSIA

February 10th was the day new lead standards rolled into place.  You may have seen there was a one year stay on testing of products.  Careful reading of the document points out two things.  This only applies to manfucaturers and importers, not distributors and retails.  The wording also makes it clear you’re still damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

From the linked document above:

“ Manufacturers and importers – large and small – of children’s products will not need to test or certify to these new requirements, but will need to meet the lead and phthalates limits, mandatory toy standards and other requirements.”

Remember, ignorance is no excuse, so if you cannot prove they are safe, you may still be in trouble.  Also, the stay applies ONLY to the Consumer Product Safety Administration.  They won’t enforce it… but that doesn’t mean that state attorney generals with an ax to grind or that lawyers looking to sue won’t use this law against you.

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When is it a Good Time to Expand Your Bookstore?

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We have another new contributor here at The Bookshop blog. I’m pleased to welcome Shane Gottwalls to our group of writers. Here is his first introductory post.
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Is it time to expand?

Gottwals Books has been open for nearly 2 years. My wife and I started this venture after realizing that a business degree and an English degree work well together for sorting and selling used books. The passion was there, my retail management background surely helped, and the finances were working at the time.

Our shop opened with what seemed like quite a load of books. We started off fairly successfully with an opening day that promised great things. As time passed and the initial shock of a nice-looking used bookstore (in an area in sore need) went away, the sales remained consistent, yet stagnant.

storejeep

Since that era of low sales (we actually had one day where we sold $4… total!), our business has increased month by month. One way that the Lord has blessed us is in the fact that the store has always paid for itself… even in the slow days. We never went into the red, although our personal finances weren’t great for quite some time.

Recently, an opportunity opened up in an older, long-established shopping center about twenty minutes from our current location. There have been two or three successful stores in the center (they closed for personal and chain-wide reasons), and the people of Byron, GA are ready for another place to buy quality used books.

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