Opening a bookstore - Looking for advice

I am planning on opening a bookstore (books and other things), and I am looking for advice from people who are knowledgeable about the field.
I am not looking for advice on whether or not I should do it, or what books to carry.
I already know what I am specializing in.
Yes, I know that used bookstores always lose money and I’ll never make a living at it and so forth.
I know that John Grisham, Steven King and Harry Potter would be my bread and butter.
I am not looking for fatherly advice on how I should run a store – I am looking for logistical advice on how I get it running.

How do I stock my shelves?
How do I get books from distributors?
Do they offer consignment or credit to new books stores, or will it have to come out of my pocket?
How do I even find distributors?

I am looking for a good source of information (book, website, seminar etc) that will get me started on the right foot.

Thanks

 

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I wouldn't try doing it at a physical location, the problem here is that online @ Amazon.com, Overstock.com, etc. people find books for much less than instore prices. Just look at the deal I got at Overstock.com for Berserk Manga. Instead of 15 bucks or so it was 10.. can you afford that loss? If not people will just come to your store, look for a book they'd like, then go online and purchase it there instead.

I wouldn't even bother with distributors, you can buy books in bulk off Overstock.com, sell those for the original price and make a killing.. provided nobody knows where you got them.

I'd do an eBay store if I were you it's easier and costs less. You'll actually make money there if you do it right.

Why don't I take this route? Because I'm lazy, laid back, and also I just don't know if it would be worth it. Afterall even if I sold books on it what are the chances someone would find me on eBay? What are the chances someone would find me at a physical place?

It's pointless I think...

What would be a better investment for you friend is to open an Anime store. Sell Manga, DVD's, posters, etc... that would make a killing and to my knowledge there aren't any chains in existance as of yet. You could so easily sell things there.

 

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Yes. I saw this one stand at a flea market that had books that were worth 60 dollars that they were selling for 5 just because they got overstocked books. Only thing is, you're buying blind, you never know what you're going to get, just that you're going to get a lot of it. But you can make some money from it.

 

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I think someone should open an Anime store and make great money.
I don't think that someone is me.
If I were just worried about making money, I wouldn't be leaving my very well paying job to open a bookstore.

I want to open a bookstore because I'd like to have a bookstore, not because it will make me rich.
Though I do think I can do well with one.
I think there is certainly still a market for bookstores if you open the right store in the right place.

Thanks, though.

 

one reaven if yournot married I would advice to sleep your way in to a store. If that fails then you might go to a bookstore and look for a book that they don't have and ask if they will order it for you show some mild interest and memorise the links. If you play your cards right then you will have your sources for 5 or 6 dollar/euro. Then again you could most simply ask I gather that distributors are rather location bound anyway.
If you like manga you might also try to put up some TV showing japanese kidsshows and perhaps some anti epilipsic medication some funny asian music etc. Also try to place yourshop soewhere where people are possibily are going to buy asian books and be the closest to the bus stop or something so people loiter in front of the store anyway

 

Sorry Raven, i know as much about setting up a book store as my neighbour's cat! so i wont waste your time with a useless post!!

 

Maybe you could get a job at an independent bookstore for a few hours a week? You'd see how things work. It wouldn't be too kind if you were going directly into competition with the owner, but since you're planning to specialise hopefully you wouldn't step on their toes. You could be up front about it and maybe someone would help you out.

 

Thanks.
I'm glad I didn't have to waste my time reading a post that didn't offer me advice.

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phonetic,
Thanks.
I was thinking about talking to the local privately owned bookstore owner (my store will be over an hour away, so I am not competition) and offering to buy her lunch in exchange for picking her brain for a litle while.
She is very friendly, and I imagine she will be helpful.
I am trying here too, in hopes for multiple perpectives.

 

one_raven, I live near Charlottesville, Virginia, which has more used bookstores per capita than anywhere else in the United States. And all of them are making a profit.

It is all about demographics. In some areas, you will be okay, in other areas you won't do well. One neat way to check is to start collecting your local classified ads. Look at the estate auctions and the yard sale ads. If you see "Used Books; Antique Books; Old Books; etc..." towards the top of these ads, that means you are in a hot area. Books are actually making quite a comeback in many places as people do so much online reading, that the tactile feel of holding an old book warms the cockles.

Put www.addall.com on the top of your bookmarks list. This is THE site for pricing used books, and ordering anything your customers need. You need to learn this site like a Calculus student learns his TI-8X. This is the site most store-owners use.

You can order large lots of books on eBay. I have done this numerous times and have found RICHES. Sometimes you will find lots of thousands of books going for nothing, just shipping costs. Buy some of these lots, give away the detritus, and start stocking the rest.

Memorize the Dewey Decimal system, at least the hundreds. Don't arrange your store according to the DDS, but arrange each section accordingly. Keep the hottest items in the window, keep the expensive books away from pawing newbies, and keep the popular stuff IN THE BACK OF THE STORE. Make the customers walk through the store to get to the recent fiction.

If you need a boost to your collection this summer, let me know. I have a few thousand books in my house, and I am going to be moving around August. I want to move into a much, much smaller house and I will be having sales to get rid of most of my collection. If you get your store up and running before then, let me know where you are. Maybe I could get some of my finer complete sets to you on consignment (I'd be willing to split the proceeds right in half, and take care of shipping). There are few things I love like my books, but they are starting to own me more than I own them, and need to let go of them soon. I'm paring my life down as I make the gradual transition back to living on a small sailboat within the next 5 years.

Good luck, keep this thread alive, ask more questions, etc...

 

Thanks for the advice (and the consignment offer).
The store will be in the Lower Hudson Valley area in New York.
There are lots of charming small towns with downtown areas all completely locally owned.
Towns where people take pride in their communities and like to spend locally.
There are also some college towns in the area that would support a new and used books and games store.

What about new book suppliers?
Have any advice or experience?

 

Sounds like the right market, don't worry about the naysayers, if you work hard, your business will succeed. If you sit around doing nothing, you will bleed cash.

Specializing helps. If you are into Manga, supply some of that, have a rack of the top comics, and sell some miniature models and paint supplies. You don't have to give up a lot of retail space to develop a niche like this. And people will come from an hour away if you are the only place to thumb through something unique. The internet is great if you know exactly what you want, but more people are finding that they miss the chance to visually inspect purchases, or make impulse buys.

More importantly, if you develop a niche, you will develop a sense of community. Food and beverage can be a headache due to permits and inspections, but if you can serve coffee, and leave out a chess-set, you might develop that sense of "place" where people just want to be. The bookstore I grew up in was like this, and the owner paid his rent in coffee, and made his profit with the books. Coffee is mostly water, the mark-up on a cup of Joe is just ridiculous. But like I said above, adding beverages can make the setup of the business a real headache. In some states more than others.

About new book distribution, I don't think there is a single source to get new books, without paying a premium. The only way to get books at cost, is from the publisher. That means you need an account with each of the dozens of publishers you will be doing ordering from.

If you use an all-in-one distributor, you are basically buying wholesale, and giving some of your margin to the distributor. This isn't a good idea, even for a small bookseller.

One very recent trend is a bit scary, and that is the direct selling of books BY PUBLISHERS. Some of the majors, like Simon and Schuster, Penguin, and Random House now sell books on their websites. Of course, this is GOOD for you, but bad for Amazon and others. You can always buy the handful of new books you need via this route, if you don't want to open a reseller account.

Also, check out a book like:

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Starting-Used-Bookstore/dp/0914091891

And read a few general business books.

 

We used to go to a used bookstore in San Jose that as well as your usual used paperbacks also had section where she sold local authors backed by local publishers. I think she was able to do those on consignment. She did all right until the property prices in Silicon Valley went astronomical.

Good luck.

 

Unless your name is Barnes or Noble, I suggest you not bother stocking any shelves and look into using the office space for another business. Books stores are history - or very soon to become that.

 

Nothing prohibits having a book store and selling books on the internet as well.
I'd suggest that.

For example I used to frequent book stores quite much, but now I just buy 95% of my books at amazon.co.uk

 

I think that a good idea would be to make a book-store - coffee shop,
so people can come, have some tea and also buy a book to read.

 

That's pretty much the norm here in America now.

 

In Santa Clara was a place called the Cafe Leviticus that was a coffee shop that kept shelves all around the place lined with books. The books weren't necessarily for sale, but you'd buy your coffee or tea, grab a book off the shelf, and have yourself a good read. When you were done you returned the book to the shelf for the next person. I don't know how many places there are like that. Leviticus has been the only one I've seen so far. Very intellectual environment.

 

I will certainly be serving coffee and a large selection of teas.
I am also considering, and looking into what is involved with, serving light food, but I am not certain about that yet.
There will also be as many games set up to play as I can fit - including on the porch (one of the other things I'll be selling is games - such as chess and checkers).

I described the "feeling" I am aiming for the other day as "a place where revolutionaries will have epic arguments about Marxism over a cup of demitasse while playing dominos on the porch."

 

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Careful what you wish for. An ultra right-wing friend of mine opened up what he hoped to be a blue-collar type bar only to have it turn into one of the favorite haunts of San Jose's gay community.

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