Unique Bookstore Experiences: Books & Brews [case study 1 of 5]
(yes, this was previously posted in part, but it was hidden at the bottom of the last post so I felt it was worthwhile to re-format and repost it)
The old book retail model doesn’t quite work anymore, not in a world with online, discounted sales of physical books and instant downloads of e-books. But some of us (myself included) aren’t ready to let go of the ‘bookstore’ quite yet, and there should be some way to make a bookstore work even as book retail [as we used to know it] is significantly marginalized and in large chunks replaced by online analogues and substitutes.
One merely [merely, as if it’s that easy] has to “rethink the box” and come up with a new way to run a bookstore.
Previously:
Study your History. Recognise your Motives. Location, Location, Location. Know your Customer Base, and your Staff. Hire folks who love books. Find your Niche. Consider your Product Lines, Stock Your Shelves, Set your main-aisle displays, consider Alternative display strategies, take a second look at What the Customers Want and Why Even Annoying Customers are Important. Answer for yourself whether raw dollars or customer service is more important to your store, and its future. Stare again in dismay at the Profit Margins. Try calculating your upper-limit affordable rent and affordable salaries along with revenue from inventory (with a side of coffee) and compare your numbers to average industry per-storefront sales.
Unique Bookstore Experiences: Zero – Intro –
Chronologically: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10 – 11 – 12 – 13 – 14 – 15 – 16 – 17 – 18 – 19 – 20 – 21 – 22 – 23 – 24 – 25 – 26 – 27 – “28”:
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The New Model Bookstore
What we want is The Landmark, Destination Bookstore — like Powell’s City of Books, The Strand, or Shakespeare & Co. — but since that’s not enough anymore, we also need a “hook” — hopefully the hook also involves another revenue stream [20 years ago, adding a café was the “hook”; coffee was enough] but in a post-internet age you have to bring more than that: not just a Bookstore, but a Unique Experience.
criteria: multi-use space, multiple revenue streams, destination shopping, curated collections, weekly events and big-name, newsworthy Capital-Letter-E-Events — along with something extra
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Case Study #1: Books and Brews
Concept: Either a gastropub with books on the walls, or a bookstore that has a pub/restaurant in it instead of (or in addition to) a café
Related: Well, whatever type of bookstore you want: Call the bar MI-6 and only stock spy novels – Agatha’s could specialize in cozy mysteries and English pub fare – The Bar at the End of the Universe could be sci-fi themed (with Romulan Ale and Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters) – Straight-up Irish with something like Ulysses’s, or Joyce’s – or maybe even Dodgson’s Pub, with a Lewis Carroll theme
Relevance: Folks gotta eat. Folks like to drink.
Here, Let me sell it to you: Actually, it was a conversation I had with a friend/co-worker while we grabbed a quick meal before a Emily Giffin book-launch party, at a local gastropub called TAP [warning, flash site with music] [aside: lovely place] – being book geeks and booksellers, of course the conversation over lunch was about books, and the business – but the venue — and the fact that we were off-site for an author event — also shaped our discussion. Books & Brews as an idea took shape that afternoon. Of course, I’m pretty sure I’m already on record as saying I’d love to open up a bookstore with a bar in it (rather than a café but here is the new thing: a bar, where books are just a ‘theme’ and decorations on the walls, and a handy hook for events: book signings, launch parties? Hey, we’re already a hot spot, just come on in.
That Something Extra: Beer & Liquor
Killer App: Beer & Liquor
Alternate Profit Centers: Well, in this case, any book sales are the alternate — we keep the doors open and make the payroll off of the sales of beer, wine, and food. The “Book” side of the business can be as large as the market allows, or as large as our given storefront — even just putting a bookshelf on any and all available walls would be enough. Ideally, this would be more of a bookstore than a bar — but the reality is that one can make a lot more money off of a restaurant. This isn’t a “corporate” idea and it’s not scalable – but as a single, landmark location: this not only works, I think it would pay for itself in under a year.
