Books and Games

Years ago, there was a store in the Mountain View Mall (a mall which has since been torn down) called Book and Game.

They always seemed to be struggling, gaining and shedding partners, even in the good times. When the malls started going downhill, it proved the end.

But I always wondered why. It seemed like a great model; it seemed to have a good selection.

But of course, I was looking from the outside. It always seems easy from the outside.

Years later, as I slowly morph my store, I find that it is more or less becoming -- a book and game store. A different kind of book and game store, maybe, with graphic novels and comics and used books in the 'book' mix; and, of course, I have toys and dvd's and sports cards.

Book stores are still struggling, by all accounts. You need only google 'bookstore closing' (a suggestion from the Inkwell Bookstore blog.)

I've been coming at the books in a very selective way. I pay no attention to the 'best sellers.' I pick up what I consider to be 'good' books; how I arrive at that determination can vary, from my own reading, from reviews, from suggestions. On games, I have more or less taken the tack of ordering the top 50 games on the Boardgamegeek.com website.

What I'm finding is --- good books sell.

Good games --- sell.

Seems simple enough. But then again, I'm not depending on them to generate the majority of my revenues. I've been able to pick the low hanging fruit. It isn't hard to sell the Chuck Palahniuk books. It isn't hard to sell The Zombie Survival Guide. Settlers of Catan almost sells itself.

Over the next year, I'm going to continue to try to pick low hanging fruit, and make more room for books and boardgames. I've got some ideas about how to make space, without cutting into my other revenue streams too much.

This all seems like a rational response to my downtown location, my own love and knowledge of books, and the business plan of 'blending' books of all kinds together. The suggestions I made to that graphic novel store guy a few posts ago, are more or less what I'm pursuing myself.

Speaking of the graphic novel store guy; he has a goal of making 2.5 million in sales per year. So forget everything I said. I didn't realize he wasn't a serious person.

And about the other store I mentioned, Greenlight Bookstore (the one in Brooklyn), they just posted this message:

"And if you're wondering about the status of construction itself, as Fred puts it: "Demolition is now complete and we're pausing for a moment while we wait for the NYC Dept. of Buildings to approve our construction application and grant us a permit." We've gotten quite a ways, and now we just have to sit tight for a bit and wait for the (good, kind, compassionate, tasteful) folks at the DOB to give us their final approval. We're still on track for our hoped-for opening in September, though -- we'll let you know when we can narrow down that window a little bit more."

They just finished "demolition" and they think they can open in September? Good luck with that.

They go on: (A bit of bookstore jargon: "backlist" signifies the books you keep on the shelves in the sections, that have been published already and stay in print. "Frontlist" includes all of the new books published this season -- the ones that get most of the media attention, and that you'll display in stacks or face-out until their moment has passed, or they become backlist.)

This is a useful dichotomy of terminology for me. What I've been concentrating on is the 'backlist'; those books that have a history. Easy to pick the good ones. I've done very little in the way of picking 'frontlist', except to maybe clip the 'bestseller' list out of the Bulletin and see if any of them appeal to me.

When I feel like everything is ready, I'll probably make the leap into that territory. More risk, but seeing as how most bookstores seem to depend on them, possibly more reward too. I can take my time about it, make sure I don't get caught in product I can't sell because the mass market has them.

All these years, I've struggled to sell enough comic books to make a living. Frankly, I've never really succeeded; even at selling the average number a community the size of Bend should sell. It wasn't through lack of trying, or knowledge, or selection, or service. Anyway, no more than any other store.

It wasn't until my wife's store began to perform that I realized -- I gave myself the explanation -- that it wasn't ME; it was the product.

Books and Games are just great, because they aren't a fad. They are challenged by technology and competition, to be sure, but compared to comics? They seem relatively responsive to my efforts. This has really recharged my interest in the store, and probably insures I'll be engaged to the end of my career. Because all I ask is a decent reward for my efforts.