Yesterday, in a toss off line to express my skepticism that a Warhammer dealer could be turning over his inventory more than twice a month, I said that I was lucky to get turnover once a year.

IHTBYB questioned me on this figure, and when I took a moment to think about it, I realized he was right.

While I'm not attempting to be precise, I do want to be accurate.

So, in the interests of accuracy, my store does turnover more than once, more than twice, actually.

Comics and card games especially turnover many times of year.

So why did I say that? Because over the last five years or so, most of the new product lines I've added have fallen more into the once a year category. And that is where my concentration has been. I guess I just started thinking and assuming the whole store was like that. Because it really changed my focus.

It was very freeing to realize that I could add more sports cards or anime or statues, etc. and that I could accept slower turnover as long as the other parts of the store were functional, as long as I was paying within cash flow, and as long as the costs in space and time and energy weren't out of control. The diversity has smoothed out the seasonal and industry peaks and valleys, and has given me a chance to catch passersby with product (instead of just destination regulars.) Bottom line, it works.


Meanwhile, Bilbobend wondered if all the store owners in my industry are somehow duplicitous, because I rarely get a candid and frank discussion out of them. No, I don't think they are any more duplicitous or self-deluded than any other store owners. Store owners as a breed are canny, savvy, and keep their cards close to their chest. I personally don't believe that is necessary, I personally believe that shared information is more valuable in the long run than the occasional competitive nugget the other guy might glean. But I more or less fell into this business, and have a -5- type information gathering personality. (I think like a squirrel, the more info (nuts) I gather, the safer I'll be in the winter.)


Finally, Bilbobend mentioned that he no longer goes to Powell's and wondered why I kept quoting the 'Powell's model' of business.

I had a strange reaction to Powell's. I wasn't impressed. As you might imagine, I read a lot of science fiction. I mean tons of it. Going back to it's very crude beginnings, all the way through the pulp age, on through the 'New Wave' of the sixties, and down the the great fiction of today.
I'd heard about Powell's for years, so when I went to the S.F. section I expected to find:

1). Books I'd never seen, but which grabbed me.

2.) Books I'd been looking for, but couldn't find.

Powell's satisfied me in neither case. They had more books, but even that didn't impress me.
I don't think I was jealous, I just realized that having a block of books doesn't necessarily make you any better than having half a block of books, or even a few thousand square feet. I can only read one book at a time, and I've yet to find a bookstore where I couldn't find a book I wanted to read.

My reaction was, "Big deal." My wife loves the place, and never misses a chance to visit, however.

As to their model. Yuch. Buying books assembly line. Mixing new and used. Neither one turns me on, much. I think the used brings down the quality of the new. Carrying both new and used makes all kinds of sense, in fact, I think that the majority of independent bookstores will eventually go to that. But mixing them together on the same shelf? No thanks.

I think what my wife's bookstore is doing is right on. Her used books look almost new, half the time. We have a straightforward trade policy. And we are getting plenty of books in the door. Powell's is welcome to his multiple operations and employees. Too corporate for me.

But other bookstore owners seemed enamored with the Powell's model.

My Micheal Powell story. He used to come into my store to buy ARCHIE comics for his kids. Now ARCHIE comics sell randomly. They will sit for weeks, and then a whole bunch will go out. So I was selling out occasionally, which he grumbled about.

Finally, he came in one day and basically bawled me out for not having enough ARCHIE. I was embarrassed, and realized he was right.

I've never been out of ARCHIE comics since.

I've never seen Micheal Powell since....