Used Bookstores

We visited a bunch of used bookstores on our trip to the coast. At first, I was feeling kinda judgmental about them. Many of them are messy, cookie cutter, unfriendly, badly organized.

After a few more visits, I figured what the heck, each store is different, each store reflects the owner's personalities and desires.

Than a few few more visits, and I thought: the hell with that. These stores are really run badly.

Bookstores are not healthy. They aren't prospering. At least most of the ones we saw on our trip.

But I'm not surprised. Because -- in my oh, so humble opinion -- they're doing it wrong!

They're just doomed.

You can see their desperation, their total cluelessness. They are bound and determined to do it the same way they were taught (an extraordinary number of them worked for other bookstores first), the way it has always been done. Never mind that it doesn't work anymore.

They get a mule-headed look in their face when you suggest that if it isn't working, they might want to try something else.

I felt like saying, "Try something, anything! Even if it's wrong!"

I can say this, because I know none of these people will be reading this. Every store I went into, I would say, "I've had a store in downtown Bend for 28 years." Not one. None of them, even the few friendly ones, asked the name of my store.

Which is a symptom of what's wrong. They aren't curious.

I tell you, anyone who walks in my store and tells me they own a store will get a friendly, "Cool! Where at? What do you sell? How's it going?" And hopefully, even more information will be exchanged. "Hey, what's really selling for you? You discovered any new tricks or techniques."

This was the typical bookstore visit. "Hi, I'm visiting from Bend. I've had a store in downtown Bend for 28 years...."

"Huh." Put his or her face back into a book. (Sign of something wrong there -- they should be working, not reading!!!!!! Talking to customers is part of the frikken job!)

I was so not impressed. I'm not saying my bookstore is the best thing since sliced bread, but we're trying. Not everyone is enamored (Timothy) with the way we're doing it -- but I can tell you that it's working. And it's working because we aren't doing it like these guys in the valley and coast are doing it.

Our trade policy is different, our organization is different, the books we highlight are different, how we handle the books is different, our pricing is different, our cleanliness and spaciousness is different, our friendliness (well, Linda's friendliness) is different, and on and on.

I think none of these guys are reflecting what is actually selling in new bookstores. None of them have figured out that new fiction sells really, really well. That tradepaperbacks are the future, that hardcovers aren't orphans, that books are more or less a commodity, not a rarity. That variety is the spice of life. That you shouldn't impose your biases on what you carry, but your store should carry in proportion what is actually in demand.

Don't decide, for instance, that you don't like science-fiction, and are going to only have 2 shelves worth, but you love knitting, and you'll have two bookshelves. If you get enough material traded in for 3 shelves of science fiction, and one shelf of knitting, then that is the level of interest that is out there!

Try something new, is what I'm saying. Don't just sit there and gather dust and mildew and mold, and grungy covers. Get off your butt and straighten the damn books!

There seemed to be two spheres of influence that I noticed. Within a hundred miles of Powells, everyone does it the Powells way. I still think putting used books with new books makes all books look used. But even more importantly, none of these stores are Powells; they don't do the volume, they don't have the selection, they don't have the systems in place. It works for Powells, obviously, but I can tell you it ain't working for these small used bookstores.

The other sphere of influence is a store in Lincoln City called, Robert's. Everyone within 50 miles of Robert's does it his way; straight 2 for 1 trade. But only Robert's looked as though he was doing well, and it was for the same reason as Powells: he had a huge selection, which was worth browsing. They others looked as poor a church mice, and I'm not surprised.

One was teetering on her last legs. (I'm really using the cliches up today, aren't I?) She was down to selling books for 2.00 each. I sort of said, why don't you charge something, even if it's a 10% surcharge, something to bring in the cash to pay your rent, upgrade your books, etc.

"Oh, no," she said. "I'd lose all my customers!"

"You mean, all the customers who don't spend money? Who just trade?"

She just looked at me, and I left before she tottered over and wheezed her last breath right in front of me.

So they all look really poor, like they're barely feeding themselves. But maybe they aren't doing it for the money?

They all looked miserable, too. Like they couldn't figure out why it wasn't working anymore. (Not that they'd change even if they did figure it out.)

Anyway, I can now see why used bookstores are having so much trouble.

P.S. Linda wanted me so say, there were a few friendly people we met, and a couple of nice stores. But I didn't want that to get in the way of my rant.

Avert my eyes.

Took a quick glance at the Source and the Cascade publications last night. The thing that really leaps out at me is the sheer number and variety of special events going on this summer.

We used to have a sleepy little town where the county fair was the biggest thing going. Maybe some church bakes and such.

It's truly overwhelming the amount of activity going on.

That and that it seems as though every other business advertising is someone I've never heard of. Businesses are still popping up all over. Sometimes I can't really figure out from their ads exactly what they're about -- which to me, is 'image' advertising gone wrong.

I have no idea if there are enough people in this town to make all these stores and events a success.

Anyway, it's enough to make me shake my head and avert my eyes.

Crime wave?

I've been wanting to blog about the recent 'crime wave' in Central Oregon. From carjackings to deer fucking, we've seen a wave of despicable acts. Is it the population increase, the types of people we're getting, or just a coincidence?

But on the way over to the coast, in talking to my wife, I realized that thing that really stands out is how inept the crime wave is. I mean, if you watch COPS or the First 48, you realize that these guys and gals don't exactly spend a lot of time thinking ahead, or worrying about consequences.

Still, I figure about half the crime reported in Central Oregon actually was perpetrated by the people who report the crime -- who are then ALWAYS caught in their lies. Half of what's left is failed crime -- someone trying to rob, steal, or assault and failing. And the rest is just utterly petty crime. Stupid, wasteful, idiotic crime.

I think it's a case of selective perception; once you start noticing the crimes, they seem to be everywhere. But mostly, they're just petty and stupid and not really all that dangerous. Having a guy swipe at you with a knife at an ATM is extremely alarming, but he failed. The victim simply drove away.

And even when they succeed, they seem to turn themselves in a few weeks later.

To weed out the fear mongering, I always look at my neighborhood, both home and business. What's happened there?

Nothing.

A rock through a window. A little bit of littering.

Anyway, I know it's not funny, but I do get a kick out of the mug shots on KTVZ.

End of the month numbers.

Gone for five days, and tired today. I do want to get to talking about the bookstore visits and the overall economy of the coast. I'm trying to mull over what I saw, come to some conclusions. Trying to separate the moldy, mildewed, weathered aspect of the coastal businesses with their actual prosperity or lack, thereof.

Also want to get to talking about all the Bulletin stories I missed over the last week. Quite a bit happened while I was gone.

But both of those subjects are for later.

Linda has wi-fi on her Apple laptop, but it was incredibly frustrating to deal with the lousy connections. On the last morning, I finally learned to keep hitting the repeat button until I got the sites I wanted. Still, it was quick visits and on my way.

First thing I did when I got back last night was do the monthly numbers on Pegasus.

Low and behold, we were only down 1.5% from a very good month last year. That's two months this year that were roughly even; January was just down, in all ways. March was down big, but it compared to a huge month last year that was Christmas-sized. April was down just a bit. So, overall we're down 15%.

I'll take it. I thought--best case--we'd be down somewhere between 10 to 20%, so I planned for exactly this much downturn. I was still expanding last year, which always fuels sales if not profits.

More importantly, I actually made good profits in the off season, which is almost unheard of. In fact, I don't think I've ever done that before.

And my store is still prospering. Boy, could I see that when I saw those tired, cluttered, whiff of desperation stores on the coast!

One thing has become clear to me. Comics are the culprit. I had gone into this season hoping that the old saw about comics being 'recession proof' was true, but the opposite seems to be true. I was up significantly in games, toys, books, and cards.

I can see a several reasons why comic sales would be down:

1.) Comics are the hardest to predict, but the easiest to control. I cut the orders down to what I knew I could sell, thus improving profits but perhaps hindering sales. I don't really think that happened...but I have to consider the possibility. I've already begun to up my orders in the last month, partly for summer, partly because I think I over-corrected, partly to get the higher discounts.

2.) Weaker product. The huge crossovers last year were a hit with the comic fans. Civil War, World War Hulk, and others just sold really well. This years crossovers aren't hitting the same way, partly because....

3.) ...I handled the crossovers differently this year. See normally, I would be the customer's big brother and put comics on his or her shelf and tell them they would want it. If I was careful and considerate, the customer would accept my big brother pushiness.

This year, I decided for some reason to see what would happen if I didn't do that. The results were a rather spectacular failure. People picked up roughly half as many copies off the shelf as they would have if I'd made the decision for them.

So, it's back to old practices. Maybe I've just trained everyone that I'll take care of them. Whatever. I've already seen this month with the new summer series that making the 'crossover' decisions for my customers is working better.

4.) It turns out that my customers really are affected by the local economy, and thus are cutting back. Tourists, on the other hand, seem not to have cut back at all. I hate to rely on tourists, but then I am in a tourist zone. The drive to carry material that would sell to people off the street has succeeded.

Anyway, now that I've identified the problem, I feel pretty confident I can correct it. If I get comic sales back up to close to previous levels, and continue to increase sales in other categories, I might even be able to increase sales this summer -- despite the recession, the housing bust, and the high gas prices.

The coast is wet.

Just spent four days in the valley and on the coast. Visited oodles of bookstores.

All in all, I like our stores best.

All in all, I'm glad I live in Central Oregon.

Bookstore visits

I aways announce that "We own a used bookstore in Bend," when we visit other stores. I always swear when I walk out again, that I'll never say it again. The people seemed threatened by that information.

Interestingly, several of the bookstores -- the one in McMinnville and one in Lincoln City had heard about the Bood Barn closing; so apparenty, that has gotten play in the book trade. One store we visited in Lincold City was bemoaning the loss of two used bookstores -- out of six -- which was refreshing. Most of the time, I hesitate to ask if there are other used bookstore around.

Still, it's impressive that there are four in this little short part of the highway. Lots of antique (junk) stores on ever block, and gift (junk) stores on every block. The Pirate motief, which I don't remember much of 20 years ago, in now very common.

I enjoy visiting all these stores. They get me charged up about doing better.

harry potter, harry potter, all the time harry potter

Linda and I have been visiting bookstores -- not in Central Oregon, I must say.

I think Linda has the nicest used bookstore I've seen.  Bar none.  Nice presentation, nice clean organization, and after 5 years, a really nice selection of books.  None of the used bookstores we visit seem to make any effort to clean or straighten up their books.  And it is so easy to do.  Just take a couple loops around the store and straighten.  Really easy.

But no one seems to do it.

And almost all of them have such huge design flaws, especially the old 'paperback trade' type stores, who are adding hardcovers and non-fiction finally, but in such a haphazard way that it probably doesn't work.  (Such no doubt confirming the owners suspicions that hardcovers don't sell, or something.)  One of the stores we visited, I had to make two circuits of the store to find the 'new fiction' shelf; the Oprah kinds of books, best-selling literary works.  And we sell tons of those books -- it's the first thing you see when you walk in our door.

Most of these stores seem to subsist on genre; S.F., mysteries, true crime, and especially romance.  Not that there is anything wrong with these genres, but that they have closed the doors to the possibilities of all other kinds of books.

On the new bookstore front, I had the interesting experience of looking at the 'young adult' sections.  I swear they all look like Harry Potter covers; with or without the black locks and glasses, or the flowing robes or whatever, they still have the same dynamics, color schemes, and yes a Harry Potter looking character on the cover.  And that's it.  Every damn book.  Look in vain for Black Beauty, or Anne of Seven Gables, or any other book.

Same thing with the new fiction section.  It's all so trendy.  All so Book Sense.  All the same. (Book Sense is the organized program by independent bookstores to recommend good books.)

Look, I understand carrying the 20% of bestsellers that everyone wants, but I don't think the answer it to fill the rest of the 80% of the books in the stores with lookalikes and wannabes.

I'd love to take a shot at it, but I could only do it in another life.  I'll probably double my selection of books this summer, but I think I may purposely never look at a Book Sense pamphlet.  Let my own tastes and the recommendations of my customers, be my guide.