From Crain’s:
When the Barnes & Noble in Baychester closed in 2016, Noëlle Santos was determined to ensure that the Bronx would not be bereft of a bookstore for long.
Nearly two years after opening her first pop-up shop, Santos, who recently walked away from a six-figure salary as a human resources executive, is putting the finishing touches on The Lit. Bar, a bookshop-wine bar in Mott Haven opening in the fall.
But Santos’ plans go well beyond retail success: She wants her 2,300-square-foot shop to become a focal point for connecting Bronx residents to a literary world she didn’t know existed when she was a local public school student in the 1990s. Her store’s website makes playful use of that backstory, declaring: “The Bronx is burning … with desire to read,” upending the infamous epithet from the 1970s.
To critics who contend that the idea of opening an independent brick-and-mortar bookshop is a good 20 years behind the times, Santos counters with a broader-than-books-alone business plan. She envisions publishing original content and running a bookmobile—she has even been approached about possible franchising opportunities.
“The Lit. Bar is a media company that sells books and wine,” Santos said. “We’re creating our own literary ecosystem.”
. . . .
In the past year, SoHo-based McNally Jackson expanded to Williamsburg; Kew & Willow Books debuted in Kew Gardens, Queens; Book Culture expanded to Long Island City; Café Con Libros opened in Crown Heights; Shakespeare & Co. launched a kiosk near Hunter College; mobile merchant Boogie Down Books began selling at Mottley Kitchen in Mott Haven; and Codex Books debuted on the Bowery.
More independent outlets are in the works. McNally Jackson has deals in place for two new outposts, and Shakespeare & Co, which is opening a shop in Greenwich Village early next year, and Book Culture have been scouring prime Manhattan retail corridors as part of ambitious national expansion plans.
These entrepreneurs are reinventing the traditional brick-and-mortar bookshop model—and boosting profit margins—by increasing their assortment of nonbook offerings and stepping outside their stores to sell books off-site. Funding options are more creative too, including crowdsourcing and community-based lenders in place of traditional banks.
Link to the rest at Crain’s and thanks to Nate at The Digital Reader for the tip.
I know of at least 3 people making a living selling books in my midsized town of Redding, CA (pop 90k, maybe 180k in the county).
They sell new and used, 2 have brick and mortar store fronts, 1 sells at the flea market on the weekends and online during the week (he sells his overstock at the flea market).
They also sell comic books at the gas station near my movie theater. I bought a Doc Savage there the other day for a dollar.
Hahah. We are turning back time around here!
High Street Butcher’s becomes a Coffee Shop to survive. Isn’t a Butcher any longer.
Hush you – let them pretend if it keeps them from bothering the rest of us. 😉
Books are just like lots of other products. Specialty stores no longer work.
The Apple Store is a specialty store. There are high-end malls built around having an Apple store and a group of branded high fashion boutiques. Starbucks is a specialty store, too. Anytime an entrepreneur takes a commonly available product and gives it a luxury treatment you have a specialty store.
It is indeed. But the Apple stores are dwarfed by the decline in shoe stores, mens clothing stores, dress stores, butcher shops, candy stores, tailors, produce stores, etc.
Luxury outlets are a shadow of the number of main street specialty stores that have disappeared.
The effect of economic pressures isn’t measured by the exceptions. It’s measured by the aggregate trends.
Apple created their stores when they saw how badly their products where being sold and supported in electronic stores and department stores. At the time retailers did not care about Macintosh computers with its non standard operating system and less then 5 percent of the market. Apple staffed its stores with people who knew their products. More importantly Apple now uses the stores for service and support an easy way to get help with a complex set of products. That is not luxury that is a specific solution to a specific need. How many other products are there where some of the cost of support is still built into the product (in Apple’s case some of the Apple Tax) so that the vendor can finance shop fronts ?
As for Starbucks you are strait up paying for the service of someone else making you a cup of coffee. Outside of the food industry how many service industries can exist in malls ?
A mall exists primarily to be the last step in the product distribution chain before the consumer. Amazon seems to want to be that step.
Of course, New York City is the Mecca of Book Culture. The only center of Book Culture the US needs is right in New York City. Noplace else is allowed to have a thriving Book Culture, not even if it’s in another country, because New York City is the center of the Book Universe.
Seriously though, I’m actually torn. I’m happy that these people are making their bookstores viable outlets for print material, but at the same time I’m thinking that it’s a clear sign that times are changing for the worse for B&M bookstores if they have to sell unrelated nonbook items to make a profit.