How To Open An Independent Bookstore

What does it take to open a bookstore? Is it as easy as simply loving books? (Spoiler alert: No.) Yet many are choosing to take the literary entrepreneurship leap, often as their first business endeavor. The American Booksellers Association reported at its 2018 annual meeting that there were 1,835 member bookstores, representing an increase of four percent from 2017.

To find out how to go from idea to reality, Forbes.com asked the owners of four recently opened independent bookstores about their path to becoming booksellers.

Bookstore experience is helpful, but not necessary

Many bookstore owners have previous bookstore experience, as is the case with Alsace Walentine, owner of Tombolo Books in St. Petersburg, Florida. Walentine held multiple positions over 16 years at Malaprop’s Bookstore Café in Asheville, North Carolina, working her way up from barista to events director and manager.

On the other hand, Dan Brewster, owner of Prologue Bookshop in Columbus, Ohio, which opened last month, came from a career in software engineering. “I would daydream with friends about opening a bookstore in retirement,” Brewster said.

How much it costs to open a bookstore

How much capital you’ll need to raise will depend on multiple factors, but two major costs are likely to be rent and inventory. Miranda Atkins, owner of A Little Bookish in Ooltewah, Tennessee, was able to open her store in October 2018 after just two months with a $37,000 loan from Tennessee Valley Federal Credit Union, which funded their initial inventory, construction, and signage.

Walentine and her wife put in $2,000 in order to fund their initial venture, a 100 square foot co-owned popup store in , pedestrian-friendly location, which opened in December 2017. Most of that initial funding went toward inventory, while “book-loving people” donated fixtures. After being housed in two temporary popup locations, Walentine now offers book delivery and partners with local businesses for events. She recommends the popup route to anyone considering venturing into bookstore ownership. “Growing a strong foundation before opening a brick and mortar is key because our future success depends on a symbiotic relationship with our customers,” Walentine said.

Walentine plans to crowdfund in order to open a brick and mortar storefront, which she estimates will cost $200,000, a strategy that other bookstores such as Short Stories Bookshop & Community Hub and soon-to-open Lark & Owl Booksellers have used successfully (and some have used to continue operating).

Sabrina Dax, a publicist who’s worked with clients on Kickstarter campaigns ranging from $10,000 to over $600,000, including one for romance bookstore The Ripped Bodice, said that crowdfunding isn’t right for every bookstore, but can be a successful funding route. “It makes sense for a bookstore to launch a crowdfunding campaign if the community for your store's books is active online,” Dax told Forbes.com. “Revenue on Kickstarter, for instance, is driven by engagement on social media platforms, so make sure to think about your audience and assess the level of their engagement with these platforms before you launch your campaign.”

Location, location, location

Brewster said that choosing the neighborhood and retail location for his bookstore were vital—and time-consuming. “It was most important to be in the right spot. That was basically the only thing I couldn't adjust later if needed,” he noted. “Probably half of the year-long preparation process was spent on scouting locations, talking to landlords and real estate agents, and eventually negotiating and signing a lease.”

Brewster believed that because cities like San Francisco supported numerous bookstores, while in Columbus he could count their numbers “on one hand,” the location was ripe for opening Prologue. “The Short North Arts District specifically is one of the premier shopping destinations in central Ohio, and the business owners and consumers there have been hoping a bookstore would move in for years.”

Atkins chose Ooltewah because she lives there and saw a gap in the consumer marketplace. “Ooletwah is growing so rapidly but we still we didn't have our own bookstore. I wanted someplace where people could come and browse, touch and feel a physical book, sit and read, meet with friends, and find that book they want to spend their weekend with.”

For Ally Kirkpatrick, owner of Old Town Books in Alexandria, Virginia, her location represented a return to her hometown and a way to fill customer needs in the neighborhood. She recalled shopping at Olsson’s Books and Records, which closed in 2008; her store’s current location is across the street.

When her wife’s job required a move to Florida, Walentine discovered that St. Petersburg was “fertile ground for an events-driven indie bookstore” because of its mix of “educated Millennials, Gen X and Baby Boomers” and support for the arts. She had a consultant look at consumer spending indices by zip code to ensure that “demand for books exceeds supply of books” in the area.

Timing

It took Kirkpatrick ten months from her initial steps to opening her store on Small Business Saturday, November 24. After sketching out ideas, visiting other independent bookstores and “daydreaming about the shop to see if it was what I really wanted to pursue,” she decided to make it a reality. “I joined the American Booksellers Association and started working with a designer on the website. I got the business plan and financials together with the help of a counselor at the Alexandria Small Business Development Center.”

That step, Kirkpatrick said, “accelerated the launch of the shop. I hadn't planned on opening in 2018, but they connected me to the Alexandra Economic Development Partnership pop-up program, which introduced me to my landlord.” She currently has a six month lease, which she believes is “perfect for testing the waters before signing a longer commercial lease.”

Challenges and advantages of starting a brick and mortar bookstore

Asked about their biggest challenges, the bookstore owners cited everything from writing a business plan to promoting events and customer outreach and, in Kirkpatrick’s case, “unloading, manually receiving, and shelving a thousand books by myself.”

“A lot of the challenges come from not knowing what to expect,” said Brewster. “This caused mistakes and delays, so you have to be able to adapt and be flexible. Keeping all of the moving pieces lined up is always a challenge. There's a lot of pressure on you, and you have to deliver.”

However, the specter of Amazon wasn’t as much of an obstacle as one might expect. “I sell the same product as a lot of online retailers, but with a different experience,” explained Kirkpatrick. “My advantage is that my shop is a community meeting space where readers can come together, discover new ideas, new books, and celebrate their local community.”

Brewster echoed this sentiment. “For books, people have very strong feelings about them in a way they don't for most other types of entertainment,” he explained. “There's an emotional value for many people in having a physical book. The connections you can make through a good book recommendation can resonate for a long time.”

Old Town Books’ first live event, a panel discussion on Kelly Jensen’s mental health anthology (Don’t) Call Me Crazy, drew a standing room only crowd on the store’s third day of being open. “It was really moving to have an important, in-person, discussion, a physical gathering; you can't get that online. Bookstores are places for people to connect. They're about experiences that bring people together. And I think that first event was a huge success because we did just that,” said Kirkpatrick.

Advice for aspiring booksellers

All four bookstore owners cited their peers within the bookselling community as excellent resources for learning about the industry. “The strongest advice I’ve been given, by the most profitable and enduring bookstores across the country, is to buy a building,” said Tombolo Books’ Walentine. “The next best option is to find a philanthropic landlord who understands that to succeed, you need affordable rent. Negotiate for a percentage lease to give you some security and predictability and to ensure that your landlord has your best interests at heart.”

For Brewster, prioritizing the needs of shoppers is crucial. “Some of the best advice I got was about providing an exceptional customer experience,” he explained. “If you're indifferent and don't care about your customers and your community, there are already other bookstores and apps they can use to buy books. By providing great service, you're setting yourself apart.”

Online advice can also have a powerful impact. “I've gotten the best and most useful advice from an indie booksellers group on Facebook,” observed A Little Bookish’s Atkins. “[They] share ideas and answer questions posed by other sellers, anything from the best place to order receipt paper to how to handle sticky situations with customers or distributors.”

As for her own advice to aspiring bookstore owners, Atkins emphasized that wanting to open a store isn’t enough; you also have to make your potential customers want you in the community too. She urges others considering this path to ask what they can offer that will be unique to your shop. “You want your customers to have a reason to come to you over a bigger, potentially cheaper resource,” Atkins said. “You'll need them to see the value in supporting a local business, and you'll need them to fall in love with your shop so that they will want to come back again and again.”