How to Open a Bookstore

The successes of Barnes and Noble, Borders and other bookstores in recent years have encouraged avid readers to open their own shops. New owners and investors fail to realize that it takes more than knowledge of classic literature to run bookstores. Every bookstore owner must establish an effective business plan that sets profit goals, expenses and advertising benchmarks for the first five years. There are several steps that prospective owners need to take before flipping Open signs for their shops.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Choose the type of bookstore that you want to open before developing a business plan. A community overloaded with chain bookstores offers an opportunity for entrepreneurs who open religious, used and specialty bookstores.

2. Examine your interests and personality to develop a public face for your bookstore. The name, logo and slogan for your bookstore should reflect the type of books available as well as the buying atmosphere awaiting consumers.

3. File for a new business license with municipal and state agencies before proceeding any further. An owner will need to supply photos on potential retail spaces, money for filing fees and information about the proposed business to receive this license.

4. Balance rental costs with location when searching for your store's retail space. Independent bookstores should be located in dense residential areas and shopping centers that ensure high amounts of traffic. This space should have restrooms, storage space and large open rooms that are usable for an incoming bookstore.

5. Connect with reliable sources of book, newspaper and magazine inventory before worrying about a bookstore's interior design. Wholesalers like Bookazine and direct connections to publishers are invaluable to store owners who want new books. Every store should think about buyback programs, donations and book swaps as additional sources of used books for customers.

6. Decorate the interior of your bookstore creatively to appeal to artists, writers and readers. Creative owners should speak with art students and schools about mural and shelving projects that are instructional for young artists. This relationship supplies a new store with inexpensive design pieces and creates a connection with the local community.

7. Install several reading areas throughout the store to encourage consumers to sample books and magazines. Each area should have reading lamps, tables and chairs to create a comfortable environment for prospective buyers.

8. Hire a small staff of reliable employees several weeks before opening your bookstore. An owner should look for two or three managers with experience in bookselling along with several part-time cashiers and stockers. These employees can help with stocking shelves, setting out decorations and creating word of mouth advertising before the store's opening day.

9. Organize an opening day event to encourage first-time visitors to return for additional purchases and special orders. This day-long event should feature discounts on specific books, visits by local authors and coupons for future purchases to stand out from existing bookstores.

10. Aim creative advertisements for your bookstore at high-impact areas before the opening day event. Brochures, simple posters and opening day coupons should be distributed to colleges and libraries frequented heavily by local readers.

Tips & Warnings

• Partner with local schools, publishing companies and printers to create special programs that draw attention to your bookstore. Locally owned bookstores host book clubs, children literacy programs and monthly speeches by authors to increase their profile among readers.
• Plan your bookstore's business hours carefully to take advantage of high concentrations of pedestrian traffic. A used bookstore that is located in a downtown area should concentrate their hours during the day when passing students and professionals are looking to shop. Suburban book sellers and specialty shops should remain open until mid-evening to generate higher sales among consumers running errands in nearby shops.
• Invest in a cash register and credit card machine to avoid frustrating consumers who are used to myriad payment options. Companies like Inland Cash Register sell registers, machines and receipt tape to bookstores nationwide that want to accommodate their customers.

Resources

• Inland Cash Register
• Bookazine

[majal]

on 3/25/2009 Thanks for the info. Very informative with a lot of information to mull over!

[michblue]

on 3/16/2009 Funny mentioning Inland Cash Register. I opened a shop a couple years ago and they were amazing. Their support team is fantastic! Even years later they are still so helpful

[SDKP]

on 11/30/2008 Very true. Having a reliable store with long open hours is never enough. In the end, it's largely a crapshoot.

[pazbookbiz]

on 10/14/2008 Having facilitated workshops for prospective booksellers for the American Booksellers Association for years, I'd like to offer one important point: Study the financial dynamics of retail bookselling before you look for a location and certainly before you sign a lease or other legally binding documents. Margins in the book business are much lower than in other forms of retail and even a small bookstore relies on technology to maintain service standards and a quality selection.
You'll find free reports to print from our site and a comprehensive guide to developing your own bookstore at www.PazBookBiz.com.
Donna Paz Kaufman
The Bookstore Training & Consulting Group
Paz & Associates

[pazbookbiz]

on 10/14/2008 The information presented here is a sound overview of the necessary steps, but there's so much more to it. Without a thorough understanding of the financial dynamics of retail bookselling, the number of hats you have to wear, and consumer behavior and expectations, it's very difficult to run and sustain a profitable business.