Secret to Long Life for Tudor Book Shop: Adapting to Change

Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly version

The Tudor Book Shop and Cafe in Kingston, just outside Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, recently celebrated 30 years in business. The store's owners, sisters Barbara Shaffer and Lynn Gonchar, observed the occasion with a month filled with a variety of special activities, prizes, and free food.

Originally opened by Shaffer on November 17, 1976, in a 144-square-foot space, Tudor Book Shop has grown to 4,800 square feet, and is now the only full-service independent bookstore in Pennsylvania's Luzerne County. Shaffer has significantly reduced her hours at the store, but Gonchar, who became a partner soon after the store's founding, still oversees the sales floor and a staff of about 15, mostly part-timers, on a full-time basis.

The cafe, which Shaffer and Gonchar added about 10 years ago, has been a boon to business, now accounting for 20 percent of the store's sales. An extensive lunch and breakfast menu is served, and coffee is prepared by trained barristas. With a low minimum purchase, customers can access free WiFi service, and the cafe also houses an art gallery representing local artists and artisans.

"We draw in customers with our handcrafted jewelry and other crafts," Gonchar told BTW. "In the past year, we have begun to promote those items. Throughout November, we held trunk shows to create some excitement; one featured Folkmanis puppets, and another, jewelry. We need to offer different things than the chain stores."

Tudor Book Shop has made a successful foray into stationery -- offering invitations, announcements, and calligraphy, with facilities to customize and print in house. Gonchar said that the store offers "the largest selection of wedding stationery in Wyoming Valley."

Trade books still account for the majority of Tudor's business, however, and Gonchar said that she orders daily from four different distributors and most can deliver a book within a day.

The store faces competition from two giant chain bookstores within a few miles and from malls and big box stores. Downtown Kingston is not a cohesive shopping district, Gonchar explained, and there is plenty of room for improvement. To that end, she has become an active and enthusiastic participant in the Greater Valley Independent Business Alliance, which formed recently with the help of the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association and the American Independent Business Alliance. Gonchar, who is NAIBA's past president, also helped found the Kingston Area Merchants & Professional Association in 2003. --Nomi Schwartz