ABACUS

ABACUS not only helps me run my business better — I share it with my bookkeeper, landlord, and staff — but it also allows ABA to illustrate to our industry partners the economic realities of indie bookstore operations, and helps everyone work on how to reduce our costs and sell more books all around.
— Jamie Fiocco, ABA President, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Running a bookstore without ABACUS is like trying to drive a car blindfolded. If we don't understand, at a visceral level, the drivers of profitability, we can't create a budget, manage payroll, make decisions about product mix, or have meaningful conversations with our landlords. It's as necessary to our business as a point of sale system, a website, or phone system.
— Len Vlahos, Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver, Colorado

I've been completing the ABACUS survey and using the results every year since I bought Red Balloon in 2011. It is such an important planning tool for me, and now that the results are coming back earlier, it is even more helpful. These numbers give me more perspective on how our bookstore is doing and helps our bookstore set financial goals for the coming year. Thank you, ABA, for doing this survey every year!
— Holly Weinkauf, the Red Balloon

Completing the ABACUS reporting is one of those rare tasks that pays off over and over again. The reporting is robust and flexible. I find myself looking at different aspects of the business throughout the year, and I use ABACUS to see how we compare to our peers and to help my leadership team understand what we need to improve upon.
— Melissa DeMotte, The Well-Read Moose, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

I’m grateful that we have the opportunity to participate in and benefit from ABACUS. It allows us to look at financial and operational benchmarks set by our colleagues around the country, look at our own performance, and ask, ‘Why is this different?’ I can say with confidence that we’re a much healthier store today than we would be without ABACUS.
— Andy Perham, Books Inc., San Francisco, California

ABACUS is essential to validating our store's performance to those outside our business — from the landlord and banker to business consultants and community investors. ABACUS is a convincing industry standard that proves our model works!
— Nicole Magistro, Bookworm of Edwards, Edwards, Colorado