Finances - Bookstore

With the holidays looming and a recently released NRF survey indicating that debit cards are now more popular than credit cards, it's conceivable that consumers' confusion and indignation over debit card fees found on their bank statements could soon become a significant issue for retailers -- if it isn't already.

On Saturday, June 5, at BookExpo America, ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz conducted the two-hour session "The 2% Solution," a comprehensive seminar that suggested ways in which operators of bookstores could address issues related to lack of profitability. "The thrust of the session is to try to go from a negative profitability to a positive," Domnitz said in his opening remarks. "This used to be called a two percent industry…. The thing that struck me about it, is that it is doable."

In a recent e-mail sent out to all ABA-member bookstores, ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz strongly encouraged bookstores to submit their fiscal 2003 financial statement numbers to the "ABACUS Survey -- Year 2."

As part of its continuing coverage of succession planning issues, Bookselling This Week spoke to six bookstore owners who recently and successfully purchased independent bookstores. Last week, BTW covered "Succession II," a session from BookExpo America moderated by Ivan Barkhorn, a consultant to ABA on strategic matters, and provided a link to Barkhorn's PowerPoint presentation.

California bookseller Amy Thomas has written an open letter to the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association membership explaining why she believes the new ABACUS project is so important to her business, and to independent booksellers. The deadline for reporting for ABACUS Year One is March 31, 2003.

By Amy Thomas

Dear Fellow Booksellers,

One key element to successful bookstore succession planning is to know your ideal buyer and terms. Experts attest that the process of selling a store is complicated enough without having to negotiate with a buyer who is, at best, an unknown quantity.

ABA has begun work to reintroduce the ABACUS industry study with the launch of a new, streamlined Web interface for reporting financial data. A popular ABA product in past years, ABACUS has proven to be a vital research tool for booksellers of every size, offering extensive industry-specific financial breakdowns and analyses that enable independent booksellers to compare their own store's performance and financial health to detailed industry composites.

American banks increased their micro-business loans by 10.1 percent in 2001, according to "Micro-Business-Friendly Banks in the United States," a report issued in August by the Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).