Booksellers School Draws Enthusiastic Crowd

Despite a tough economy, or maybe because of it, more than two-dozen prospective and current booksellers participated in the most recent "Opening a Bookstore" workshop run by Donna Paz Kaufman and Mark Kaufman of Paz & Associates. The program was held from March 16 through March 20, in Amelia Island, Florida.

"It was a full, rich, and exhausting week for attendees," said Donna Paz Kaufman. "With the challenges and opportunities of this economy, it made for a lot of good dialogue and brainstorming about how to be successful in this environment." Of the 26 attendees representing 20 businesses, most had a business background -- there was also one attorney, three educators, an advertising professional, and a real estate agent.

People now seem to be willing to take a risk on something they've always wanted to do, explained Mark Kaufman "They've had this dream of opening a bookstore and decided, if not now, when?"

Workshop attendee Linda Parks bought 18-year-old Fireside Books and Gifts in Forest City, North Carolina, in January 2008. She and her sister, Fireside co-owner Kay Hooper, a New York Times bestselling author, are now buying a historic building downtown, where they plan to relocate the general bookstore. Parks considered the workshop a necessity. "It is invaluable to know the particulars of the bookselling business and how it differs from other forms of retail... [and] to research the area you're interested in and to know the demographics," she said.

Local government has encouraged their decision to relocate Fireside to the downtown area and has offered an economic incentive package, said Parks. Part of the plan includes developing a back alley behind the new location into a patio. "Our city council has been amazing!" she said. "They gave us every single thing that we asked for.... I must say that I have found nothing but excitement and encouragement about where we are going and what our plans are and a willingness to work together from other business owners in the area." The new building will have 7,000 square feet of selling space, with much heavier foot traffic than the store's current location.

This June, Dan and Kathy Comaianni plan to open The Next Chapter in downtown Northville, Michigan. The 3,000-square-foot space will be a general bookstore and bistro. Kathy owns a hair salon and Dan is a real estate agent, and they plan to "tap that knowledge for bookselling," said Dan Comaianni.

The Comaiannis said the Paz workshop was an excellent investment. "The information was very comprehensive. Donna and Mark took us through the realities of the business. We covered distributors, including Baker & Taylor and Ingram, ordering, layout, lighting, POS systems. It changed our thinking dramatically," said Dan Comaianni.

After the only bookstore left in Orangeburg, South Carolina, closed, Dean and Edie Swift decided they would open one themselves. "We had lots of doubts at first but slowly we were able to determine it was feasible," said Dean Swift. "We should take possession of the space in about a week and plan to open the store in June." The 2,000-square-foot general bookstore will be called Swift Books. ("Not very original but we wanted people to know we were local.") Dean has worked as a plant manager and Edie has worked at a Books-a-Million and Bookland bookstore in Somerset, Kentucky.

The "Opening a Bookstore" workshop covered everything from business plans to store set-up to finances and lighting. New topics included the IndieBound movement and e-books. "I had the IndieBound fliers everywhere," said Paz Kaufman. "We talked not only about developing a competitive advantage, but capitalizing on the advantage of being locally owned and helping to sustain the local economy. We discussed e-books -- who uses e-books and who owns them. They're gaining ground in the industry and the Main Street bookstore has to be part of that conversation."

Paz Kaufman said that devoting a week to bookselling reveals all sides of the business to prospective booksellers. "Sometime people become more aware of the risks, and are just too uncomfortable with it. And other times, they're energized by seeing the possibilities."

Paz & Associates will present the next "Opening a Bookstore" workshop on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 26 - 27, in conjunction with BookExpo America. --Karen Schechner