A Lively Exchange of Ideas in Northern California

ABA held a Booksellers Forum and Education Program on Tuesday, February 15, in conjunction with the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association (NCIBA) at the regional's offices in the Presidio in San Francisco. NCIBA Executive Director Hut Landon described the event, attended by 36 booksellers, as "really upbeat. People raised a lot of good issues, questions, and concerns. I felt the sentiment in the room was ABA and booksellers are partners in our efforts to continue to try to keep independent booksellers happy, healthy, and wise."

Landon told BTW that it was the first time ABA's Education Program was part of the NCIBA spring forum, and he noted that it was a "terrific addition." The forum began with ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz's inaugural presentation of "It's in the Payroll," which elaborates on a component of ABA's extremely successful seminar, "The 2% Solution." Landon reported that the presentation was "very well received" by attendees.

Alzada Knickerbocker of The Avid Reader in Davis said that she found Domnitz's presentation "helpful," adding, "It was very handy to have [Domnitz] walk through working with payroll, showing the steps you could take to maximize staff." Knickerbocker said that booksellers found the information so useful that they asked to have a follow-up session at NCIBA's spring workshops, at which booksellers could then compare completed worksheets.

Debbie Echlin, owner of A Great Good Place for Books in Oakland, also found the session valuable. "We've all heard 'The 2% Solution,' but this went into much more detail about not just cutting payroll, but managing it. It went into flexing and adapting payroll to a specific store's needs, so, for example, a store wouldn't be heavily staffed during non-peak periods." Echlin said she was looking forward to attending ABA's education programs on margins, occupancy, and other issues to be offered at BookExpo America in June. (For a look at the complete list of ABA's education sessions at BEA, click here.)

Following Domnitz's presentation, there was an open forum where booksellers discussed a number of issues with ABA senior staff including Domnitz, COO Oren Teicher, and BookSense.com Director Len Vlahos. Echlin said the forum was a "great way for [NCIBA] members to meet face to face with ABA personnel, where we could pass along not so much our concerns as information to them." Some of that information included discussing POS systems, said Echlin, and how ABA could monitor various POS systems' ability to be nimble in an industry facing changes, including the expansion of the ISBN to 13 digits.

Both Echlin and Knickerbocker mentioned that NCIBA booksellers wondered if BookExpo America could be brought to San Francisco. "There was some explanation that the convention center in San Francisco has many buildings, which was considered a drawback, although San Francisco is an attractive place," said Knickerbocker. Other BEA-related topics included lobbying opportunities available to booksellers and ABA when BEA is in Washington, D.C., in 2006.

Booksellers discussed ABA's continuing efforts regarding sales tax equity, the Patriot Act, and First Amendment issues. Echlin told BTW, "We talked about sales tax and how some online booksellers who aren't charging sales tax put local businesses and bookstores at a disadvantage." Forum attendees also talked about involving consumers in the sales tax issue by educating them about the benefits local businesses bring to their community as evinced in studies such as the "The Andersonville Study of Retail Economics," she said.

Landon summed up the general attitude of the forum, "It was a positive gathering. Booksellers and ABA were working together to make our future better; that was the feeling in the room from my perspective." --Karen Schechner

[NOTE: Watch for a report on ABA's Forum and Education Program held in Long Beach, California, on February 16 in next week's edition of BTW.]