Maxwell's Successfully Carves Out a Niche for 13 Years

In 1859 Darwin published his conclusion that species that were adequately different from each other could co-exist in one environment, since they were not directly competing for the same niche. More recently, after owning and running Maxwell's in Bismark, North Dakota, for 13 years, Karen Sakariassen has determined the same thing. Finding a niche is important, said Sakariassen, who responded to competition in the book business by further developing the children's literature and regional sections of Maxwell's, which she owns with her husband, Paul, and her brother-in-law, Eric Sakariassen.

Since its start in 1990, Maxwell's has been in the same location in the Kirkwood Mall in Bismark, a city that abuts the Missouri River and has a population of 75,000. The Sakariassen family has a long history in bookselling that stretches back 70 years. Initially, the Sakariassens began as retailers but shifted their business to wholesale distribution of magazines and mass market books. Eventually, Paul and his brother were interested in establishing a retail business again, though they both continue to operate the distribution business.

Maxwell's is a general bookstore, specializing in children's literature. "We always planned on carrying educational toys and having a large children's section," said Sakariassen who has a B.A. in elementary education. But when Maxwell's bought the space next door two years ago and nearly doubled its size to 4,500 square feet, the new space was devoted to children's literature. Between the old space and new, the Sakariassens built a café.

The extra space gives Maxwell's room to host lots of children's events with some A-list guests such as Clifford the Big Red Dog, the Berenstain Bears, and Curious George. There is no cost for renting the adult-sized costumes, which are loaned by publishers and are usually sent on to the next bookstore after use. "They're really good, professional costumes," said Sakariassen. "The kids love them. Sometimes they participate with smaller costumes."

Sakariassen explained that it's not hard to convince adults to don a big, red fuzzy suit or a bear costume.

"It's fun to be anonymous, but hot, " said assistant manager Brenda Lackman, who has played Clifford. "It's really fun to bring to life a character from a book that kids love so much. You feel like you've made their day."

Over the years Maxwell's has also strengthened its regional section both in-store and out. Aside from working with local schools, the staff also works regional conferences and conventions. Maxwell's recently attended the North Dakota Library Association Conference where Sakariassen said, "We had six different regional authors do a signing, and [we] brought 100 regional titles." She added, "We do a lot of business with North Dakota authors. Native American literature is one of our specialties. And we sell to the librarians who are buying for their libraries. At the conferences, typically they might buy 20 - 30 books each. A lot of the regional titles we sell are hard to come by because they have a tiny publisher, or they're self-published. Librarians like to find all of these titles at one spot."

In addition to establishing its reputation as the place to find an exhaustive selection of regional titles, "we track down hard to find things," commented Sakariassen. "Other bookstores will send people over to us. We'll go the extra mile to help people find those difficult to locate books."

Maxwell's has been a Book Sense store since the program began in 1999, and the store displays the large Book Sense map, showing the locations of other participating bookstores. The 76 fliers, along with Maxwell's newsletter, are available in the store's café.

Sakariassen said that she's noticed customers becoming more cognizant of the value of independent business. "I think people become increasingly aware [of the importance of locally owned business] as they're affected in their life. With the development of the Internet one of the first things to come about was Amazon.com. Now with the Internet affecting so many aspects of business, people want to shop locally. People sometimes think we're a chain, and they'll ask us about it. When they find out we're an independent, they're surprised and happy to hear it."

About her long, successful run at Maxwell's, Sakariassen said, "I've been doing this 13 years, and I love coming to work. There's something to be said for that. We have great customers, and it's always fun to talk books." --Karen Schechner