Midwest Booksellers Enthusiastic About ABA/MBA Booksellers Forum & Education Program

On Saturday, March 12, booksellers from approximately 20 bookstores attended the ABA/Midwest Booksellers Association (MBA) Booksellers Forum and Education Program at the Hilton Garden Inn in Bloomington, Minnesota. ABA-sponsored educational sessions included "It's in the Payroll" and MBA and ABA jointly sponsored the Booksellers Forum.

The day kicked off with the MBA-sponsored morning session, "The Human Resources/Benefits Input & Planning Session," from 11:45 a.m. - 12:45 p.m. The seminar discussed the resources needed to deal with issues such as rising healthcare costs, HR compliance requirements, and employee benefits on a limited budget. "The session on human resources and benefits facilitated by Schwarz Williams Companies provided essential information for store owners -- and, more importantly, gave booksellers hope that some lower cost benefits options do exist out there!" said Susan Walker, executive director for MBA, via e-mail.

Booksellers from large and small stores alike were enthusiastic about the seminar, "It's in the Payroll!" which was presented by ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz. In the session, Domnitz stressed that payroll costs are the single largest expense for bookstores. He examined what is included in the payroll line (total compensation), and provided practical, usable tools for budgeting, scheduling, and controlling payroll, regardless of the size of their store. He also reiterated that he'd be happy to help anyone in filling out the 2005 ABACUS study survey. (For a previous article on the ABACUS survey, click here.)

In regards to "It's in the Payroll," Walker told BTW, "Avin's ability to clarify this essential subject was praised by all who attended." In addition, booksellers were excited to learn that the spreadsheet tools" described during the presentation will be available on a CD to all attendees.

Lance Fensterman, general manager of Bound to Be Read in St. Paul, Minnesota, and incoming member of ABA's Booksellers Advisory Council, brought all the managers of the 20,000-square-foot store to Domnitz's payroll session. He told BTW, "I have attended [Domnitz's sessions] with the store staff previously, but never with my managers. They needed to hear this, partly to understand the rationales behind" such management decisions as to implement cross training.

Owner of Books & Company in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, and MBA board member Diana Cohen, concurred that "It's in the Payroll" was a great session. "We were taught what you need to do and how you need to do it and, [when follow-up CDs are sent] here are the spread sheets to do it on. What a great tool for bookstore managers." Even after owning Books & Company for 22 years, Cohen still walked away from the sessions with a lot of new information that she could immediately put into practice.

Joan Belongia, owner of Brown Street Books in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, was also pleased that when she filled out her ABACUS form, she would then be able to compare her information with that of other bookstores. "It's invaluable information," she told BTW. "Booksellers have to attend to the costs to stay in business."

Fensterman concluded, "Payroll is the first and last place to look [to tighten budgets]. You can tweak some from freight to occupancy costs to turning the heat off at night. But payroll costs are not a departmental issue -- they are the most fundamental store issue."

At the ABA/MBA Booksellers Forum, held from 2:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. "discussion at the Forum focused on Book Sense and BookSense.com," Walker reported. "Booksellers want ABA to help push Book Sense to a higher level of consumer awareness, commenting that the program has high visibility within the book industry but still needs a bigger presence with the general public. BookSense.com needs greater visibility, too, but many stores with BookSense.com (or other) websites don't do all they can to make the connection for their customers between their physical stores and their websites. ABA and MBA reminded booksellers again that their reporting to the Book Sense Bestseller List (preferably through BookScan) is vital to the credibility and value of the list."

Walker noted that attendees talked about the Book Sense Gift Card program, as well. "Smaller stores continue to be concerned about the price of the cards, although their fellow booksellers, and ABA, assured them again that they will make money from gift cards when they take part in the program. Stores that participate actively praised the gift cards and urged their colleagues to market them vigorously to their customers," she said. Discussing such initiatives as the gift cards, Book Sense, the MBA Catalog, the new MBA Bookstore Event & Media Guide (currently in the compilation stage), Walker emphasized that "they are all tools. They work best when booksellers use them actively and creatively, and when they tailor these tools to their own stores and communities."

Said Books & Company's Cohen about the dynamics of the forum meetings: "Once people start raising issues, the conversation goes all over the map," she said. "When new people ask about a program, like gift cards, booksellers who've been using them for a while can explain why they're worthwhile. Sometimes answers come from ABA staff and sometimes it's someone in the audience."

Booksellers unable to make the Bloomington program may wish to attend an ABA/MBA forum and education program in Kansas City, Missouri on April 16. Watch for details in an upcoming issue of BTW. -- Nomi Schwartz