Help me build a bookshop...

[Arlanymor]

Say you were going to be made redundant in two years. And say you are at the midpoint in your career. And say maybe it's kind of now or never to really commit to your own business... and that business is an independent bookshop.

What would you like to see? What would make it stand apart? Other than bookshop obvious things... like the sales of books! Author events/signings/etc.

Early ideas:

• Monthly book prescription/subscription service
• Friday/Saturday later opening with a 'quiet wine' space (for those who don't want to read books in pubs) - or can be beer, just doesn't rhyme...
• Community room to be booked for DnD, Stitch and Bitch, etc. low rates
• Monthly book session - not a book club, but more of a thematic thing, like: The line in literature that stuck with you the most - so people can share their own preferences and not have to read the same thing every month
• Collaboration with local city farm
• Read and Relax - book and spa experience

No idea too 'out there'... they wanted to open up a cat café in my city not so long ago but I am so unsure about the ethics of that and would want to take them all home to my flat at the end of the day anyway... not practical.

I’ve worked in three bookshops op, the biggest pull that we could see is young adult and kids’ sections- manga books. As you said quiet and sensory time, open evenings, including getting local indies in and kid’s crafting sessions.best of luck!

Yeah it sounds a lot more like a community space / library idea? I think a subscription library sounds amazing.

The bookshops in my city that are doing well tend to have a theme - there's a romance one and a sci-fi themed one etc.

Wait, where. I was just about to say I would pay good money for this and I’m local to Leeds…

Sounds all wondering theory but how on earth would you make money from it?

There is an independent bookshop in my town which seems to do well (though obvs I haven't seen their accounts!). It is very beautiful and well stocked, and it does have little nooks with comfy chairs. They will also offer you free tea and coffee and maybe a biscuit if you hang around long enough looking thirsty. I think this does actually encourage sales because many people will feel they ought to buy something if they stay long enough to drink the coffee, and even if they don't, they'll probably come back next time they want to buy something. They do lots of author events and signings, for which they sell tickets whose face value goes towards the cost of the book. So if you don't buy the book, they keep the ticket money, and if you do, they've sold a book.

However, I think they make it work because: they are part of a small chain and clearly had a lot of money to set it up in the first place; they are located in a town where there are lots of people who like having physical copies of books, and have enough disposable income not to shop around for a few pounds off.

None of the ideas in the OP sound like they'd make any money, as nice as some of them are. There's a reason why bookshops run book clubs where everyone reads the same book, and it's so they can sell copies of the book. And you want to run Stitch & Bitch if you've got a cafe or a pub, because you can sell drinks; you can't read books at the same time as knitting and talking.

Also how do you make quiet rhyme with wine?

I'm part of a bookshop cooperative. Bookshops are hard. They're struggling. You can't just have a wine corner, you need a licence for this if drinks are sold on premise (it's costly). And if people bring their own, then you have all the hassle of people drinking around easily damaged stock without any of the benefits. Re stock: keep too much and your outlays are too big and you don't know what your customers are after. Too little and they can't browse. We sell a mix of second hand and new books, fulfil online orders, have a sitting space a drinks licence, regular groups, comedy nights etc etc. We only just about still exist and only because Volunteers run the shop for free. I'd think really hard if this is your career alternative. It's a labour of love sure. But no bookseller right now will tell you they're not worried about the future.

I wouldn't open a shop/community space in the current climate. The high street is dead and the costs of running a small business are only becoming increasingly prohibitive under the current government.

I run a hobby shop with a community/event space with my DH. We opened up 15 years ago and whilst we're still making a decent living from it, the profit comes from the retail side and webstore sales. Selling niche (out of stock in most other places items). The events/community space has been dead since covid and is only just still viable to keep on. We're selling up next year as it's becoming increasingly hard work for very little reward.

Hay on Wye is one of my favourite places for a weekend away! The bookshops are not what they used to be - I first went in the early 90s and thought I’d died and gone to heaven! And I still miss the fantastic jigsaw puzzle shop. But there are still some lovely shops there and the Swan Hotel is great.

Jigsaw puzzles OP? You could sell those too.

Vellum?

Shaun Blythell's books also lists the amount of money he takes each day.

Sometimes it's literally a few pounds. It's not that often that it's even NMW for the time his shop is open, let alone cover the cost of stock, wages/NI etc for the PT staff he employs, rates, utilities, insurance etc etc. And that's in the largest second hand bookshop in Scotland in a 'book town' run by a man who has also written a successful series of books about his shop.

While a lovely idea, opening and running a bookshop is almost certainly a good way of using up your redundancy money in not very long at all.

If you want to do something 'bookish', how about volunteering in a community funded library (because due to council funding cuts, many don't actually employ that many paid staff any more) alongside a job guaranteed to pay you NMW instead of potentially cost you thousands of pounds a year.

Retail is all about the experience, these days, given that we can all order everything online. So you need to think about how you can add value for your customers.

Kids events/storytime/quizzes to promote non-fiction books etc
Maybe a range of different book clubs to suit different tastes, demographics and lifestyles - free/ reduced cost if they buy the books from you, or at a higher cost if they purchase the books elsewhere.
Space to sit and browse in a relaxing way
Writers' workshops/groups?
Knowledgeable staff who actually love books
Special events for adults - speakers, signings etc.
Some sort of "reading for wellbeing" themed activities.
Coffee shop in house

I think it's probably really hard these days to run a profitable independent bookshop, but if you can make it enough of a destination, you might succeed. I wish you the best of luck, OP!

Love your idea. Waterstones in Glasgow has a reading lounge with coffee shop which is fantastic.You can see clips on YouTube to get the idea if its too far to visit.

Just my opinion, but I think you would need to be in a university town or a known "book town" such as Wigtown or Hay- on -Wye to get enough punters to make this work.

If your bookshop had living space attached could you do something like the Open Book in Wigtown? It’s an Airbnb rental with bookshop as part of the offer - it’s booked up over a year in advance!

www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/7908227?viralityEntryPoint=1&s=76

You would need to look at rents in local towns...to have a lovely space for coffee and a board game area and a pottery painting area or whatever means you need more space. And more rent.
I have coffee at my desk at times and am paranoid about not spilling it. Red wine and americano stains books.

And employing staff (which you would have to do, if you want to run all these events at different times of the day/evening, serve coffee and/or wine, etc) is a whole other issue...

So, OP, you've got:

Rent
Business rates
Building insurance
Business insurance
Public liability insurance
Utilities
Salaries
Employer's NI contributions
Pension contribs
Payroll
Accountant/Bookkeeper
Alcohol Licence for the premises (and you might not get that)
Personal Licence for you
Commercial rubbish collection
Glasses, crockery, etc
Coffee machine (has to be a big, good one these days)
Cakes etc
Licence from the local council to serve food
Fridge, kettles (for teas) etc
Furniture - tables, chairs, armchairs etc
Working capital

Oh, and - stock! Lots and lots of books...

And that's just off the top of my head.

And that's before you even start on a website, marketing, advertising, TripAdvisor, reaching out to local groups, bloggers, etc.

Luckily they aren't going to get Temu to mass-produce copies!

Oh and of course you'll need employer's insurance, and fire extinguishers, and fire extenguisher test, and PAT tests done on all your electrics regularly. And vermin control, if you're selling food.

I was in a rush when I posted yesterday and the 2 book owners I know. One started out in an indoor market place and one with a van. I believe this helped them develop a customer base before committing to an actual shop.

There’s a fancy bookshop near me. It is visually lovely, has a cafe, teens like it. They don’t buy books - the selection is tiny and there isn’t a lot to draw them in. The owner is a bit yummy mummy so I assume doesn’t need to turn a profit.

Really, it’s all about the books. If I want to buy a book I will usually go to Waterstones because they have a good selection, lots of recommendations and blurbs, and huge topic selection. I love a huge bookstore, as do my kids. It’s all about the browse; if it’s a specific book I’m after I’ll go to Amazon but I tend to buy all my fiction in store because I need to browse and am open to reading new things.

In a local bookshop I would love a book club, a decent cafe, knowledgeable staff - these three things would draw me away from a chain, but if you don’t have a wide variety I’m not going to buy!

I hate bookshops with chairs for people to sit and read - I don't want people to read the book before I buy that copy, it's not a library.

I like:
Good kids books selection
Pocket money section of books & toys
A selection of gift cards/wrapping paper
Recommended book selection - either staff picks or "if you like this, you'll like this" style

Our local indie bookshop does mystery books (wrapped up so you don't know what it is) and themed hampers as well as author sessions, book clubs, kids competitions, lovely window displays

Bookshelves. Unless you are going to pile all the books on the floor.

Good bookshelves are expensive and the kind of people who use bookshops aren't really happy with assorted second hand grot.

Recently found a lovely charity shop that had

Hot drinks
Fresh baked cakes
Seats to sit & have coffee & cake, whilst having time to browse the books & other things in the shop

I almost always prefer to read on my kindle these days, so I want the sort of books that don’t work for that. Craft books with paper patterns, books to give as gifts, books that are beautiful objects. I am also always looking for bookshops which stock proper romance novels, not romance-adjacent novels. Give me a guaranteed happy endings only section and I’ll love you forever.