How To Make It Big With A Used Book Store

Operating a used book store is a lot like owning a recyclingcenter-not too glamourous until you take a look at the owner'sbank account.
This is an ideal "absentee-owner" type of business, or a smallinvestment type business for someone to start while holding downa regular, full time job. The type of person "best-suited" torunning a successful used book store, is a man or woman who lovesto read, has collected books over the years and enjoysassociating with people of similar interests.
Start-up risks average high, with the average time period neededto become firmly established, about 3 years. After that "becomingestablished" stage however, you should be able to enjoy ownershipof a business without extreme market fluctuations, plus an incomeclose to $50,000 per year or more.
Ideally, a used book store will need a market population of atleast 50,000 persons to support it. Try to locate your store in a"high traffic" area, as near as possible to a college oruniversity campus. Something to bear in mind is the shoppinghabits of the average used book buyer: First, he is a browser. Henotices your shop, drops in and begins looking around to see whatkind of books you have available. If he spots something thatreally interests him, he'll probably buy then and there. If not,and provided you've made him feel comfortable this first time inyour store, he'll be back-dropping in to browse whenever he's inthe area.
Shopping Malls are an excellent locations for book stores.Locations near other, or "new" books stores are also very good-if the buyer doesn't find what he wants in the "other" bookstores, he'll check your store. Grocery store shopping centersare generally poor locations for book stores of any kind.
It's important that there be a lot of casual strollers in yourlocation area, and that you encourage these people to drop in,and browse around.
If you want the entire front of your store to be a showwindow...take pains to arrange your window display in anuncluttered manner, showing the kinds of books youhave...However, a window display is not really necessary...moreimportant is a window for the passers-by to see into yourstore...At any rate, if you do go with a window display, keep itlow-never more than 36 inches high leaving a lot of room for thepeople passing to see in youe store, and notice the peoplebrowsing thru your books. We know of one successful operator whohad members of his family, relatives and friends, purposely"browsing" thru his store, just to project that kind of image forthe store.
Once you have your store location selected, paint the entireinterior in a dark, warm color, such as mahogany. Install alighter shade of indoor/outdoor carpet throughout. The lightingshould be indirect, and somewhat subdued to give the store a warmfeeling.
Locate your checkout counter parallel to one of the sidewalls...You don't want it blocking or guarding the easy entry orexit from your store. You want your customers to feel comfortablejust visiting your store. in other words, do everything you canto encourage the browser,because it's proven time and time gainthat the browsers are the book buyers. Allow the people to comeand do generally as they please;to pick up thumb thru the booksthat interest them; to read them and "fall in love" with them.These will be your real book buyers.
Your book shelves should run along each side wall, and across theback of the store. Don't build them more than six feet high.Partition these shelves into sections about four feet wide, andat the top of each section, place a sign indicating the general subject matter of the books to be foundin that section.
Paper the walls of your store, from the top of your book shelvesto the ceiling with posters--colorful and descriptive travelposters, broadway show billboards, concert posters and full colordust jackets from books that are perennially popular.
The next thing is to build or buy half shelves, tables andrevolving racks for other or more books. The half shelves--about4 feet wide by 4 feet high and similar to book cases in yourhome--should be located at right angles to your wall shelves, andin the rear of your store. The tables should be about 3 feet wideby 4 feet long, and about 30 inches high. These also should belocated at right angles to your wall shelves, but closer to thefront of your store. A revolving wire rack, to hold currentlypopular or specially featured books, and located at the front ofyour store, will be a special extra merchandising effort that'llreally pay off in sales of your books.
In locating your half shelves and tables down the middle of yourstore, stagger them--one 3 feet from the wall shelves, the nextone 6 feet out, then 4 feet and so on. This will allow people tobe "seen" in your store; cut down on the appearance of a formalor military layout, and project a more casual atmosphere forbrowsing and this is precisely what you want. This kind ofarrangement will cost you some space, but it will be worth itwith increased traffic.
Another merchandising idea that works very well is a couple ofrevolving wire racks on wheels...These you push outside andposition near the entrance to your store. You can feature popularpaperbacks, and a few oversize hard cover books with bright,flashy colors in these racks.
Your store hours should match those of your neigbors...In fact,you cold "jump off to a quick start," by opening a half hourearlier than your neighbors. Use his opening half hour to takecare of paperwork, and get yourself organized for the day. Whenthe early shoppers see you're open early, they'll begin cominginto your store to "browse and kill time" while they wait for theother stores to open.
If you cannot be there to "open the store," then hire part timehelp. The best arrangement is house wives or college students in4 hour shifts at the minimum wage.
First off, write out a list of duties you want each clerk toperform while he's on shift. In addition to taking care of salestransactions, you might want him to do some stocking, dusting,cleaning, sorting and prcing..Regardless, you'll have fewerproblems and enjoy bigger profits if you formally write these"shift duties" out, and post them as job requirements, andexplain them when you interview for hired help.
Look for, and try to hire only book lovers who are personable,outgoing, and have some sort of business aptitude. You the trainthese people in all phases of your operation, with the thought inmind that they will run the store in your absence, and eventuallybe your store manager. the best way to find such people is bytalking with your customers, observing which might be willing towork for you, and which of them might best fulfill your needs.
You'll need a outside sign for your store- preferably one thathangs right angles to the flow of traffic in front of your store.
Many successful used book stores utilize hand-carved woodensigns, while others display painted signs with calligraphiclettering. By all means, spend the extra hundred dollars or so tohave spotlights installed on your store front, focusing on yourstore signs. Backlit plastic signs just don't create thecomfortable image necessary for the success of a good used bookstore
Newspaper and/ or broadcast advertising will be much moreexpensive than it's worth. Your best bet is to create acomfortable feeling and open invitation for browsers, price yourstock fairly, concentrate on personal service, and letword-of-mouth advertising and time do the rest.
Even so, you should run an ad in the yellow pages. perhaps and adin the college paper, and from time to time, special sales ads inyour local shopping papers. Inexpensive flyers inviting people into exchange books, or to just browse, can be printed at yourlocal quick print shop and handed out or placed under thewindshields of cars in the larger shopping center parking lots.Advertising, and special sales during holiday periods such asChristmas, Mother's Day and Father's Day are generally quiteeffective in bringing new customers into your store.
Most used book store entrepreneurs use their own book collectionsas start-up inventory base. In addition, talk to as manyneighbors, friends and relatives as possible for the donation ofbooks. Then start making the rounds of all the garage sales andflea markets. You should have at least 10,000 books in stock whenyou open for business- and that's a lot of books. Search forbooks to sell-those you can buy for 25 cents or less--in allthrift shops, Goodwill stores and Salvation Army outlets. Churchbazaars and estate sales also sometimes provide you with almost"complete" libraries.
You might place a small ad in your newspaper announcing thatyou're looking for good used books to buy. Generally, youevaluate a book according to the price you think you can get itfor in your store. Then you subtract two thirds of that total,and offer that as your " buying" price. Always separate the booksyou feel certain you can sell from those you aren't sure about.
It's going to take awhile for you to become proficient as a bookbuyer, but with practice and some experience, you'll quicklydevelop the "intuition" you need to realize a profit on everybook you buy. Always flip thru the pages of each individual book,and be sure of its condition before you quote a price. In manyinstances you'll also find that out of a box of 25 books, you'reonly interested in buying 10...The seller will generally bewanting to get rid of his books, now...And for a couple ofdollars more than your "bid price" on the 10 books you want,he'll let you have all 25 of them..This is like a windfall to youbecause you can always use the "unwanted" books as leader itemsor extras to generate traffic during two-for-one sales; all bookson a certain table for just a nickel each; or your choice of freebooks for everyone coming in to browse on certain days..
You should carry hardcover as well as paperback books. Pay nomore than 25% of new price for a mint condition hardcover book,and buy only those you are certain can be sold in your store. payno more than 10% of the new price for a mint condition usedpaperback, and steer clear of the hard-core sexually orientedbooks.
Visit the libraries and book stores in your area. Observe whatpeople are interested in reading and what they're checking out orbuying. Stock your store with these kinds of books. below is a listing of the kinds or types of books you shouldconsider stocking in your used books store:
BUSINESS BOOKS: These should include books on leadership, careeradvancement, time management and people management.
HOW-TO BOOKS: These should include all the self-help andself-improvement manuals you can find--mail order, auto repair,carpentry, metalwork, home building, gardening, and businessstart-up.
COOK BOOKS: You'll probably be surprised at how many people buybooks relating to the culinary arts. A well stocked cookbooksection will mean definite profits for you. Forget about books ondieting, home economics, and etiquette--these just don't do wellin used book stores.
SPECIAL INTEREST BOOKS: Watch and listen to the people of yourarea...Be on the lookout for people into World War, history,aviation, sports perfection, movies and just plain old bookcollectors...
PAPERBACKS: Women's romance, science fiction, mysteries, andhistorical novels are all good movers--currently enjoying anupsurge in popularity and sales. These will be the "best movers"in your inventory, so develop good sources of supply, and pricethem for fast sales.
Building and maintaining your inventory, while continuing torapidly turn that inventory over, can be handled in a number ofdifferent ways. It's not a good idea for you to exchange two orthree of your customer's books for one of yours. There's always avariance in price, plus you may not want the type of books yourcustomer is offering to trade.
The most feasible plan seems to be to give the customer a "creditchit" for each book you buy from him. Simplyhave a supply of business cards promoting your store, printed atyour local quick print shop. On the back of the card, have themprint something along these lines:
"The bearer of this card is entitled to _______________ centscredit on 50% of the listed price of any book at Ye Olden BookStore/s/ Your Signature."
Then when someone brings in a couple of books to sell, you payhim in credit chits, marking in the amount and signing your nameon the card. An easier way might be to have your signatureprinted on the cards when you order them--you or your clerk wouldsimply fill in the credit amount, and emboss the card with anotary-type embosser.
Usually, you allow 20 to 25 cents for mint condition paperbacks,and about one quarter of your selling price for hardbacks. Alwaysmake sure the customer understands that regardless of how many'credit chits" he has, the credit chits can only pay for half thepurchase price. This of course, is to protect your cash-flowproblems, and your income of "hard money."
Many used book stores add to their income potential by addingtape cassette lending libraries. These are a real money makerswith a kind of service tat lends out "books on tape" and speciallearning programs where portions of the rental fee applies to thepurchase of the original tape cassette.
A great many used book stores add to their income by running mailorder book selling operations in addition to the retail business.This is a natural, either for a retail operator wanting to expandhis market or a mail order operator wanting to increase hisincome.
TYPICAL USED BOOK STORE START-UP COSTS....

1,000 TO 1,500 SQUARE FOOT STORE
RENT (1st and Last month's)..........$1,000 to $2,000
UTILITY & PHONE DEPOSITS.............$50 TO 300
INSURANCE (1st Quarter Payment).......$100 TO 200
LICENSES & PERMITS...................$50 to 250
INVENTORY............................$2,500 to 5,000
SHELVING & REMODELING................$2,000 TO 5,000
MISC (Decorating, checkout counter cash register, supplies........$1,000 to 1,500
LEGAL & ACCOUNTING...................$600 TO 1,200
ADVERTISING & SIGNS...................$1,000 TO 3,500 __________________
TOTAL................................$8,250 TO 18,950
OPERATING CAPITAL....................$5,OOO TO 12,000
Entrepreneur should have enough operating capital in reserve tonot only keep the store operating for the first year, withoutcounting on anticipated profit, but also enough for unseenemergencies without having to count upon income from the store tosee him through.

TYPICAL USED BOOK STORE MONTHLY OPERATING COSTS...
PAYROLL.............................$1,500 to $2,500
OWNER/OPERATOR SALARY...............$1,000 to $2,000
RENT/LEASE..........................$ 600 to $1,000
ADVERTISING........................$ 500 to $ 1,000
DEPRECIATION........................$ 100 to 150
UTILITIES & PHONE...................$ 150 to 300
PRINTING & STATIONERY................$ 100 to 200
SHIPPING COSTS......................$ 100 to 150
INSURANCE...........................$ 50 to 100
MAINTENANCE.........................$ 50 to 100
MISCELLANEOUS.......................& 100 to 150 ____________________
TOTAL...............................$4,200 TO 7,650
OPERATING COSTS.....................$4,200 TO 7,650
ANTICIPATED SALES...................$5,000 TO 8,500
NET PROFIT BEFORE TAXES.............$ 800 TO 850
PRO FORMA ANNUAL INCOME (B/T).......$9,600 to 3,000
A word of caution: Though you must project an open, COMFORTABLEinvitation to browsers and would-be book buyers, you MUST alsoinconspicuously guard against shoplifters and outright thieves.The best is to place mirrors strategically throughout the storeso you can see your customers from the checkout desk at alltimes. Your smaller and more expensive books should be kept upfront SO that you can see them and what your customers are doingwith them, without seeming to be guarding them. There are anumber of theft prevention gadgets and devices available, buteven more important is alert hired help that can keep an eye onthe customers without making them feel they're being watched.
The risks of starting a used book store are high for the dreamerunaware that it's just another retail business and should behandled as such. Well organized and intelligently-operated usedbook stores are very stable, and they provide a very comfortableincome for the owner-operator willing to persist thru thestart-up period.
This can be the kind of business you've always dreamed of owning,but you'll have to have the patience to let it grow and theperseverance to see it thru to its ultimate success. With thesethoughts in mind, I say reach for the sky and may the angels ofparadise always be smiling upon you with endless good fortune!