Friday, December 12, 2008
Books It's Not Just the Big Chains
Posted by Paul Constant on Fri, Dec 12, 2008 at 10:05 AM
Slog tipper Steve points to this:
Powell's Books is asking employees to scale back their hours or take sabbaticals to cope with disappointing sales.Powell's is one of the nation's largest independent booksellers. But like many other retailers, it is seeing the impact of the recession on sales.
The chief of operation at Powell's, Ann Smith, says December sales are below projections and the company is adjusting its inventory, operating expenses and staffing to cope.
Powell's management informed its 500-person staff this week that they could reduce their schedules or take advantage of expanded options for sabbaticals.
Thank you to Steve for ruining my morning before my second cup of tea. Everyone else: Please shop at your local independent bookstore. Someone in a comment thread a while back equated my requesting that everyone intentionally shop at a local independent bookstore to bailing out the Big Three. This is stupid. Bookstores are an important part of our cultural community and we should support them the way we would help a friend in need. The money you put into local bookstores stays local, and it keeps us all from sitting, pasty-faced, in our apartments and waiting for another drab cardboard box full of books to be dropped at our doorstep. I cannot emphasize this enough: This is important.
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1
I'm with you whole-heartedly in principle, but it's tough, man, with the economy in the shitter -- the books I'm eyeing are 30 percent cheaper on Amazon, and I don't have excess cash right now either ...
3
I totally made the conscious decision to ditch Amazon this year and shop and ship locally. I just don't want to risk a potential loss.
4
Yeah! Fight the future! Because if you enjoy the convenience of shopping online, you are obviously a pasty faced shut in!
Why is saving book stores so important? Where was the outcry when all the music stores on Broadway started disappearing? This is progress, and the future (and for the most part, present) of commerce is online.
The stores that will survive will be the ones that adapt, that specialize in something, and that conduct business online as well as in the real world. There is nothing, nothing at all that prevents any business from conducting e-commerce.
Why is saving book stores so important? Where was the outcry when all the music stores on Broadway started disappearing? This is progress, and the future (and for the most part, present) of commerce is online.
The stores that will survive will be the ones that adapt, that specialize in something, and that conduct business online as well as in the real world. There is nothing, nothing at all that prevents any business from conducting e-commerce.
6
Nooooooooo. Not Powell's!!!!
Powell's is my absolute favorite bookstore in the whole wide world. It is half the reason I go down to Portland every few months.
Must. Save. Powell's.
Powell's is my absolute favorite bookstore in the whole wide world. It is half the reason I go down to Portland every few months.
Must. Save. Powell's.
7
I've bought a book or two from Powell's through Amazon. But nope, it is Amazon first and foremost.
Quit your whining. Seattle is quite a haven for the homeless. Homeless shelters will be available for those whose jobs are now threatened in the cultural "sector." What goes around comes around and it looks like maybe, HOPEfully, just maybe this is the start of some karmic payback to anti-union "liberals." Nice. Of course unfortunately those who might be pro-union will suffer too. Not nice.
Quit your whining. Seattle is quite a haven for the homeless. Homeless shelters will be available for those whose jobs are now threatened in the cultural "sector." What goes around comes around and it looks like maybe, HOPEfully, just maybe this is the start of some karmic payback to anti-union "liberals." Nice. Of course unfortunately those who might be pro-union will suffer too. Not nice.
8
I must be feeling like a cranky capitalist today…. Either they are a viable business or they are a charitable organization providing a service to the community. Which one is it?
In order to be viable long-term, given the rise of Amazon, they either need to reinvent their business model or convince customers that what they have to offer the community something worth paying extra for (both of which are extremely difficult, but not impossible).
If they are not viable as a for-profit company, and they want to be more of a “literary community center” type organization, then convert to a nonprofit. Bookstore still exists, community is still served, people still have jobs and get paid (maybe even more jobs since they hire grantwriters and development folks, though I haven’t thought that one through entirely).
In order to be viable long-term, given the rise of Amazon, they either need to reinvent their business model or convince customers that what they have to offer the community something worth paying extra for (both of which are extremely difficult, but not impossible).
If they are not viable as a for-profit company, and they want to be more of a “literary community center” type organization, then convert to a nonprofit. Bookstore still exists, community is still served, people still have jobs and get paid (maybe even more jobs since they hire grantwriters and development folks, though I haven’t thought that one through entirely).
9
Or, y'know, do both -- order on-line from Powells, and then you're buying from an independent bookseller -and- you get to have a box show up at your door.
Paul: perhaps you could recommend some of your favourite independent booksellers in Seattle? The U Bookstore and Elliott Bay seem to be the main ones (plus Twice Sold Tales), but I bet there are great ones I've never heard of.
Paul: perhaps you could recommend some of your favourite independent booksellers in Seattle? The U Bookstore and Elliott Bay seem to be the main ones (plus Twice Sold Tales), but I bet there are great ones I've never heard of.
10
(If you're in Vancouver, BC, go to Pulp Fiction--they've got one location at Broadway and Main, and another in Kits. Their six employees are all buyers, each with their own interest; for two examples, the B'way and Main store has a great Beat section, while the Kits one has a huge sci-fi/fantasy paperback section. And they're wonderful, and give decent trade-in credit--55%! if you take store credit--on used books.)
11
The company my wife works at was also given similar instructions: Volunteer to get paid less, or we'll cut your jobs!. Here's a radical suggestion: Instead of cutting 500 of your lowest-paying jobs, why not cut 1 or 2 of your highest-paying jobs, hmm? What's good for the goose isn't so good for the gander after all?
12
If you are buying a book for someone who lives far away, or you are traveling but still need to slip someone a book, you can find an indie bookstore near them and buy online from that store. Better for shipping (and carbon footprint etc).
bunch of search sites for indie stores, here's one:
http://www.indiebound.org/indie-bookstor…
Just did this myself, found an Indie store in San Francisco to send something to my mother in the Bay Area.
bunch of search sites for indie stores, here's one:
http://www.indiebound.org/indie-bookstor…
Just did this myself, found an Indie store in San Francisco to send something to my mother in the Bay Area.
14
@4: nobody bitched when Orpheum closed because they were staffed by assholes. If I want the stink-eye from someone regarding my musical tastes, I'll show my CDs to my friends.
I do all my book shopping at the U bookstore because I get the bitchin' 10% back at the end of the year. I never shop online because I'm impatient. However, I may start doing so at Powell's because they deserve my money far more than Amazon.
I do all my book shopping at the U bookstore because I get the bitchin' 10% back at the end of the year. I never shop online because I'm impatient. However, I may start doing so at Powell's because they deserve my money far more than Amazon.
16
I went to Horizon Books on 15th ave to find an old copy of Geek Love to read a while back, and asked teh salesperson if he had this book in his inventory. He thought for a moment, by Katherine Dunn, right? He did not check a computer. And then walked through a maze of bookshelves and books stacked in winding tall spires on the floor and then stopped at one of these stacks. He ran his finger down the spines from top to bottom and then stopped in teh middle. It was very mysterious. Then he looked back at me. Yes. I do have this book in inventory. And he handed me the stores only copy of this random book. How neato is that?! Will this ever happen to you in a superbookmart? Nah, it won't.
GO TO YOUR LOCAL USED BOOKSTORES BITCHES! Not only will you promote the goodness, help employ the talented, and do good for local economy, blah blah... INTERESTING SHIT WILL HAPPEN.
GO TO YOUR LOCAL USED BOOKSTORES BITCHES! Not only will you promote the goodness, help employ the talented, and do good for local economy, blah blah... INTERESTING SHIT WILL HAPPEN.
17
I totally shopped Powell's last weekend. They were effin' faster than Amazon, there was no tax and you know EXACTLY what you are getting when you order a used book as well. Much love to these people. Plus free shipping if you spend fifty bucks? So easy to do.
18
Thank you for an excellent and important point, Paul. I agree and extend that feeling to all our neighborhood music and video stores.
19
I used to buy online from Powells, but once the U.S. Postal Service eliminated their surface mail option for overseas destinations, the shipping costs killed my transactions. I don't order from Amazon's either, for the same reason. Whenever I visit the U.S. I do place an order for delivery to where I will be, but that order is getting smaller as airlines cut down on baggage allowance.
p.s. Bookstore options here in Hong Kong are not very good, but I do buy locally as well.
-Spode
p.s. Bookstore options here in Hong Kong are not very good, but I do buy locally as well.
-Spode
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