What's involved in owning a small book store?

Question

I would like to open a bookstore and am not sure where to start.I would like advice from anyone who has owned or managed one.

Answer 1

In starting any business, a major issue is financing or "capitalization" (access to money). Without financing, especially one where inventory is critical, according to the statistics, you simply will fail. A business loan, a microlender, or a line of credit from your bank are all possibilites depending on your financial situation.

At the same time that you get your financing lined up, develop a business plan. What/who is your target consumer? With Amazon, Borders and Barnes & Noble as competitors you have your work cut out. Is there a speciality niche you have in mind? Books out of print, foreign language books, text books? Think of any comparative advantage you may have the general booksellers don't.

Consider location as well. An inexpensive location may sound good, but with few walk-ins, it might not be good. How about locating near a college or university and including a small coffee shop? That would attract some loyal young patrons.

Finally, don't go it alone. You need a team: small business attorney, accountant or bookkeeper and an insurance agent to consult with up front and possibly call on along the way.

It can be scary, but with persistence and effort, you CAN succeed! Good luck!

Answer 2

I have not personally but have some information that should assist you further.

The best routes to take are to research the process of starting a business as well as the industry you're interested in.

I recommend checking out the SBA, Entrepreneur, The Start Up Journal & Nolo. All 4 are great informational resources for the new/small business owner. I posted links for you in the source box.

Associations may be a good avenue to explore. These organizations will address many of the thoughts, questions and concerns you'll inevitably have as well as many you haven't anticipated yet. See the source box for some relevant links.

Research, research, research – this cannot be stressed enough. Read as much as you can about the industry. Here are some book titles that are relevant:

* FabJob Guide to Become a Bookstore Owner (FabJob Guides) by Grace Jasmine
* How To Start & Manage A Bookstore Business: A Practical Way To Start Your Own Business
by Jerre G. Lewis, Leslie D. Renn
* Retail Business Kit for Dummies by Rick Segel
* Retail Success! by George Whalin

There are plenty of free informational resources out there. Check the source box for links to articles.

Hope that helps! I wish you much success & happiness in all your ventures!

Answer 3

Here's how to get started in the Book Store business.
Step 1: Get experience - Even if this is for just 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 1 quarter or 1 year, does not matter. Get experience in being inside a book store and look at things and absorb it like a sponge. Keep this mind "Dignity of Labor".
Step 2: Get experience: Take a look at atleast one other non-books related retail store to understand the basic differences between running a retail bookstore and any other retail store.
Step 3: Research & Make notes: Find out what softwares to use for Inventory, Accounting and general purposes such as HR/Payroll etc. We resell various software and can recommend relevant POS and other related software.
Step 4: Design a suitable Online and Offline presence strategy. We do website designs for small business including new businesses.
Step 5: The team: Being a small business, you don't need to assemble a management team in-house, but an external team of hired guns/professionals - The CPA, the Legal guy, the IT / networking professional, the Phone / Internet ISP...and most important, your vendors /suppliers / book purchasing plan.
Step 6: Marketing / Advertising / Business Development: Ensure you figure out the budget required for reaching out to your target audience. Before that, figure out your market demographics (age, sex, etc etc).
Step 7: competition: Is this Barnes and Nobles or what? Are they anywhere in a 10 mile radius from you? What's your online strategy...do you want to compete with amazon.com or bn.com? If not, how do you plan to localize your presence or the other way, do you want to locally small presence with a retail + warehouse style operation serving the world online?
Step 8: Financing: Get a good estimate of your possible budget, do a revenue model and your forecasting / financial modeling with all assumptions on how you believe your marketing dollars will pan out etc. and take it to angel investors or bank loans depending on how your credit score looks like.
Step 9: Caution: don't get into ANY business just because you like books or reading or stuff like That...get into ANY business because you expect this to make money for you...if you think this will not make money for whatever reason...and you are not ready to get into this and stay in this till your assumptions or competitive differentiation analysis pays off.
Step 10: Ensure that your legal structure allows you an exit strategy with your equity and cash out options in tact.

Enjoy. Just do it.

Answer 4

u gotta have alot of science fiction books and occult/scary story books and have free internet and juice and donuts for ur customers and dont forget the adult xxx magazines to and dvd's at the back of the store

Answer 5

lots and lots of books.