F E A T U R E
The Davids
& Goliaths of
Independent
Booksellers:
Who Will Win &
Who Will Lose?
by Brenda Seward, Simple Pleasures Books & Gifts
n February of 2009, in the midst of one of the worst economic downturns I
Meanwhile, the stand that offered all those great flavors will have closed down
I
could ever recall, I decided to take a mad leap of faith and open my own
and moved away.
business. There are some that would put a strong emphasis on the word “mad,”
In this simplified example, replace the stand of the many varieties of lemonade
but that is a story for another day. Regardless of the wisdom of my timing, it
with your local independent bookstore. We are the ones who find those little
was a long held dream that I shared with my daughters and we decided to seize
literary gems that you may not have heard about, and we can’t wait to share
the moment, so to speak.
them with you. We love sharing these treasures and finding new ones. To us,
Opening a bookstore, more so than any other business, was our way of
books are magical things. They teach us, inspire us, motivate us and give us
marketing something that we shared a deep love for—books—and sharing that
solace. When we demean their value, we lose something important and true.
love with others in our own unique way. The one thing I did not factor into my
Once that is lost, it is sometimes impossible to regain it.
vision was the fact that big box stores (i.e., Target, WalMart, etc.), who also
As independent booksellers, we are not asking for special or preferential
trade in books, would begin to engage in pricing tactics that would seriously
treatment; we are simply asking not to be unfairly undercut and run out of
undercut small independent stores like mine.
business due to a temporary marketing tactic.
Now, I’m not referring to the regular pricing difference and discounts that are
In closing, I want to thank everyone who has patronized our store, offering
made available by large chain bookstores like Barnes & Noble and Borders.
their support and giving thanks for what we do and what we offer the community.
We knew from the beginning that we could not compete on a price scale
In times such as these, when we are struggling, along with other independents,
with these chains and were not going to attempt to. We decided our appeal
it is a sweet balm and one we are truly thankful for. We also want to thank all
would come from personal service, specialization and other unique offerings not
the authors who have offered their support. They are also aware of what we
provided by the big stores. What I’m referring to is the practice of these big box
offer them, as well as their readers. Below I have included a rather whimsical
stores of taking an actual loss on the pricing of new release books (projected
request from one such author, published on the Baltimore Sun’s book blog. It
bestsellers) and factoring that loss as a marketing expenditure. In other words,
echoes my own wish for the New Year, and I hope yours as well.
ridiculously discounted books are the lure of shopping in these venues, followed
“Dear Santa, all during 2009 I’ve been nice (okay, okay, I was a little
by making other non-book related purchases at not such discounted prices. In
naughty, but only once or twice!), and now I have a very special request. Can
short, it is the price of doing business.
you figure out a way to save independent bookstores? More and more of them
While this practice would surely be appealing to the average book buyer,
are closing, and it’s very scary. Do you have a favorite indie at the North Pole,
especially in this economic climate, it has a devastating long-range effect on
Santa? I hope you do, because a bookstore like that is a fabulous place to
the book business. In an effort to explain what I mean I will offer a very simple
be—surrounded by books and book lovers—on a cold, snowy day.” Author
example: Imagine two lemonade stands on the same block. One lemonade
Gail Farrelly’s letter to Santa in the Baltimore Sun’s Read Street blog. Read the
stand is just offering lemonade—various creative flavors of lemonade. The other
complete letter, intercepted on its way to the North Pole by the Baltimore Sun
stand is offering one or two flavors of lemonade, but also pretzels and peanuts,
with help from the National Security Agency, at http://weblogs.baltimoresun.
but this stand is paying you to sample their lemonade. Which one would you
com/entertainment/books/blog/2009/12/letter_to_santa_help_independe.
gravitate towards? And how long do you think that stand will continue to pay you
html. V
to sample their lemonade? Not long, I’m sure. Soon that stand will be back to
selling just pretzels and peanuts, or at the very least charging for their lemonade.

JANUARY 2010
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