At Bridge Street Bookshop, Phoenixville, Pa., business on Black Friday
continued the trend that has pleasantly surprised owner Suzanne Kelly
since she opened the store July 1 (Shelf Awareness, July 1). "Black Friday was fantastic," she said. "I didn't know what to expect. A lot of shoppers stayed local."
Although she has talked up the benefits of supporting local merchants with customers, she said most people in Phoenixville, which has been promoting its downtown, "are aware of it already." A few customers "may have gone" to the nearby King of Prussia Plaza on Friday, but it was hard to tell because of all the traffic downtown.
One of at least five businesses to open downtown since the beginning of summer, Bridge Street Bookshop didn't do much with other stores to promote shopping downtown this season, but Kelly plans "definitely" to do more in the future, including advertising.
Bridge Street Bookshop has had a great five months so far, Kelly said. "Customers are happy I'm here and are proving it every day." From the beginning, the store has based much of its inventory on special orders. When a customer orders a title, Kelly said, she brings in two or three copies of the title. "These are books that are really selling well."
In addition, Kelly taken a step that few if any other stores do. (If Shelf Awareness is wrong about this point, please do let us know!) In addition to shelf talkers written by store employees, the store has encouraged customers to write shelf talkers. This happened when one customer was raving about The Devil in the White City. "I asked him to write up a card," which, she said, "has pushed up sales of the book. More and more customers see those tags and ask to do them. It's driving sales for those titles."
There have been a few surprises at the store. "I'm selling a lot of hardcover fiction," Kelly said. "It's my biggest category, closely followed by children's merchandise." She's also been surprised by the strength of sidelines, which she started selling just two months ago. In October, sidelines, which include journals, cards and calendars, accounted for about 20% of overall sales.
Store bestsellers include some unsurprising titles such as The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, A Million Little Pieces by James Frey and Angels & Demons by Dan Brown. But most customers aren't coming in for national bestsellers, Kelly said. Arcadia's Phoenixville book in its Images of America series and the Phoenixville entry for the Then and Now series have sold well. One of the biggest titles of the season is Weird Pennsylvania from Sterling. ("I can't keep it in stock.") The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon is also "selling really well."
Although Kelly spent years researching Phoenixville and working at several jobs to improve her knowledge of bookselling (she was general manager of Gene's and worked at Chester County Book Co.), "I knew that Phoenixville needed a bookstore. I've been almost perfect with the timing," particularly as the downtown as become reinvigorated. "I couldn't be happier."
Although she has talked up the benefits of supporting local merchants with customers, she said most people in Phoenixville, which has been promoting its downtown, "are aware of it already." A few customers "may have gone" to the nearby King of Prussia Plaza on Friday, but it was hard to tell because of all the traffic downtown.
One of at least five businesses to open downtown since the beginning of summer, Bridge Street Bookshop didn't do much with other stores to promote shopping downtown this season, but Kelly plans "definitely" to do more in the future, including advertising.
Bridge Street Bookshop has had a great five months so far, Kelly said. "Customers are happy I'm here and are proving it every day." From the beginning, the store has based much of its inventory on special orders. When a customer orders a title, Kelly said, she brings in two or three copies of the title. "These are books that are really selling well."
In addition, Kelly taken a step that few if any other stores do. (If Shelf Awareness is wrong about this point, please do let us know!) In addition to shelf talkers written by store employees, the store has encouraged customers to write shelf talkers. This happened when one customer was raving about The Devil in the White City. "I asked him to write up a card," which, she said, "has pushed up sales of the book. More and more customers see those tags and ask to do them. It's driving sales for those titles."
There have been a few surprises at the store. "I'm selling a lot of hardcover fiction," Kelly said. "It's my biggest category, closely followed by children's merchandise." She's also been surprised by the strength of sidelines, which she started selling just two months ago. In October, sidelines, which include journals, cards and calendars, accounted for about 20% of overall sales.
Store bestsellers include some unsurprising titles such as The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, A Million Little Pieces by James Frey and Angels & Demons by Dan Brown. But most customers aren't coming in for national bestsellers, Kelly said. Arcadia's Phoenixville book in its Images of America series and the Phoenixville entry for the Then and Now series have sold well. One of the biggest titles of the season is Weird Pennsylvania from Sterling. ("I can't keep it in stock.") The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon is also "selling really well."
Although Kelly spent years researching Phoenixville and working at several jobs to improve her knowledge of bookselling (she was general manager of Gene's and worked at Chester County Book Co.), "I knew that Phoenixville needed a bookstore. I've been almost perfect with the timing," particularly as the downtown as become reinvigorated. "I couldn't be happier."