At the Small Stores gathering, booksellers were supposed to introduce themselves and offer a challenge or obstacle they faced in the past year as well as a great idea, then a discussion was to follow. Even though moderator and ABA board member Dan Chartrand of the Water Street Bookstore, Exeter, N.H., tried to keep the comments short, the room was so packed and the introductions took so long, little time was left for discussion. But no matter: the introductions led to further discussions throughout the weekend whenever booksellers had a chance to mingle.
The challenges store owners described ranged from how to deal with rowdy children in the store, how to let go and let managers and staff take on more responsibility to how to negotiate better terms, sidelines that work well, and, of course, how to cut costs without the store suffering.
Many booksellers are hurting enough to want to negotiate with suppliers. Kelly Justice, owner of the Fountain bookstore, Richmond, Va., described a deal she struck with a greeting card vendor who eventually not only met her price, but also took away her old fixtures and replaced them with new ones at no extra cost.
Other owners said they asked for free freight on shipments and received it, traded in sidelines that weren't moving and replaced them with new gifts and offered vendors links to their websites (not for retailing, but rather for product info and availability).
In a similar vein, one bookseller said she rented her audiobooks for $5 a week and that brought in terrific revenue.
Happily we also heard stories of people doing well in this economy. Time and again in conversation it came up that people had a good January and things were looking up.
While there wasn't much time to address all the issues raised, the roundtable provided booksellers a great introduction to each other and an opening for conversations that spilled over to the author cocktail receptions and the Sunday morning Roundtable Café.
At the Sunday morning free-form non-moderated discussion tables, people picked tables with subjects that interested them such as buyers; events; owners; frontline booksellers; and more. The crowds at the large and small store owner tables both grew so much that extra tables and chairs were added.
One woman declared that the roundtable discussion alone made the whole event worth it for her. In fact, this seems to be the essence of the Winter Institute: so many of us work in isolation and never have the chance to be with the "colleagues." At the Winter Institute we could be with peers, ask anything and usually find someone with an answer.
Many of us left Salt Lake City not only with fabulous galleys, new strategies, great memories and new friends, but also with a sense of optimism that we have people to turn to all over the country who can help when needed. Once again, the Winter Institute exceeded expectations (how does it keep doing that?) and spurred us on for another year.--Susan L. Weis, proprietress of breathe books, Baltimore, Md.