This is the final part of a three-part series. You can read Part 1 here; Part Two is here.
One of the biggest surprises for Bradley Graham and Lissa Muscatine has been how good business has been since they bought Politics and Prose nearly two years ago. "Revenues are up and profits have stayed strong," Graham said. When they were buying the store, "there was a lot of doom and gloom. We heard warnings to be prepared for the bottom to fall out." But the store got a "Borders bump" and benefited from a range of good books appearing while customers stayed "buoyant" and continued to buy lots of printed books. "We've had a cushion, and it's been very nice."
Another surprise was what Muscatine called "the collegiality and camaraderie of fellow booksellers and bookstore owners." As journalists and people involved in politics, she said, "It is not the norm to be so collaborative with people who might be considered competitors. It's so great to be able to call up just about anyone and say, 'How do you do your membership program or do bargain books?' It's a smart, generous group of people."
Graham, who in the beginning was most interested of the two in buying Politics and Prose, did research by visiting bookstores around the country and talking with booksellers. "I was impressed from the start," he commented.
"The common denominator" of the successful stores Graham visited was that they are "gathering places, community centers and platforms for civic discussion," Muscatine said. "They matter more and more in the Internet age, when so many experiences are becoming homogenized and more virtual, when there are fewer interactions and algorithms tell people what to buy."
By contrast, she continued, independent bookstores offer a place where people "can engage with other humans, can talk with the author, can be in a book group, can see each other, can ask a human for a book recommendation and can go on trips with others."
"When we came into the business, we learned there is no silver bullet solution, which has been reinforced by our experience and guides our thinking about strategic moves," Graham said. "We don't think 'if only we did this or that, all would be perfect.'" Instead he said, "We're satisfied with hitting singles, doubles and triples, not home runs."
One challenge is educating customers about the importance of local bookstores. Muscatine outlined some of the usual horror stories, particularly customers scanning titles on the store shelves to buy online. For now, the store doesn't charge for event admission or require the purchase of a book, an approach that Muscatine said "we may have to address at some point."
At events and informally, the store reminds people that "we have staff and expenses," as Muscatine put it. "When people stop and think about it, they say, 'Oh, I get it.' " She promised ongoing reminders, adding, "I regret to say we probably have to be a broken record about this."
Graham explained that becoming a bookstore owner "was not as much of a leap from journalism as people think. In journalism, you deal with words and ideas, and here we're still dealing with words and ideas. It's partially why we feel so at home in the business." In addition, he said, so many of the store's customers are "our neighbors and colleagues and friends." The pair live about 10 minutes away from the store.
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| photo: Linda Davidson/Washington Post | |
When the pair talked about what it's like to work together, there were echoes of former owners Carla Cohen and Barbara Meade, who when interviewed together often had conversations that featured Cohen making observations or statements with Meade diplomatically disagreeing or correcting her.
"This is my first time working together with Lissa other than raising three kids together and building a home," Graham said when he broached the topic.
Muscatine commented, "Brad did the home."
With a laugh, Graham said, "The kids say the store is our fourth child."
Muscatine responded, "Brad thinks that's funny." After a pause and with a hint of a smile, she added, "Working together has its plusses and minuses."
They both say that with different strengths and weaknesses, they complement each other well. They have no formal division of responsibilities, although Graham, who has an MBA that "I never used," tends to handle the numbers and finance while Muscatine is especially interested in events and sidelines. But on most matters, such as personnel and strategy, they work together.
Perhaps because of their journalistic and government backgrounds, "We're very good at briefing each other and handing off different tasks," Graham said.
When Politics and Prose was put on the market, the couple were originally not interested in buying it. Graham was working on a third book, whose subject has become very topical: the defense budget. For her part, Muscatine was thinking of leaving the State Department, where she had been working for two years (she had earlier been a journalist and worked in the Clinton White House with Hillary Clinton), and wanted to teach and write.
Thinking he would make a good owner, friends nudged Graham, who missed the initial deadline. He then threw his hat in the ring and was in the final group of six. Graham called the process "more audition than auction," involving interviews and writing memos. (One memo involved describing how he and Muscatine would divide responsibilities.)
For a while, Muscatine was wary about buying the store, but she accompanied Graham to the first interview, which he called "a brilliant move. They liked me, but they loved Lissa." In part, this was because, considering that the store was founded and run by two women, "they were not uninterested in having a female presence in the store," Muscatine said.
As she researched to see if the deal would make sense for Graham, she got more and more interested, too.
Graham and Muscatine have a range of projects on their to-do list. They're redesigning the store's website to make it "cleaner, user friendly, with less text, informational, easier to deal with," Muscatine said. They also want to have more space for classes; improve signage and display; possibly change the café menu and the loyalty/membership program; and improve strategic planning.
Another intriguing, but distant possibility is opening a branch. Because of "a lack of bookstore outlets now," Graham and Muscatine are approached "at least once a month" with inquires about opening branches in the Washington area, particularly downtown, Capitol Hill, Georgetown, Silver Spring, Old Town Alexandria and "the airports." Graham called the idea "tempting," but said, "So far, we felt it important to focus on the existing store." Muscatine added that it would be difficult to "replicate the store." --John Mutter