The Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association Fall Conference kicked off this week in Denver, Colo., following a rainy opening reception on Sunday evening. At a Monday morning Conversations with Colleagues session, moderated by Echo Gooch of The Floating Bookshop, Oklahoma City, Okla., attendees included representatives from stores around the region operating on a wide array of models.
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| (from l.) Monica Kapala and Gina Harris of XOXO Book Boutique, Las Vegas; Amelia Gale, Kelsey Stech, Emily McClung, and Kaeleigh Stewart of The Book Lounge, Boise/Meridian, Idaho | |
Books on Main, Fort Morgan, Colo., is a bricks-and-mortar store interested in starting a mobile bookshop to bring inventory to rural areas, while XOXO Book Boutique in Las Vegas, Nev., is a romance bricks-and-mortar shop that offers occasional pop-ups when they won't compete with others in the area. The Book Lounge of Boise/Meridian, Idaho, is a fiction-only pop-up that appeals to book clubs and serves beer and wine. Others operate from mobile units like trailers and buses, such as Roadrunner Bookshop in Colorado Springs, Colo.; The Teeny Tiny Bookshop and The Wandering Book Co., both in Denver's metro area; and The Page Society Bookshop of Duncan, Okla., which has enlisted a friend's boutique as a drop-off location for online orders.
Gooch led into the conversation by asking for strategies to navigate the colder, wetter weather of winter. The responses addressed ways to protect inventory, such as securing books in suitcases and blankets for transport, and using foam or pool noodles to hold stock on shelves in mobile units, but also reminders to keep pages away from windows that might build condensation, and to run an air-conditioning or dehumidifier unit.
In the midst of the discussion on inclement weather, Judey Kalchik of Binc spoke on the charitable organization's interest in re-evaluating which store types are eligible for their financial assistance, noting that the qualifying definition was last updated in 2017, and "the book industry and how people continue to sell books has changed" since then.
The conversation then drifted to concerns about cost tracking, such as mileage, vehicle maintenance, insurance, vendor fees, and the devices and programs needed for point of sale, with those in attendance comparing experiences with Shopify, Basil, and Square, and their integration with bookkeeping programs like Excel and Quickbooks.
Each store had varying metrics for what made their availability as a vendor worthwhile. However, for the initial start-up phases, it was generally recommended to reach out months in advance in order to form relationships with potential partner locations (coffeeshops, breweries, wineries, festivals, and even HOAs). In many cases, this can lead to more opportunities as the public becomes more aware of a shop's identity and existence. Many agreed, too, that building relationships with local libraries can be mutually advantageous. But the main consensus was that a space to set up for free is far more desirable than those that require a fee. --Dave Wheeler, senior editor, Shelf Awareness