Terry On Books Blog

Someone asked me today for my opinion:
assuming it would be possible to rent an 800-
1100 sq. ft. store in a medium-size city in
Canada for $1500 to $1800 a month plus
utilities, would it be reasonable to expect
that at the end of one year, a bookstore’s
sales could be at least $4000.00 a month?

My answer was: assuming you were fortunate
enough to find a location with sufficient walkby
traffic (and it would have to be at least 1000
sq. ft.) for $2000.00 including utilities, yes, in
one year, you could be doing $4000.00 or
more a month in sales. If you’re not, then you
won’t be making any money.

Of course, there are a lot of factors involved
in this speculation. How much experience, if
any, does the person have selling books? How
much experience does the person have buying
books–because they are two different things. How
many employees are going to be needed and
for how many hours? Besides General paperback
and hardcover stock, would there be a specialty
or two to attract collectors?

Ten years ago, I would have said unequivocally
that given the parameters, a person with some
experience buying and selling books would
have no trouble making a success of a bookstore
for used books. I was doing it with 900 sq. ft.
and a rent of $1000.00 in a less-than-affulent
part of Vancouver, B.C. Today, the game has
changed in some respects, and the answer is
not so cut-and-dried.

I would appreciate your opinions on the subject
and your personal stories if possible regarding
your success, or failure, in starting a small bookstore.

Next week, I’m going to begin reprinting here
(with some updates) my serialized book in
AB Bookman’s Weekly in the mid-1990’s on the
subject of setting up and operating a
used bookstore, so stay tuned.

Please visit my website for over 3000 hand-
picked special books:
www.stillmanbooks.com

Remember, the only book purchase you’ll ever
regret is the one you didn’t make.

Talk soon.

Tags: opening a bookstore; operating a bookstore

This entry was posted on Monday, September 15th, 2008 at 8:37 pm and is filed under Bookstore Miscellaneous, Starting and operating a bookstore, Used, out-of-print and antiquarian books. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.