In less than a year after purchasing the Frugal Frigate, Redlands,
Calif., near San Bernardino, Brad Hundman and his wife, Jana, have
overhauled the children's bookstore from stem to stern. Among the many
changes, one in particular illustrates the new course the Hundmans have
set: a party, a kind of open house, to be held from 2-5 Sunday afternoon, Sept. 11, that
features three "world-class children's book authors"--Nikki Grimes,
Diane Adams and Marla Frazee.
The
party will be held a half block from the store, in the Farm, an artisan
restaurant, where four kinds of wine will be poured and described, and
various hors d'oeuvres, including pastas and cheeses, will be served.
Some 140 people are expected.
The three authors will circulate and talk with attendees. Eventually
Grimes, Adams and Frazee will sign books, which several store staff
members will sell in a discreet place in the restaurant.
Attendees aren't paying to attend the party, and there is no
requirement to buy a book. Brad Hundman laughed when asked about this,
explaining, "You invest in clientele and have to have faith and trust
that it will be returned to you. If you do it well and in the right
form, it will come back."
The attendees are adults who Hundman has picked from "circles of
people" in the area. Of course, some are customers, but there are also
representatives "from the city, the city manager, the city treasurer,"
and mainly "people who would appreciate an event like this. They have a
love of literature and will have an opportunity to pass that love
along." He picked no more than two or three from each circle.
The store will be open during and after the party for people to visit.
Hundman wants to show off some changes, including a "new coat of paint
outside, new graphics, a new awning and better lighting." In addition,
the store has been closed on Sundays during the summer, so that the
party marks "sort of a reopening" for Sundays. Besides, as Hundman put
it, "we want to highlight all our books."
Frugal Frigate will be "one of the first stores" to receive copies of
Grimes's
Dark Sons (Hyperion/Jump at the Sun, $15.99, 0786818883)
because of the party. Her other recent titles are
Danitra Brown Leaves
Town (Amistad Press, $6.99, 006075311) and
Danitra Brown, Class Clown
(Amistad Press, $15.99, 0688172903). Adams's recent book is
Zoom!
(Peachtree, $15.95, 1561453323). Frazee's
Santa Claus: The World's
Number One Toy Expert (Harcourt Children's, $16, 0152049703) is
appearing in October.
Hundman said the store will put on three of these kinds of events a
year and is already planning the next multi-author offsite party for
January.
The party is just one example of what Hundman calls "thinking outside
the box," something that probably comes naturally because he and his
wife both hold fulltime jobs in other businesses and work in the store
parttime. A Coldwell Banker real estate agent, Hundman is in the store
only about an hour each weekday although "I put in my hours on the
weekend."
Among other changes: the Frugal Frigate has done more events in the store, too,
as well as story hour parties--or book parties, as Hundman called
them--for children. Frugal Frigate employees put on many of these
parties in local schools.
Of course, the store had a Harry Potter party, but it was
not the blowout it was for some stores. Hundman did not order lavishly,
explaining that "when grocery stories were selling the book for less
than what I paid for it," he needed to be careful. "It's silly to put
all your eggs in one basket." Switching metaphors, he added, "I'm
looking for a lot of base hits, not to hit one out of the park.
"It's all marketing, and it's all repeatable," Hundman continued. "The
way we do parties and events, we can do them over and over again. A lot
of stores reinvent the wheel every day. That wears you out."
The store also has taken a different approach to bookselling in the
summer, which traditionally had been slow. "We brought in so many
books, buying sevens, eights and tens, that the staff had to search for
places to put them," Hundman said with a laugh. "In the past, some
titles sold out during the week because we didn't have sufficient
inventory." The store's "clientele was happy," he continued. "We have
Christmas books now and they're selling. We're not forcing them. In
fact, it's silly to wait until after Thanksgiving for Christmas. Many
people will travel and want to get their gifts lined up early." Hundman
estimated that summer sales have doubled this year.
Hundman has also done "value" merchandising, combining toys with books
as packages or just displaying them together. For example, he moved
some garbage truck toys "from one side of the room" to go with the book
I Stink! by Kate McMullan (HarperCollins/Joanna Cotler,
$15.99, 0060298480). "All of a sudden, we sold out of the books and
trucks we had for two years."
The store gave up its adult section, which accounted for "45% of the
floor space and 18% of profit," because Hundman said, "It's hard to compete
with the mass merchandisers on adult selections." Frugal Frigate used
some of that space to put in a science room, which mixes together
science books with volcano kits, fiber optics and magnetism, among
other things.
Hundman praised the staff of five as the "best team in the world." He
encourages them to sell and wants them to "know the inventory, writers
and illustrators." Hundman relies on them for suggestions about what to
buy, although ordering is "my decision in the end."
As he does about real estate and the Frugal Frigate, Hundman has an
optimistic attitude about bookselling in general. "It's horrible to
hear people complain about the book business when the book business is
so wonderful. We can compete in the children's book world. We can
handsell and tell people about a book. We don't need to discount. The
mass merchandisers can never do what we do. We are a cultural event."
The Frugal Frigate is moored permanently at 9 North 6th St., Redlands, Calif. 92373; 909-793-0740;
www.frugalfrigate.com.
