Late last month John Mutter of Shelf Awareness spent two days with New England Independent Booksellers Association executive director Steve Fischer visiting bookstores in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. It was a great little working vacation! Here's the third part of a multi-part series reporting on what we saw.
Like many happy independent bookstores, Island Books, Middletown, R.I. (next to Newport), had a Thanksgiving weekend to celebrate. Sales were up 40% over the same period last year and were the highest since before Barnes & Noble opened nearby in 2003, according to founder and owner Judy Crosby. "American Express tickets were through the roof on Saturday, so I know that was part of it, but my booksellers say there was a lot of talk about shopping locally." Happily, the sales bump has come after a solid summer but a fall that Crosby described as "quieter than I'd like."
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| Island Books founder and owner Judy Crosby and NEIBA executive director Steve Fischer. |
Crosby founded the store nearly 19 years ago and expanded it to its current 1,500 square feet of space when the B&N opened. She takes the digital challenge very seriously and just last month launched the store's IndieCommerce website. (The previous incarnation was a wordpress informational website.) She emphasizes that the store aims to compete with Amazon both in the sale of printed books and e-books, and she wants to educate customers about e-readers. "A lot of people don't realize that if they have a Kindle, they can't buy from us," Crosby said. "And a lot of people don't realize that there are other e-readers."
Front and center, the website has information about e-readers, including the tagline, "Want choice? Don't get left to their devices!" She has information about the new website in the store and in the store newsletter. Crosby is also setting up "informal tutorials" showing customers how to buy e-books from Island Books as well as give information about all things e-reader and e-book in time to influence customers' gift choices. (Crosby will do demonstrations on her Nook and iPad and possibly an Android device.)
She said early reaction was positive and that some customers have ordered books online already. Those who have bought printed books tend to like to pick them up and pay for them in the store.
Strong areas in the store include children's, which does "very well, in all areas," Crosby said. The store also does well with fiction, history, biography, cookbooks, travel and knitting, perhaps in part because there is a knitting and beading shop in the shopping center where the store is located. (There's also a café as well as several offices.)
Crosby said that she is "always willing to try new sidelines because people like having an opportunity to buy something else in addition to books." Scarves have been popular, but candles did not sell brightly. One of the most popular categories is "candy, candy, candy," which Crosby has at the front counter. These include Rhode Island Rocks, a candy mix, as well as Belgian chocolate.