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| University Book Store's main store | |
"I think it's important for us that people understand that we're an indie bookstore," said Pam Cady, the manager of the general book department of University Book Store in Seattle, Wash. "We've been here since 1900. We're the longest-standing indie in the Seattle area. People don't realize it sometimes, but we serve the broader community as much as we serve the University of Washington."
The store was founded 114 years ago by two UW students, who set up shop in a coat closet next to the university president's office. That first year, the students lost money, and two professors invested $50. That $50 (now worth around $1,400 when adjusted for inflation) constituted the only outside investment in the store's history, and the bookstore has been profitable ever since. In 1926, the store moved from an on-campus building to an old billiards hall on University Way. Although that location was supposed to be temporary, the flagship University Book Store remains on that spot. And there are now eight other UBS locations: several are on UW campuses, one is in downtown Seattle, and three are in locations completely separate from UW--Bellevue, Mill Creek and Renton--and look much like general trade stores with strong UW sections.
Unusually in the world of independent bookstores, UBS has operated as a trust since 1964, with the beneficiaries being the students, faculty and staff of the University of Washington. "Because they're our beneficiaries, they are our board of directors," explained Louise Little, the trust's CEO. The trust's board, comprised of five students (with an alternating arrangement of undergraduate and graduate students), four faculty members and one administrative trustee (who, for the past several years, has been from the university's library system), meets monthly and oversees the store's broader strategic direction. Perhaps the most visible task that the board has each year is deciding the rebate percentage that the beneficiaries will receive.
"Part of the provisions of the trust is that money not needed to reinvest in the store goes back to the beneficiaries in the form of merchandise rebates," said Little, adding that the rebate system was not unlike outdoor-equipment retailer REI's co-op program. Each year, UBS provides approximately $1 million in customer rebates, and has provided more than $28 million in rebates since 1930. "We're a for-profit corporation, like any corporation, but we operate a bit more like a nonprofit."
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Patrick Rothfuss at UBS |
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Despite the board's importance in determining University Book Store's long-term goals, it largely leaves day-to-day operations alone. Managing inventory, stocking books, hiring staff, planning events, interacting with customers--the bread and butter of independent bookstores--rests on Pam Cady and those working for her. The general book department of University Book Store employs 53 booksellers across nine locations, with 35 of those booksellers at the flagship store on University Way.
Before UBS, Cady worked at a tiny, alternative bookstore in Long Beach, Calif., and before that was a manager at a B. Dalton Bookseller. Although UBS is larger, by orders of magnitude, than those two stores (the trade book department carries around 160,000 titles), Cady insists that the essence of bookselling is the same. "The tack for selling a book, for putting the right book in the right person's hands, doesn't change," she said.
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| UBS's Bellevue store | |
Being part of such a huge operation, though, certainly has its benefits; Cady cited the opportunity to collaborate and work with so many passionate booksellers as her job's biggest perk. "For me, it's way more fun working at a big indie," she said. "There's so much more collaboration, so many booksellers doing so many creative things." She pointed to the frequent book fairs that UBS runs as examples of her staff's enthusiasm and creativity. "And they have such passion, not only working for each other but also working for our customers."
Each year, University Book Store hosts 400 to 500 author events, with the lion's share held at the flagship store. The store's close affiliation with the University of Washington allows Cady to bring in speakers who might not frequently make it onto the bookstore circuit. UBS hosted Jimmy Carter a total of five times, and has also brought in Bill Clinton and Louis Armstrong. Some of the highlights of upcoming visits include Michio Kaku, Russell Simmons, Brandon Sanderson and Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
"We give back a lot to the UW community, to our students, staff and professors, through rebates and scholarships and discounts," said Cady. And although the full rebates are limited to members of the UW community, UBS also runs a Reader's Club program to extend some of those benefits to the broader community. "We give back a lot, and that's what we're here for--a service not just for the university but for the community at large." --Alex Mutter