I agree, Dana.  There's room enough for both...

I clicked on the above link and read the article.  That was a nice tribute, and the owner seems to be a very pleasant man (with an amazing outlook on life!).  I think small bookstores still have their place, just as the bigger ones do.

 

 

 

http://www.npr.org/template...

 

 

What if the local independent was too far for you to travel to have experienced that passion?  If anything... if for nothing else... to me, our very existence is justified in that statement alone. 

I wonder how many Independent bookstores were there before your Barnes and Noble moved in?

It is terrifying to me that, with our american readership struggling, kids scoring lower and lower in absurd standardized tests all the time, that there are fewer and fewer places to buy books.  How long, seriously, before there is only one place to buy books?  How horrible to give one entity such power...

"I remember going, on hot nights, late enough that the heat had just relented enough to think, going and sitting in the aisles of your store. I remember the windows lit up in from the dark parking lot. I associate that lit up image with safety and peace and freedom. It might be my earliest booky memory. A Barnes & Noble did that, created in me, a passion for books that continues."

Nice post... really.  The comfort one gets from flopping on the floor, opening up a new book... yeah.  I like that.  But the "biggie" is that a Barnes & Noble created in you, "a passion for books that continues"... Wow.  Awesome post!  But, then you say:

"I looked up your website, to get a better sense of your store’s personality, as I imagine it from your posts; but all that’s there is a corporate template with events postings. No pictures, no book lists, no recommendations or bestsellers or press about helping your local teachers… I’m sure you do a great job without it. But the part that the rest of us are fighting you for is, at the end of it, our identities as individual, independent stores, free from whatever constraints make you Barnes & Noble."

I am constantly being reminded that I need to update my online event calendar.  The online calendar is a tool used for providing folks with information as to what kind of events are lined up that they may find interesting.  My in-store event calendar is a better tool to use to see what's happening here in the store... it's written by me, and has the events listed that I am pushing.  You can also look at my posts on here as to what I'm doing in the community in support of our children, our community theatres and our educators.  Our book clubs and groups; our children's events - those are the things that should dictate what we're about. 

"Your corporate store is bringing books to your community; a worthy endeavor surely. But we, as independents, want to believe that we’re closer to freedom and pure literary enlightenment because the books we bring are ours, they belong to our community, our place, our lives. They come from our local authors, they are made bestsellers by our staff, they are specific and special and secret, sometimes."

 Look at the series of photos that are provided for this blog.  Aside from the American Girl pic (my mistake - which I deleted, but for some reason still shows up), all are local authors, and all are sold here, featured here, and made best-sellers by our staff... here... at this store.  They are set on their own End Cap, or on their own table featuring local authors and are prominently featured on our information center and in the windows of our store.  I have booksignings every month with local authors (at least two a month), and provide them a forum in which they can let the world know that their book is here.  Not to mention, most are available online to be shipped to anybody in the world who's interested.    

But... going back to the beginning of your post:  "A Barnes & Noble did that, created in me, a passion for books that continues." What if we weren't here for you?  What if the local independent was too far for you to travel to have experienced that passion?  If anything... if for nothing else... to me, our very existence is justified in that statement alone. 

 

I’m another Bakersfield-born bookseller. I haven’t been back in many years, but I remember California Avenue, and your Barnes & Noble was my bookstore! I’m racking my brain, was the Red Lion on California or Truxton or Stockdale?! I remember going, on hot nights, late enough that the heat had just relented enough to think, going and sitting in the aisles of your store. I remember the windows lit up in from the dark parking lot. I associate that lit up image with safety and peace and freedom. It might be my earliest booky memory. A Barnes & Noble did that, created in me, a passion for books that continues.

  I now work at an independent, locally-owned bookshop in Colorado. I’ve been here for five years. As an adult and an “industry professional,” I understand better the implications and complexity of this local vs. corporate conversation. I probably wouldn’t shop at a Barnes & Noble now, if I had access to one. But friends come back from their travels, occasionally, to confess having purchased Harry Potter in a Waldens’ airport kiosk or having a latte and a late night in a chain bookstore in a metropolis somewhere, where it was just too much work to find an independent.   I really respect your pride in your work and your store. It’s wonderful; I have no doubt your store is better for it. But the thing is, whether you like it or not, whether you mean to or not, independents are going out of business every day, because they don’t have the corporate financing to provide, among other things, a nationally recognizable symbol of familiarity that a chain has, first and foremost, to offer its customers. Instead, independents offer diversity, counterculture, “weirdness,” that Barnes & Noble can’t. I looked up your website, to get a better sense of your store’s personality, as I imagine it from your posts; but all that’s there is a corporate template with events postings. No pictures, no book lists, no recommendations or bestsellers or press about helping your local teachers… I’m sure you do a great job without it. But the part that the rest of us are fighting you for is, at the end of it, our identities as individual, independent stores, free from whatever constraints make you Barnes & Noble.   Your corporate store is bringing books to your community; a worthy endeavor surely. But we, as independents, want to believe that we’re closer to freedom and pure literary enlightenment because the books we bring are ours, they belong to our community, our place, our lives. They come from our local authors, they are made bestsellers by our staff, they are specific and special and secret, sometimes. And when customers come in my store and say, “well, I could’ve got it on Amazon, but I wanted to support you guys. I love this store,” we consider it a small victory every time, one more person who values the uniqueness we bring to their lives. The choices you make with your dollar are choices you make about who you are.

I think there's constraints handed down from every job... mine, sure... but, I don't feel that they are "heavy".   At least I don't feel that way.  We all have our goals and percentages to answer to.  I don't know if my statement that you quoted above should be looked at as a "rub"... it surely wasn't intended that way.  I just know from experience what we can do, what we can offer, what we provide. 

I remember a scene from the movie What's Eating Gilbert Grape?, where the main character is forced to go to this giant "Wal-Mart" type store to get a ready-made cake for his brother's birthday.  He had been avoiding going there, because he works at the grocery store that's directly competing with them.  He walks in and his eyes grow wide and in awe of all the wonderful stuff they have in there... but, do the employees know their customer's names?  Do the people get a hometown feel from that environment? 

My point is - we are not a Wal-Mart store offering you everything under the sun that comes from China.  We are a bookstore, first and foremost.  We offer CDs and DVDs, but, primarily we sell books.  Our employees are book-lovers, music-lovers and movie-lovers.  Our book clubs are designed to reflect the community's needs: Dangerous Boys Club, American Girl Club, Mystery & Adventure Book Group, Romance Book Group, Manga Book Club, Teen Book Club and Booksellers' Book Clubs.  Our reading groups for kids employ booksellers to take time off the floor and read to kids - become involved with the family aspect of our community.  Toddler Time, Fantastic Friday Storytime, Kids Discover Music (with guests from the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra) and Pajamarama!, which encourages kids to come to the store on the first Friday of every month at 7:00 PM for in their favorite pajamas and enjoy stories and treats from our host, Miss Angela. 

I personally know kids that are now 10 years old, who I read to whey they were 4 or 5.  I know kids that are now four or five, that I read to when they were infants.  I've become friends with their parents and look forward to their visits when school is out.  I know their names, they know mine... that's what local means to me. 

You can color this page any way you want... but keep in mind, behind every retailer, big box or not, there are people from your community, depending on the sales you bring in to the store.  I've shopped independent and I've shopped major retailers.  I have no problem with either.  Some big box retailers are deserving of such negativity...  just don't lump us all together

"Again, I have nothing against locally owned businesses.  I love the home-town feel of Mom & Pop stores... I come from a Mom & Pop town... but I also enjoy the luxury of a store that can provide for me, the needs that I have, from a company that delivers what it promises and meets the needs of the people they employ. "

Aw, but therein lies the rub.  You very obviously feel that in working for a corporate store you're able to provide more and better things than a "mom and pop." 

This may be true in some respects (I'm not sure which, honestly) but I would argue that it's definitely not in others.  I think most locally owned Independent bookstores provide great service, great selection, great community support, great employees (who are well-provided for), and serve as actual reflections of their actual communities' needs and interests... not to mention the increased percentage of a customer's dollar that stays within their own community. ( Think Vroman's. Tattered Cover, The Strand, Powell's,  Book People, Changing Hands, ...  the list is enormous, really.)

 

I wonder if these books are on your shelves?  (If so, please check them out.  If not, maybe you could try them on your shelves?) 

 

Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America's Independent Businesses by Stacy Mitchell
 

Going Local: Creating Self-Reliant Communities in a Global Age by Michael H. Shuman

Small-Mart Revolution: How Local Businesses Are Beating the Global Competition by Michael H. Shuman

The Wal-Mart Effect: How the World's Most Powerful Company Really Works--And How It's Transforming the American Economy by Charles Fishman 

actually... check this out:

http://amiba.net/recommende...

I don't doubt for a second that you do your job very well and that you do all you can for your community; you seem a particularly passionate fellow.  I think you have to admit, though, that you do so under some fairly heavy constraints handed down from above.

It's cool, BookNerd, I hope my posts don't come off as anti-independent!  I do think there's room enough in this town for the both of us.  In fact, we work on some committees together and attend the same festivals, always working together on our main goal, which is to bring literacy to Bakersfield! 

Thanks for your comments, too!

It's good to see this conversation going on in my hometown!  I live in Brooklyn now, and when I was a kid in Bakersfield Barnes & Noble was my favorite place (next to the Beale Library!).  I've since become a career bookseller in independent bookstores, and I think there are a lot of reasons for people to choose to shop at their locally-owned, independent bookstore when they can.  (Independent and locally-owned are what most people mean when they describe a business as "local.")  Check out this reading list from the American Independent Business Alliance for ideas about some of those reasons: http://amiba.net/recommende...

I've met lots of great booksellers like you who work at Barnes & Noble, and there's no question you bring value to your community!  And it's great that your corporation allows you so much autonomy in your store, which from what I've heard isn't always the case.  Clearly you're doing good things with it.

However, in addition to the benefits that locally-owned businesses bring to their communities, they're operating on a less-than-level playing field compared to corporations working with economies of scale.  I agree that if a local bookstore doesn't have good customer service, or a beautiful environment, or a good stock of books that customers want, there's little reason for folks to shop there.  But there's a growing awareness that if we want to maintain the uniqueness of our communities, we have to support the unique local shops with our dollars.  That doesn't mean we need to boo and hiss at Barnes & Noble, but I think that the organization that wanted to support the local bookstore had the right idea.  It's good to create an environment where smaller businesses can thrive alongside the major corporations.  Thanks for thinking about these ideas, and for bringing books to the city of Bakersfield!

Wow, foxtale, your store sounds horrible.  I'm glad that's not the case here.

On another note: We do bank here, locally.  We do have some of our printing done here, locally, I order books for the store for the events I deem appropriate.  I support local authors with booksignings and local author displays, I decide on the fundraising and whom to give it to as long as it's within our mission statement which gives to the arts, literacy and education.  We decide on face-out books unless a particular book is being promoted.  We don't have a preferred amount of discount cards, I issue Educator Discount cards on a daily basis, and we have a wonderful membership card.  Our hiring rate for booksellers is above minimum wage and our management team does well. 

Again, I have nothing against locally owned businesses.  I love the home-town feel of Mom & Pop stores... I come from a Mom & Pop town... but I also enjoy the luxury of a store that can provide for me, the needs that I have, from a company that delivers what it promises and meets the needs of the people they employ. 

I am the owner of a locally owned and operated bookstore in New Hampshire.  Before opening my store I was the assistant manager of a big-box book store.  I am amazed at the amount of "local" you are allowed to do.  I did not find that the case.  We were not allowed to order stock for the store.  Corporate knew what our customers wanted.  We were not allowed to return books that we knew wouldn't sell in our area.  Corporate knew better what wouldn't sell.  We were not allowed to support local authors through book signings.  Corporate knew better what authors our customers wanted to discover and talk to.  In fact, corporate didn't believe we needed book signings.  All local donations were to go through corporate.  Fund raisers were to be given an 800 number to clear their cause.  My manager ended up paying for all gift card donations herself.  No, corporate didn't know about that.  We were told which books were to be displayed where.  We were told which books to face out.  We were told which books to discount and when.  We were told how many preferred discount cards we were suppose to sell.  We were told how to answer the phone.  And we were told what salary our store could afford when hiring new associates.  That salary guaranteed a very low quality of help.  People who have a passion for books still need to pay the bills.  The reality was that someone in the midwest, through careful tracking of sales and the amount of money they could receive from publishing companies, decided everything.  And instead of going to my "vacation home" tonight, I am going to curl up in my home, where it will be 20 degress outside, and hope I have enough wood for my stove to keep warm.  Those of us who own bookstores rarely are able to pay all the bills each month, let alone own a vacation home.  But corporate shareholders do have vacation homes all over my area.  And, hopefully, they will throw some money my way this summer when they are passing through.  They own shares in your store.  But they buy from independent bookstores.

Locally owned makes a big difference.  Several studies have found that about 3 times as much of the money you spend at a locally owned store stays in your local economy compared to a national chain.  It's not just the profits.  There are two factors that are far more significant in fact.  

One is that locally owned stores employ more people locally per unit of sales than chains do.  This is because everyone needed to run that business --- all the marketing and management -- is on site, not back a corporate HQ.  That means for every $1 you spend at a locally owned store, you are supporting more jobs and more payroll in your community. 

Another significant factor is that locally owned businesses on average buy more goods and services from other local businesses. They bank locally, get their printing done locally, hire local accountants, do more advertising in local media.   Chains have very little need for these local services.  

One study found that the economic benefit for your community of shopping a chain bookstore was about 13 cents for every dollar you spend vs. about 45 cents if you shop at a locally owned bookstore.  

You can read these studies here: 

http://www.newrules.org/ret...

And economics is only part of the story: local decision-making, diversity of selection, community involvement (again, the empirical research indicates locally owned businesses give more time and money on average than chains), the uniqueness of your town.  

More and more people are making a point to choose locally owned businesses for all of these reasons---which is why I think a lot of chains are now trying to define themselves as "local."

Sincerely,

Stacy Mitchell

New Rules Project, Institute for Local Self-Reliance

http://www.newrules.org

http://www.bigboxswindle.co...

Hi, Marc:

Major decisions as to what book we should feature, or what seasonal item we're supporting is made by corporate heads... yes.  But what of that?  If you look at most bookstores, locally owned or not, we're pretty much answering to what the latest book craze is... all of us.  Other than that, what major decisions for a bookstore could be made at a corporate level that would make this a bad thing?  Creatively or community-wise, in this store, I make almost all the decisions in regards to events, charitable donations, etc.  So far I've had great success in creating or adding events, geared towards the local community at large, that make people glad we're here.  I've got some other things up my sleeve, too.  (Stay tuned!)

As for profit - Yes, profit goes to the corporation and its shareholders, of which I am one.  You could be a shareholder too!  It's easy.  But, don't other locally owned businesses garner a profit?  If they do, what do they do with it?  Does it stay in Bakersfield all the time or could they have bought a vacation home off the coast, or purchased a time-share in Mexico?  What our profit ensures is that we are a strong company, and we have more means to better serve you more quickly, courteously and with a staff that is knowledgeable about the books or other products they place in your hand.   

So... truly locally owned means what? (Actually, I never brought up locally owned)  My question was, 'what makes a bookstore LOCAL'.   I still think it's the community involvement.  You can own a local _________ and give horrible service and offer no community events or charitable donations.  Does it being locally owned make you want to support such a place?  That goes for anything locally owned. 

Bottom line is - You are only as good as your product and your service and  I know we're good with both... Oh, and we're proud to be your local Barnes & Noble, too!

trgJams,

The store should be referred to as "your local Barnes and Noble store".  Every brick and mortar store has a location, so it is local somewhere.  But "local" is not the term which should be at issue here.  The term is "locally owned".  Barnes and Noble is not even a franchise.  It is a corporately owned and operated store.  No matter how well run it is, how good their programming is, how charitable it is, the major decisions will be made somewhere else, at the corporate level.  The profit from the store goes to the corporation and its shareholders.  So, while it is better for the local economy to shop at a Barnes & Noble than buying say from Amazon.com (who unlike Barnes & Noble doesn't pay local property tax, doesn't collect local or state sales tax, or employ anyone locally), it just still isn't the same as a store that is truly locally owned.

Marc