Despite their best attempts to stay relevant, the future for small bookstores in Athens can appear somewhat dismal. The rise of e-readers and online retailers like Amazon.com, as well as the rapid growth of super-chains such as Barnes & Noble, has led to a sharp decline in customers for many local, small-town bookstores like those we have here in Athens. Establishments similar to the Athens Book Center and Little Professor have experienced difficulties across the nation, and many have even been forced to close because of insufficient sales. According to the most recent federal statistics, more than 1,000 bookstores closed between 2000 and 2007, leaving only about 10,600. The New York Times notes that the American Bookstores Association (ABA) has today only 1,900 member stores, whereas a decade ago they had 2,400.
Faced with these seemingly insurmountable conditions, it might seem like the local Athens bookstores are destined for failure. Contrary to the dismal outlook, however, Athens’ small-town stores are defying the odds and thriving despite a difficult market. Athens Book Center and Little Professor both employ successful business strategies and have immense support from a small-town community that wants to see its local businesses flourish. In tandem, these aspects are helping the stores stay afloat at a time when many other rural bookstores are sinking.
While the owners of the bookstores admit they have some fears about falling behind, they’re optimistic about their abilities to adapt new business strategies and to support the people of Athens’ literary needs. They both also emphasize the fact that the support they get from the community is a big part of the reason they’re thriving. Sure, the stores have their own unique ways of staying in business—but they don’t practice or sell anything radical that sets them hugely apart from bookstores closing across the country. Their location—Athens, Ohio—is a big part of what allows them to remain so successful. For Little Professor especially, location is particularly helpful.
“Just about everybody has to pass by here on their way to or back from class, to the bars, or whatever. Our location is one of our best advertising tools,” Kurt Holsapple, co-owner of Little Professor, says proudly.
Both the Athens Book Center and Little Professor emphasize their strengths, which set them apart from the plethora of options potential customers have when searching for a book. Rather than experiencing the cold, clinical online checkout experience, these two stores welcome their customers in person with a friendly smile and a generous helping of customer service. They try to know their customers by name and build relationships with them as people, rather than simply making nice with their credit card number.
The Athens Book Center has one loyal customer that stands out from the rest: she’s smart, friendly, quick-witted, and liberal, buying intellectual reads about Wall Street and the president’s policies concerning Washington.
She’s also ninety-plus years old.
As Jean Stephens, the owner of the Athens Book Center, describes this woman, her face brightens. She likens owning a bookstore to working as a bartender, commenting good-naturedly, “People come in to chat, they tell you so much.”
This is essential to both stores—their owners agree that one of the things that gives them an edge, as well as one of the things they push when marketing themselves, is their capacity for customer service. The bookstores also have individual niches they’ve developed: the Athens Book Center has been wildly successful selling children’s toys from the brand “Melissa and Doug” as well as children’s books, and Little Professor specializes in getting books in stock as quickly as they can for their customers.
The Athens Book Center takes great pride in its status as a community center. “We wanted to be a community bookstore,” Stephens says. She states that the bookstore is “totally independent” and adds that the Athens Book Center “offers space, helps sponsor [local] events, and we try to support a couple of the high schools’ newspaper and yearbooks.“ The marigold, book-shaped sign hanging above the front entrance beckons anyone and everyone—from breastfeeding groups such as La Leche that use the space to meet weekly to Bobcats participating in ‘Magic: The Gathering’ tournaments, everyone is welcome to plop down in one of the padded rolling chairs arranged around a tiled seating area. Community groups of all types gather in the store, a convenient place to meet. On top of providing a place to spend a rainy afternoon, the bookstore provides free parking—a service that draws many locals who breathe a sigh of relief when they realize they don’t have to feed that dreaded green meter. Customers are free to lounge in a quiet corner with their favorite novel. It’s any bookworm’s dream.
“We’re not uptight about it, you know what I mean?” Anne Thomas, an employee who’s been working at the Athens Book Center since 2005, laughs with a small shrug. “People can come in, they don’t even have to buy anything if they just want to hang out.”
Little Professor Book Center, most commonly shortened to Little Professor, is similarly vital. Located on Court Street, the narrow store is a hub of activity on any given day.
“I guess it’s just that we try to offer everybody a selection of reading that they would be interested in,” Holsapple says. Holsapple, a polite and quiet man, may appear reticent, but certainly isn’t indifferent about his business. He emphasizes customer service as an important part of success in the store, and stocks the store according to what will likely appeal to customers, stating, “We try to gear our inventory towards the customers that come in and make it as broad as possible.”
Little Professor is a popular place for students to stop in and check out a wide selection of books. “We do carry romance,” Holsapple admits grudgingly, “but we also carry a lot of mysteries, social sciences, philosophy—really trying to get things that would interest students and faculty in their area.” While this pint-sized bookshop prides itself on well-stocked aisles, it’s not a place to stop and spend an afternoon. The very architecture of the store itself seems to encourage efficiency—the shelves on either side are straight and narrow, giving a tunnel-like feel to the store, and when you hit the back, it’s a dead end: a wall of books, and there’s nowhere to go but back up front, to the checkout counter. It’s like a bunker of books, illuminated by no-nonsense fluorescent overhead lights.
Like Holsapple, Jean Stephens does her best to be involved with the customers that come through the store. Stephens, an older woman with a lined, friendly face, has a true passion for the Athens Book Center that shines through as she speaks eagerly about books, the community, and her customers. She’s new to the store—she took over after the previous owner left about a year ago—so she’s very hesitant to generalize her business results to the future. She certainly is pleased with what she’s seen so far, though. “We have growth this year,” she states, beaming with a pride only known by small business owners. “Last night I was looking at what the sales were for October so far and unless we just bomb out the rest of the year, we have a good chance to be making between 7 and 10 percent more. So we’re doing something right.”
Stephens cites the welcoming atmosphere of her store and her friendly and helpful staff as part of the draw—but also describes her main method of keeping up with modern business, which she smartly refers to as “staying informed.” As a member of the American Booksellers’ Association, Stephens attends meetings and workshops where fellow booksellers gather and share experiences, as well as learning new methods to keep up with the changes in the bookselling industry. The workshops provide ideas for bookstore owners who want to modernize their business and move forward, and also provide a stream of information about the state of affairs for small bookstores.
Little Professor, too, has had to put in some effort to adapt to the rapidly evolving market for books. In addition to books, the store now carries book lights, Ohio University t-shirts, and calendars. All of these things help draw students in, contributing to revenue: the store’s location on Court Street makes it one of students’ first destinations for their literary needs, and after they find the book they’re looking for, these lesser-advertised goods may grab their attention.
Holsapple also plans to move the store into a more electronic feel: Little Professor may some day partner with other independent bookstores to sell e-books online. He says more than Barnes and Noble Online, or even Amazon, that e-readers have “definitely been a big competition”, but isn’t despairing over the decrease in demand for print. Holsapple believes that e-books would compliment the store’s physical book selection nicely, and recognizes that the store simply doesn’t have a choice; in order to keep up with the competition, they have to evolve. “If we don’t change some,” he admits with a small smile, “then it’s not going to work.”
In this era of electronic fixation, it takes a certain kind of mettle and know-how for smaller bookstores to stay alive, and these two places certainly have both. They may be the underdogs here, but they shouldn’t be discounted just yet. Stevens believes print will never truly die; “People still want books,” she says.
The townspeople of Athens want to support their community businesses, and some people—whether they’re too old to see a computer screen well or too young to understand how to use it—still prefer having the book in their hands with the knowledge that they’ve helped support a local store. The Athens Book Center and Little Professor both have good chances of staying in business, as long as they continue their efforts to evolve. “It’s going to ebb and flow,” Stephens says. “It’s going to change. And I think as booksellers, we have to just keep up with what’s going on, you know, stay as informed as we can with what’s happening in the business, and be willing to change as we can.” Both stores are certainly willing, and they’re sure not going down without a fight. |
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