Saturday, February 05, 2005
Week 2: Book-pimping in the Hoosier State
This week was Indiana. It's one of my smaller territories, but a few bright stars that I have high hopes for the future...
Monday, Jan 31
Friends of Art Book Stall, Bloomington, IN - Bookshop attached to the school of art on the University of Indiana campus. The buyer has a good eye for new art and photo titles. I love the idea of students and professors having their own bookstore separate from the campus one. The art quad has the school, an art museum, and the famous Lilly rare book library all within 100 yards of each other.
Book Corner, Bloomington, IN - Small store with mostly magazines, but an eclectic and thoughtful book selection. At first I was dismissive of the store, but they do really well with McSweeney's titles and lots of other books I wouldn't expect.
Box Car Books - Anarchist revolutionary store just outside the downtown area of Bloomington. Very clean and well maintained store inventory. Great art hanging on every wall.
Whitehorse Book Store, Bloomington, IN - this is a former gas station turned into coffeehouse/bookstore. I didn't have time to go in, next time. I think it's just used books (read: great wallpaper to sell coffee), but I'm okay with that. I wish more businesses would use books for decoration. They're really quite nice.
Tuesday, Feb 1
Architectural Center Indianapolis, IN - Before this job, I never realized that almost every city has a chapter of the American Institute of Architects, and most chapters have their own bookstore. It's small places like this that become crucial for a small publisher (and their sales reps) to find and establish relationships.
Big Hat Books, Indy, IN - I love meeting with the owner, Elizabeth Houghton Barden. She's fun, she's enthusiastic about bookselling, and she has a great mind for publicity and marketing. When she wanted to get the word out about her new store, she didn't just go to her local paper, she went to the New Yorker. Now PW reporters now regularly call on her for quotes about hot books. She's been open for less than six months! Brilliant. Over the holidays, she had a hard time keeping books in stock because it's a rather small store (start small, expand with success). To compensate, she began offering personal shopping to customers. They gave her lists of people they needed gifts for, their likes and hobbies, suggested dollar amount, and address. Liz picked out books, gift wrapped, boxed, and wrote out address labels. All the customer had to do was give a credit card. Liz shipped them out and everything arrived before Christmas. On Christmas Eve, waiters from the restaurant heard about it and were running to her store with tip money, desperate for a last minute gift for their mother/brother/sister/aunt Matilda. Now she has a growing fan base coming to her for more recommendations. Customers for life.
Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art (IMOCA) Indy, IN - New museum to encourage contemporary artists. They've landed in a beautiful brick building just outside the downtown area. It's probably a temporary space until they can find an interim location. Ideally, they'll raise money to build a permanent building. The mission right now is to encourage and finance new works of art, instead of trying to build a permanent collection or raise money to host travelling exhibits. It's a good idea for a new venue competing against the old guard (Indy Museum of Art) and the university museums in Indiana. Frankly, Indianapolis is far behind other midwestern cities in building a young art scene. IMOCA could be a key player in making it happen. I hope they find a good location, preferably over by the Mass Ave area.
Wednesday, Feb 2
Mitchell Books Ft. Wayne, IN - Regular readers know that I'm a fan of the layout and goals for Mitchell Books. I think it could be a dynamic community hub for Ft Wayne, particularly its suburban communities. It has the space, the cafe, the books, a movie theater/event venue, and a notable lack of competition (except for a few chains). Unfortunately, the store is going through some major difficulties during this first year of operations. I visited for dinner on Tuesday night, but the cafe inexplicably closes at 2 pm. The store was empty from 7pm until 10pm. It could be a fluke, it was Tuesday after all, but I got the impression that nobody was planning any events to bring customers to the store. And the atmosphere, empty rooms without music or eye catching displays, wasn't helping. From the outside, it seems like the management is trying to run it under textbook retail rules without letting the fun of books create the atmosphere. The front entrance had big signs advertising the Customer Appreciation Sale from Jan 14-23. I was there on Feb 1. I hate "customer appreciation" anything that lasts for one week. What are the other 51 weeks? Customer Exploitation days?
Mitchell Books right now is a beautiful place, but it needs to find its soul to really be successful. I'm still pulling for it. I know the owners sometimes check in with this site, so please know I'm still rooting for you. A bookstore can only be shaped so much, at some point the customers and staff need to become part of the process so they can feel part-ownership. Customers need to feel like it's their bookstore. That's the point they bring everyone they know to shop.
Next week: Back to Chicago for a few days of museums, bookstores, and designer boutiques.
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Monday, Jan 31
Friends of Art Book Stall, Bloomington, IN - Bookshop attached to the school of art on the University of Indiana campus. The buyer has a good eye for new art and photo titles. I love the idea of students and professors having their own bookstore separate from the campus one. The art quad has the school, an art museum, and the famous Lilly rare book library all within 100 yards of each other.
Book Corner, Bloomington, IN - Small store with mostly magazines, but an eclectic and thoughtful book selection. At first I was dismissive of the store, but they do really well with McSweeney's titles and lots of other books I wouldn't expect.
Box Car Books - Anarchist revolutionary store just outside the downtown area of Bloomington. Very clean and well maintained store inventory. Great art hanging on every wall.
Whitehorse Book Store, Bloomington, IN - this is a former gas station turned into coffeehouse/bookstore. I didn't have time to go in, next time. I think it's just used books (read: great wallpaper to sell coffee), but I'm okay with that. I wish more businesses would use books for decoration. They're really quite nice.
Tuesday, Feb 1
Architectural Center Indianapolis, IN - Before this job, I never realized that almost every city has a chapter of the American Institute of Architects, and most chapters have their own bookstore. It's small places like this that become crucial for a small publisher (and their sales reps) to find and establish relationships.
Big Hat Books, Indy, IN - I love meeting with the owner, Elizabeth Houghton Barden. She's fun, she's enthusiastic about bookselling, and she has a great mind for publicity and marketing. When she wanted to get the word out about her new store, she didn't just go to her local paper, she went to the New Yorker. Now PW reporters now regularly call on her for quotes about hot books. She's been open for less than six months! Brilliant. Over the holidays, she had a hard time keeping books in stock because it's a rather small store (start small, expand with success). To compensate, she began offering personal shopping to customers. They gave her lists of people they needed gifts for, their likes and hobbies, suggested dollar amount, and address. Liz picked out books, gift wrapped, boxed, and wrote out address labels. All the customer had to do was give a credit card. Liz shipped them out and everything arrived before Christmas. On Christmas Eve, waiters from the restaurant heard about it and were running to her store with tip money, desperate for a last minute gift for their mother/brother/sister/aunt Matilda. Now she has a growing fan base coming to her for more recommendations. Customers for life.
Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art (IMOCA) Indy, IN - New museum to encourage contemporary artists. They've landed in a beautiful brick building just outside the downtown area. It's probably a temporary space until they can find an interim location. Ideally, they'll raise money to build a permanent building. The mission right now is to encourage and finance new works of art, instead of trying to build a permanent collection or raise money to host travelling exhibits. It's a good idea for a new venue competing against the old guard (Indy Museum of Art) and the university museums in Indiana. Frankly, Indianapolis is far behind other midwestern cities in building a young art scene. IMOCA could be a key player in making it happen. I hope they find a good location, preferably over by the Mass Ave area.
Wednesday, Feb 2
Mitchell Books Ft. Wayne, IN - Regular readers know that I'm a fan of the layout and goals for Mitchell Books. I think it could be a dynamic community hub for Ft Wayne, particularly its suburban communities. It has the space, the cafe, the books, a movie theater/event venue, and a notable lack of competition (except for a few chains). Unfortunately, the store is going through some major difficulties during this first year of operations. I visited for dinner on Tuesday night, but the cafe inexplicably closes at 2 pm. The store was empty from 7pm until 10pm. It could be a fluke, it was Tuesday after all, but I got the impression that nobody was planning any events to bring customers to the store. And the atmosphere, empty rooms without music or eye catching displays, wasn't helping. From the outside, it seems like the management is trying to run it under textbook retail rules without letting the fun of books create the atmosphere. The front entrance had big signs advertising the Customer Appreciation Sale from Jan 14-23. I was there on Feb 1. I hate "customer appreciation" anything that lasts for one week. What are the other 51 weeks? Customer Exploitation days?
Mitchell Books right now is a beautiful place, but it needs to find its soul to really be successful. I'm still pulling for it. I know the owners sometimes check in with this site, so please know I'm still rooting for you. A bookstore can only be shaped so much, at some point the customers and staff need to become part of the process so they can feel part-ownership. Customers need to feel like it's their bookstore. That's the point they bring everyone they know to shop.
Next week: Back to Chicago for a few days of museums, bookstores, and designer boutiques.
