The next thing is to build or buy half shelves, tables and
revolving racks for other or more books. The half shelves about
4 feet wide by 4 feet high and similar to book cases in your
home should be located at right angles to your wall shelves, and
in the rear of your store. The tables should be about 3 feet wide
by 4 feet long, and about 30 inches high. These also should be
located at right angles to your wall shelves, but closer to the
front of your store. A revolving wire rack, to hold currently
popular or specially featured books, and located at the front of
your store, will be a special extra merchandising effort that'll
really pay off in sales of your books.
In locating your half shelves and tables down the middle of your
store, stagger them one 3 feet from the wall shelves, the next
one 6 feet out, then 4 feet and so on. This will allow people to
be "seen" in your store; cut down on the appearance of a formal
or military layout, and project a more casual atmosphere for
browsing and this is precisely what you want. This kind of
arrangement will cost you some space, but it will be worth it
with increased traffic.
Another merchandising idea that works very well is a couple of
revolving wire racks on wheels...These you push outside and
position near the entrance to your store. You can feature popular
paperbacks, and a few oversize hard cover books with bright,
flashy colors in these racks.
Your store hours should match those of your neigbors...In fact,
you cold "jump off to a quick start," by opening a half hour
earlier than your neighbors. Use his opening half hour to take
care of paperwork, and get yourself organized for the day. When
the early shoppers see you're open early, they'll begin coming
into your store to "browse and kill time" while they wait for the
other stores to open.
If you cannot be there to "open the store," then hire part time
help. The best arrangement is house wives or college students in
4 hour shifts at the minimum wage.
First off, write out a list of duties you want each clerk to
perform while he's on shift. In addition to taking care of sales
transactions, you might want him to do some stocking, dusting,
cleaning, sorting and prcing..Regardless, you'll have fewer
problems and enjoy bigger profits if you formally write these
"shift duties" out, and post them as job requirements, and
explain them when you interview for hired help.
Look for, and try to hire only book lovers who are personable,
outgoing, and have some sort of business aptitude. You the train
these people in all phases of your operation, with the thought in
mind that they will run the store in your absence, and eventually
be your store manager. the best way to find such people is by
talking with your customers, observing which might be willing to
work for you, and which of them might best fulfill your needs.
You'll need a outside sign for your store- preferably one that
hangs right angles to the flow of traffic in front of your store.
Many successful used book stores utilize hand-carved wooden
signs, while others display painted signs with calligraphic
lettering. By all means, spend the extra hundred dollars or so to
have spotlights installed on your store front, focusing on your
store signs. Backlit plastic signs just don't create the
comfortable image necessary for the success of a good used book
store
Newspaper and/ or broadcast advertising will be much more
expensive than it's worth. Your best bet is to create a
comfortable feeling and open invitation for browsers, price your
stock fairly, concentrate on personal service, and let
word-of-mouth advertising and time do the rest.
Even so, you should run an ad in the yellow pages. perhaps and ad
in the college paper, and from time to time, special sales ads in
your local shopping papers. Inexpensive flyers inviting people in
to exchange books, or to just browse, can be printed at your
local quick print shop and handed out or placed under the
windshields of cars in the larger shopping center parking lots.
Advertising, and special sales during holiday periods such as
Christmas, Mother's Day and Father's Day are generally quite
effective in bringing new customers into your store.
Most used book store entrepreneurs use their own book collections
as start-up inventory base. In addition, talk to as many
neighbors, friends and relatives as possible for the donation of
books. Then start making the rounds of all the garage sales and
flea markets. You should have at least 10,000 books in stock when
you open for business- and that's a lot of books. Search for
books to sell-those you can buy for 25 cents or less in all
thrift shops, Goodwill stores and Salvation Army outlets. Church
bazaars and estate sales also sometimes provide you with almost
"complete" libraries.
You might place a small ad in your newspaper announcing that
you're looking for good used books to buy. Generally, you
evaluate a book according to the price you think you can get it
for in your store. Then you subtract two thirds of that total,
and offer that as your " buying" price. Always separate the books
you feel certain you can sell from those you aren't sure about.
It's going to take awhile for you to become proficient as a book
buyer, but with practice and some experience, you'll quickly
develop the "intuition" you need to realize a profit on every
book you buy. Always flip thru the pages of each individual book,
and be sure of its condition before you quote a price. In many
instances you'll also find that out of a box of 25 books, you're
only interested in buying 10...The seller will generally be
wanting to get rid of his books, now...And for a couple of
dollars more than your "bid price" on the 10 books you want,
he'll let you have all 25 of them..This is like a windfall to you
because you can always use the "unwanted" books as leader items
or extras to generate traffic during two-for-one sales; all books
on a certain table for just a nickel each; or your choice of free
books for everyone coming in to browse on certain days..
You should carry hardcover as well as paperback books. Pay no
more than 25% of new price for a mint condition hardcover book,
and buy only those you are certain can be sold in your store. pay
no more than 10% of the new price for a mint condition used
paperback, and steer clear of the hard-core sexually oriented
books.
Visit the libraries and book stores in your area. Observe what
people are interested in reading and what they're checking out or
buying. Stock your store with these kinds of books.
below is a listing of the kinds or types of books you should
consider stocking in your used books store:
BUSINESS BOOKS: These should include books on leadership, career
advancement, time management and people management.
HOW-TO BOOKS: These should include all the self-help and
self-improvement manuals you can find mail order, auto repair,
carpentry, metalwork, home building, gardening, and business
start-up.
COOK BOOKS: You'll probably be surprised at how many people buy
books relating to the culinary arts. A well stocked cookbook
section will mean definite profits for you. Forget about books on
dieting, home economics, and etiquette these just don't do well
in used book stores.
SPECIAL INTEREST BOOKS: Watch and listen to the people of your
area...Be on the lookout for people into World War, history,
aviation, sports perfection, movies and just plain old book
collectors...
PAPERBACKS: Women's romance, science fiction, mysteries, and
historical novels are all good movers currently enjoying an
upsurge in popularity and sales. These will be the "best movers"
in your inventory, so develop good sources of supply, and price
them for fast sales.
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