Village Books Blog

What's Love Got to Do With It?

This Saturday, November 7th is the first annual National Bookstore Day--a day devoted to bookselling around the country. What does that have to do with you? Well, first off, we're celebrating it by having a 10% storewide sale and giveaways (woo-hoo)! Second, I ask that you take a moment to seriously consider what Bellingham would be like if we lost Village Books or Henderson or Michael's or Eclipse or any of our other local bookstores. Sure, if Village Books closed, I'd be out a job, but I would find another one. I have more invested in this store than that, though. When I moved back to Bellingham from North Carolina this past May, I returned to Village Books (I was the Events Coordinator prior to heading to the East Coast). Many people questioned my decision of returning to VB, asking if I felt like I was backpedaling. My answer was (and still is) a resounding "no." Although my job in NC was in book publishing, I so badly missed the atmosphere of the bookstore. I missed knowing what other books were out there, I missed having access to all those books, I missed being part of something so closely tied to the community and so willing to let staff run with their creativity. I was elated when Chuck and Dee so warmly welcomed me back.

Bookstores are quirky and the staff tends to be even quirkier (you should see what a bookselling conference is like. Let's just say some of my favorite memories are with booksellers...and let's be thankful those memories weren't captured on film). Even amid the great migration toward Kindles and Sony Readers and the declarations that "books are dead," I love this business. I hope all of you know how fortunate we are to have Chuck & Dee heading up this crazy ride known as Village Books. Instead of digging their feet in and refusing to change their ways, they reinvent the store over and over and over again (see: Espresso Book Machine and the soon-to-be-introduced Symtio e-books). In a time when indie bookstores are crashing all around us, Bellingham still has Village Books (and Henderson, Michael's, Eclipse, et als.) So, even though Saturday is a day to celebrate bookstores, I see it as a way to celebrate perseverance in an industry that is so volatile. GoooOOOOO BOOKSTORES!

-Lindsey

A Magical Evening with Terry Tempest Williams

 It's been five days since the event with Terry Tempest Williams here in Bellingham and I can still feel the warm glow.  And, I'm certainly not the only one.  I've talked to a lot of folks this past week who count the evening as one of the most memorable they've spent in ages.  It was the kick-off event for the 25th Anniversary of the Whatcom Land Trust and Terry, with her own land trust involvement in Utah, was the perfect person to listen to that evening.  Speaking from the heart about land trusts, independent bookstores and her latest book, Finding Beauty in a Broken World, Terry, by turns, had folks laughing and crying.

Never have I known a writer, or anyone for that matter, who connects so deeply with those she meets.  In the years I've known her I've never seen her have a superficial interaction with anyone.  It was an especially gratifying time for Dee and me.  Terry has been a dear friend for many years and it had been a long time since we'd been together. On Monday, we were nearly inseparable for more than a dozen hours.  The memory of the time together is something we'll cherish forever.

Elegant Variation on Another Village Books

The Elegant Variation is an exceptional literary blog and you don't have to accept my word for that.  The Guardian lists it in its top ten, Forbes includes it in its Best of the Web and Los Angeles Magazine considers it a top L.A. blog.  In a recent post there's mention of a namesake bookstore--Village Books in Pacific Palisades.  The store, like many indie bookstores, is struggling. Read the TEV post.

Buy Local Week

With this being the beginning of Buy Local Week here in Bellingham I thought it appropriate that I post a response I sent to a very good question from one of our customers.  He had just received our holiday catalog and was curious why the prices on some of our books were considerably higher than those of online retailer, Amazon.  Here is the answer I sent to him. I'd love to have your comments.

Thanks for your note and the chance to let you know a bit about book pricing.  The publisher sets the suggested retail price of a book and bookstores and other resellers buy the books for a discount off of that price.  Our discount is in the range of 40 - 45% off the retail price.  Regular discounts that we give, such as our frequent buyer program, school discounts, our birthday card discounts, etc. pare that margin down to below 40%.  The costs of operating a bricks-and-mortar retail establishment--occupancy, personnel, etc. eat up most of what remains.  In the most profitable days of retail bookstores bottom-line profits were about 2%.  Stores have struggled for several years to get back to that point in spite of low compensation (including that of owners--Dee and I make less than we would if we had stayed in education) and controlling every possible expense. 

Amazon and other online retailers have created a very low-cost delivery system, though it's still unclear whether they really make money on the book part of their business, given all of the other products they sell.  We simply cannot compete with those vendors on price.  What we believe we do deliver is a contribution to the quality of life in the community that remote mail order businesses cannot and will not provide.  Each reader will make his or her choice on the basis of what is most important to them.  Retail bookstores may well be the buggy whip stores of a previous century.  In 1992, when I was president of the American Booksellers Association there were about 4500 independent bookstores.  Today there are fewer than 1500.

Village Books has had a good run, coming up on thirty years.  It may be that "the times they are a changing."  And, we too, may go the way of the dodo bird and dinosaur.  But, it's not going to happen soon.  Many folks understand the difference between price (what one pays for an item) and true cost (what one gets and/or sacrifices for it).  Many believe that what we, and other independent businesses, contribute to the life of the community makes the cost of buying from us lower than buying from Amazon or WalMart or...

We hope you see the value of what we, and other independent businesses, contribute to the quality of life in our community.  We truly appreciate your business and will continue to strive to provide great value.  Thanks again for your note.

A Heady Day Among Philanthropists

Yesterday was an amazing day.  Dee and I accepted, for Village Books, the 2008 Outstanding Philanthropic Small Business Award for Washington State.  The ballroom at Seattle's Sheraton Hotel was packed with about 1200 people who came to celebrate National Philanthropy Day.  The Association of Fundraising Professionals gives annual awards in seven categories--individual philanthropists, corporation, foundation, family, organization, young philanthropist and, our category, small business.  There were many touching moments during the presentations. The positive atmosphere in the room was a great antidote to the constant barrage of bad news of late.  Especially uplifting and hope inspiring was the award given to Anders Crabo and Colin Flynn, now college freshmen, who as Sehome High seniors raised more than $14,000 and created a youth philanthropy fund at the Whatcom Community Foundation.  Isn't it great, young people teaching other young people about the importance of philanthropy?  There were about 60 folks from Whatcom County in the audience which reminds me how thankful we are to everyone who has supported our vision of building community, one book at a time.