Not all books have a happy ending. not all bookstores, either.
That’s been true for a while, and now he’s added to the list of casualties at Fifth Avenue Books, a Hillcrest mainstay for 30 years, which is closing its doors at the end of February, laying off three employees.
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Owner Robert Schrader said his used bookstore, known for the size and variety of its inventory (40,000 titles), has been losing money for several years, most recently around $1,000 a week. Although he hoped the drought would be temporary, he now sees it as inevitable: “The traditional bookstore simply cannot survive in the age of online book sales.”
A similar story unfolded across the United States in the first decade of this century, when sales plummeted and stores closed. the chain of borders broke. Predictions were made that as more and more people flocked to e-readers, only about 5 percent of all sales right now would be print books.
but in the last five years there has been an interesting plot twist.
E-reader sales have stagnated and the number of stores nationwide has increased, at least as measured by membership in the American Booksellers Association. Bookstore sales for the first 11 months of 2016 were up 3.4 percent compared to the same period in 2015, to about $10.5 billion, according to the US. uu. census bureau.
Booksellers are carving out specialized niches and emphasizing author events, handpicked selections for customers, the “buy local” movement, and other features not available with online merchants.
The resurgence has led Amazon, the digital retail giant often cited as the main cause of bookstore decline, to open its own outlets in Seattle, Portland and San Diego, where there is a branch in the center of the university city. Five more Amazon stores will be “coming soon” in Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York.
So, where some see an inevitable march into bookstore oblivion, others see signs of hope.
Which is why, in the same week that Schrader announced the closing of Fifth Avenue Books, another used bookstore just a few miles away marked a different milestone. verbatim books celebrated its first anniversary.
changing nature of shopping
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Used bookstores are, in a way, unwanted stepchildren of the publishing industry. The only one who makes money when a used book is sold is the seller, not the author, publisher, or printer.
but stores consume a significant slice of the book pie. In a September survey by the New York-based Codex Group, about 11 percent of the 4,600 people who had bought books in the previous month bought them used. That compares with 33 percent who bought (or received as gifts) new books, said Peter Hildick-Smith, Codex president.
“It’s always been a pretty busy little sub-economy,” he said.
and when the digital age entered the industry, used bookstores, with their lower prices, were better positioned to survive. That’s one of the reasons San Diego, like many other cities, has more used stores than new ones.
Right in the area where Fifth Avenue Books are closing, there are several other used stores, including Bluestocking Books, which is across the street; verbatim, on the 30th; the footnote books and the controversial bookstore, on university avenue; and adams avenue bookstore, in normal heights.
There are no stores in that area that specialize in new books, although the West Grove Collective in South Park has a small selection. Upstart Raven, a fixture at Seaport Village for 35 years, closed at the end of December.
But that’s not to say that online retailing hasn’t affected thrift stores as well. “The Internet has changed the nature of shopping,” said Kris Nelson, owner of Bluestocking Books since 1999. “It’s not just the little downtown stores that are feeling it. now the malls are too”.
schrader said one of the reasons he’s closing fifth avenue books is because buying online “has completely changed people’s perception of books.”
“Now they are treated like plumbing fixtures, like bar-coded items,” he said.
more people used to value the experience of browsing a bookstore and finding things they didn’t know existed, schrader said. “We tell ourselves that because of the internet we are more exposed, but in practice we tend to only have people who are our friends on Facebook, and we read things that share our views. we are limiting ourselves.”
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Other owners, however, have found that the in-store experience is what people crave. “We want that sense of belonging to the neighborhood,” said Jim Hall, who bought Point Loma Books last year and changed the name to La Playa Books, a rebranding that emphasizes its ties to the bayfront town.
Hall’s daughter, Amy Hesselink, manages the store, which opened in late October and sells mostly used books. “Independent bookstores these days are all about community,” she said. “My dad really believes in that and in the tactile relationship: that you can experience a book so much better when you hold it in your hands.”
niche marketing
Specializing in particular genres has been a successful survival approach for stores selling new books. mysterious galaxy in clairemont calls itself a place for “martian books, murder, magic, mayhem & amp; more.”
now some used libraries are taking a similar approach. in the textual books, there is a corner dedicated to “zines”, publications made by hand and of limited production.
“There are a lot of local people making them now, and there really aren’t any other places in north park that sell them,” said greg theilmann, co-owner of the store. “People come in because it’s a cool thing to see.”
He and co-owner Justine Epstein, who used to work at Fifth Avenue Books, opened their store in January 2016 after noticing how much foot traffic there is along 30th Street, especially on weekends.
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“We had a great first year here,” theilmann said. “I think what it shows is that people value physical books over e-books, and they value a place where they can come and find them.”
how much longer it will remain true is anyone’s guess. “It’s a struggle staying open,” said Nelson, owner of Bluestocking Books, who turned to crowdfunding about a year ago to help her store with overdue bills and a computer upgrade. “A big reason we’re still here is because of the loyalty and kindness of our readers and friends who answer the call.”
theirs is the third bookstore in their location, dating back to the 1960s. keeping up with the changes of the digital age has meant offering books through the store’s website and amazon’s third party program . but it’s clear where his heart is.
“The staff and I really appreciate the tradition of books and the community that comes to share the reading and literature they love,” said nelson. “That is what we want to perpetuate. books and bookstores help people find common ground about ideas and things that happen in the world.”
He paused. “I’m sorry, that’s a wonderful love for books. but that’s why we’re crazy enough to keep doing what we do.”
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