I
came across a restaurant, Eataly, located near the Freedom Tower in downtown
New York City. It’s a chain store that
provides restaurant seating as well as an area for the purchase of packaged foods. It also features a large offering of books,
many of them related to Italy, food, or New York. It was refreshing to see books sold there and
it makes me wonder why more themed restaurants or stores don’t sell books.
Many
places sell some books, from convenience stores and airport shops to Costco’s,
gift shops, and places like Eataly. I
just wish there were more of them. Maybe
authors and publishers need to push into these markets more.
Why
can’t Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts carry a few books? Between them, there are well over 35,000
locations worldwide. If each one sold
only one book a week, nearly two million books would be snapped up. But that’s just the beginning.
What
if more restaurants, auto repair shops, doctor offices, and places where you
have waiting time to fill, sold books?
Bookstores will always be the prime gathering spot for selling, showcasing, and discussing books, but I see no harm in sharing the wealth and finding other logical outlets to display books.
Bookstores will always be the prime gathering spot for selling, showcasing, and discussing books, but I see no harm in sharing the wealth and finding other logical outlets to display books.
I
recently saw a bank that contained a coffee shop. Why not a mini-bookstore too? A store within a store makes sense to
me. Rent is minimalized but foot traffic
is maximized.
I
know I’m not the first person to think of this – and I know some stores have
embraced the idea – but what will need to happen to ensure mass adoption?
The
first issue is that many retailers don’t know books. They know the product they
sell, whether it’s clothes, food, bicycles, or whatever. Do they have a feel for which books to sell
and at what price point? Is it worth it
to them to sell books if the product they sell goes for hundreds or even
thousands of dollars? We should target stores that sell relatively inexpensive
items, from coffee houses and movie theaters, to pizza places, bagel shops, and
sporting goods stores.
The
next issue is the stores need to do a good job of displaying these books,
rotating titles, offering a variety of topics and price points, and being open
to having an author come to make a presentation (if space permits).
Lastly,
authors need to clearly show why they think their books are a good fit for a
specific location or brand. They should be prepared to offer deep discounts and
expect a lot of returns. But if this
could prove to be profitable to stores and publishers, a whole new avenue to
advertise books and sell to consumers could open up.
There
are many. many, many more stores, restaurants, and non-profits than there are
bookstores – we’re comparing millions of locations to just a few thousand book
retailers. Do the math. Let’s exploit this opportunity!
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