It's a dream of mine to own a Bookstore. Something similar to what's described in the article. Not a ton of books only books I know are good and interesting. Have the a store with a personal touch.
I just can't see how it's going to work financially. I don't plan to get rich from it but I sure would like it to sustain itself and be able to provide for my family. I guess if you already have a business that's bringing in the cash and you open the store as a hobby that makes things easier, this seems to be the case for the writer of that article.
Carrying only a pre selection of books can be extremely tricky, unless you find a particular niche that’s in demand. That could be easier to do in big cities, but the problem there is that the costs are higher, which pressures the amount of monthly sales to pay rent, etc.
For experience running a comic book shop, I was selling a lot of stuff that I wasn’t particularly interested, but my customers liked. Now, it’s true that I had to close it after two years, but the interesting part is that it was really difficult to foresee what would be the best selling articles beforehand…
Of course, alongside, I was selling a lot of stuff that quite interested me. But I had to work on with the business hat on, more than with the fan hat on, if that makes sense
But there are bookstores that have launched recently and have grown. The one in Truckee, CA is an obvious example. It's definitely not a hobby operation.
Rough Draft in Kingston, NY is another one. It's definitely my favorite bookshop right now. It helps to have a great coffee bar and booze bar and a cool historical building, but most of all it helps to be in a city to which hipsters have been migrating in droves in recent years. To be fair Rough Draft are as much a driver of that recent migration (along with other new similar businesses) as it is a beneficiary. They do a great job in curating their book selection, unfortunately the crowds and morning coffee queues keep me away more than I would like.
I just can't see how it's going to work financially. I don't plan to get rich from it but I sure would like it to sustain itself and be able to provide for my family. I guess if you already have a business that's bringing in the cash and you open the store as a hobby that makes things easier, this seems to be the case for the writer of that article.