Sidelines That Sell

This story originally appeared in Children's Bookshelf on June 8, 2006 Sign up now!

Compiled by Judith Rosen, Children's Bookshelf -- Publishers Weekly, 6/8/2006

“There are a lot of places you can get books these days,” says Jane Dawson, a bookseller at Porter Square Books in Cambridge, Mass., who views sidelines not only as a way to complete a sale, but to make the store stand out. She also finds that a good sideline can act as a conversation starter at the check-out counter.

Here are some sideline suggestions from her store and others, for items not typically found at every card and gift shop across the country, or even other bookstores.

• Musical wind-up dolls from Green Tree Products in Santa Ana, Calif.

“That company’s been a real find for us,” says Monica Holmes, co-owner of Hicklebee’s Children’s Books in San Jose, Calif. She keeps the dolls in the store’s fairy section, which continues to be one of its fastest moving areas. “Little girls go right to that section,” says Holmes, who describes the combination of books and toys as “little girly cutesy. We’ve got stuffed unicorns, tiaras, fairy wands, fairy puppets and fairy books.”

• Sticky Stones from GeoCentral in Napa, Calif.

“We have sold thousands,” says Lorna Ruby at Wellesley Booksmith in Wellesley, Mass. “They are super magnets. If you throw two in the air, they make a cool sound. You can make a magnet cairn to give to hikers. And you can put one on top of your hand and one below it, and they stick through your hand.”

• Stuffed animals from Pint Size Productions in Crystal Lake, Ill.

“Our personal favorites are the Sandra Boynton stuffed animals—all Boynton all the time,” says Carol Stoltz, children’s buyer and manager at Porter Square Books. “Each animal goes with at least one of her books. The Philadelphia Chicken (from the book of the same name) is almost irresistible.”

• Rasp drums from International Art & Sound in Ashland, Ore.

“We’ve sold quite a few rasp drums, frogs and crickets, as well as owl whistles,” says Candy Pearson, who opened Apple Blossom Books in Oshkosh, Wis., last September. “They’re wooden and easy to play with, even for toddlers. Kids really like them at storytime. Some of our customers use the owl whistles to call owls, but you have to use them at the right time of day, in the late afternoon and early dusk.”

• Wallet pens from The Wallet Pen in Charlotte, Vt.

Although these sterling silver pens, at $39.95, carry a high price for a sideline, Elizabeth Bluemle, co-owner of Flying Pig in Charlotte, Vt., has been very pleased with sales. “We have customers who will come in and buy four or five at a time for hostess gifts or holiday presents,” she says. “At first I thought they did so well here because they are made in my town. But tourists love them as much as locals do, and they have no idea it’s a local product.”

• Sock coin purses from BNL, Becki and Lee in La Quinta, Calif.

“We carry a lot of gifts and sidelines,” says Richard Litts, owner of Oregon Book Company in Oregon City, Ore. “The mix seems to really appeal to people, and we get customers that shop just for gifts that we wouldn’t see otherwise.” At the top of his list, which includes decorative tiles, puzzles and crystals, are little coin purses made from baby-size socks.

• Plush germs from GIANTmicrobes in Cos Cob, Conn.

“Our favorite new sidelines are plush germs with little tags explaining e. coli or Ebola or bedbugs,” say Ellen Scott, Yvonne Kaiser and Anna Hutchison at The Bookworm in Omaha, Neb. The microbes are small, between five and seven inches high, and cover just about every ailment, including the common cold.

• Handmade sock monkeys

Cartoonist Tina Kugler, co-owner of Tweedle Bros. Children’s Bookshop in Manitowoc, Wis., sells a lot of books featuring sock monkeys—like Kara and Jenna LaReau’s Rocko and Spanky titles, and Tony Millionaire’s The Collected Works of Tony Millionaire’s Sock Monkey. Her sister-in-law sews carefully crafted sock monkeys that Kugler displays with the books. “I give each one a card with a name and personality trait. We have one right now with a tiny Gryffindor scarf and a peculiar scar on his forehead. For some reason, dads buy them most often. We can’t keep them in stock,” Kugler says.