Booksellers Say Black Friday Weekend is Just a Warm Up
By Kevin Howell, Judith Rosen, Claire Kirch and Ed Nawotka -- Publishers Weekly, 11/26/2007 10:27:00 AM
While retail pundits like to point to Black Friday—the day after Thanksgiving and the official start of the holiday shopping season—as a barometer of the health of the upcoming holiday season, booksellers are more skeptical. Most of the booksellers contacted by PW enjoyed slight increases in sales over last year’s post-Thanksgiving weekend, but many downplayed the importance of the weekend.
“It was a solid weekend for us,” said Lori Kauffman, junior buyer at Brookline Booksmith in Brookline, Mass. “But, it’s not our make or break weekend.” Mitch Gaslin, co-owner of Food for Thought Books in Amherst, Mass., agreed: “It’s not our bread and butter, but it was up 35% over last year. It was up a lot in percentage points, but not in dollars.”
“Absolutely this weekend is not as important to booksellers,” said John Hugo of Andover Bookstore in Andover, Mass. “The 20th to 24th is when we find out what we do for Christmas. People are not online anymore and they’re sick of the mall.”
None of the independent booksellers contacted saw a huge demand for one or two specific titles. “But that’s good—you don’t want one specific book that everyone wants,” said Nicola Rooney, owner of Nicola’s Books in Ann Arbor, Mich. “We used to wait to see what the next big Christmas book will be, but that hasn’t happened in the last seven or eight years. It’s better when people come in looking for something new or good rather than just one title in mind. It gives us a chance to steer them and there’s a better chance of not getting books returned.”
Liz Murphy, owner of the Learned Owl Book Shop in Hudson, Ohio, was happy with her weekend: Friday and Sunday’s sales were up 40% over last year’s sales and Saturday’s sales were equal to those of the prior year. Larry Dunphy, co-owner of Books on First in Dixon, Ill., reported sales were up 20% from last year. “We doubled our store’s size, so sales better be up. But we did much better than we expected.”
In contrast, Mary Ellen Aria, owner of Aria Booksellers in Howell, Mich., reported a 50% drop in sales this year, despite offering a two-for-one sale on children’s picture books. “It’s the worst year I’ve seen. No one was shopping. I’m flabbergasted that we are so down and we didn’t do anything different. It’s the economy.”
Even more bleak was business at That Bookstore at Mountebanq Place in Conway, Ark. "I was up 20% in August, but by September, was down 70% because nobody could get to the store [because of construction]and there were no school sales," said owner Maryalice Hurst. "Last year was the worst year since we opened." The bookstore is hoping to become a destination by launching an audio book club for those who listen to books on CD.
Somewhere in the middle, Harvey Finkel, owner of Clinton Book Shop in Clinton, N.J. estimated that the weekend sales were “about 2% ahead of last year, but I see customers spending a little more selectively.”
Jamie Koregay, owner of Turnrow Book Co. in Greenwood, Miss., reports the store's sales being down about 5-10% but feels two big events last year with John Grisham and Paula Zane "skewed things." He was happy with the weeeknd's traffic, specifically that the crowd included many new faces to the year-old store.
Zachary Steele, owner of Wordsmiths Books in Decatur, Ga., has no prior year's sales to compare because his store has only been opened six months. "In terms of general business," he said. "It's gotten better every month. I've tried to keep our expectations for the holidays minimal because it's our first year here and at six month, we're still trying to reach people." He plans to kick off December with a "buy-two-get-one-free" sale.
Nicola Rooney sidestepped the whole weekend by doing what she’s done for more than a decade: Nicola’s Books held their big sale the weekend prior to Thanksgiving. “People are shopping the weekend after Thanksgiving already, so why discount? We always hold our big sale a week before-hand to get a jump on the holiday spending and not compete with the malls. Besides, if you’re going to Wal Mart at 4 a.m., you’re not coming to me.”
The newest Oprah Book Club Pick, Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth, was a popular purchase. “It’s the first time men have come in to buy an Oprah book,” said Karen Corvello, head buyer at R.J. Julia Booksellers in Madison, Conn. She also noted Chronicle Book’s Porn for Women “continue to fly out of here. Women read a page and then buy six copies to give as gifts.”
There weren’t a lot of surprises in popular titles: Stephen Colbert’s I Am America, Steve Martin’s Born Standing Up, Oliver Sacks’ Musicophilia, Anna Quindlen’s Good Dog. Stay. Among children’s books, the most mentioned titles were Collins’ The Dangerous Book for Boys, The Daring Book for Girls, and Workman’s Gallop (which, Liz Murphy says continues to sell five copies a day).
This was the first year Finkel at Clinton Book Shop used a coupon inside his NAIBA holiday catalog and inserted them into the community’s weekly newspaper. “I inserted that coupon and newsletter in 14,000 newspapers and I’ve already gotten back 30 or so within a week. That’s pretty good. The coupon is for 25% off one item and is good through Christmas. I think I’ll do that again.”
