Hi everyone. I'm considering opening a used book store and would like
some insight/questions.
I live in a city with 3 million people. Within a 20 mile range of me
there are 3 used bookstores. I know the owner of one very well. He is
retired and opened the store just to give him something to do. He is in
a strip mall anchored by a WalMart (very high traffic) in a 1200 square
foot suite. Nothing fancy not even decorations. He also sells on
Amazon. He is very religious and honest and even showed me his Amazon
account. He is currently grossing $7,000/month in the store and
$10,000/month on Amazon. He does no advertising and relies on walk-by
customers. He only buys books in perfect shape. The romance novels and
Steven King novels he says are valueless because you can get them
online for 1 cent, but cook books and unique books, audio books are big
sellers. In fact he is only 1 block away from a Borders and Barnes &
Noble but tells me the people shopping in used bookstores are a
different breed. He just signed another 5 year lease. In fact he's so
busy they hired extra help.
Based on his experience, I thought opening a used book store with my
wife in my area of town would be a good idea (heavily traveled strip
mall). We own another business that takes up little time and nets
around $300k/yr. But I go online and do some research and 99% of
everything I read is that used bookstores are going the way of the
typewriter. They are closing up, being put out of business, have high
failure rate, etc. So I'm a bit confused. Can anyone give me some
insight on the used book store business and just how risky it is? Is it
worth it or like travel agencies will it be wiped out by the internet
soon? I don't understand how this bookstore can do so well but
everything I read is so negative.
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