Opportunity Knocks: Lafayette Book Store Grows, and Grows

Bookstore owner Dave Simpson may own the oldest bookstore in Contra Costa County, California, but just recently, he's also become owner of three of the newest bookstores in the region. Simpson, who purchased the Lafayette Book Store six years ago, opened three more bookstores in the past four months: The Danville Book Store, opened in September; the Lafayette Used Book Store, opened in October; and the Pleasant Hill Book Store, opened in November.

The town of Lafayette is situated about four miles from Berkeley. With fewer than 25,000 residents, Lafayette is a quiet place for commuters who can afford this scenic, semi-rural suburb. Owner Dave Simpson purchased the 37-year-old bookstore in 1997 when it was "three weeks away from closing its doors," he told BTW.

Since buying the store, Simpson has tripled the business in the 1,500-square-foot general bookstore. Of the recent openings of his three new stores, Simpson said that he "really didn't plan things that way. The opportunities all came up around the same time."

In the midst of opening the new stores, Lafayette ran two of its biggest offsite book sales of the year -- the 12-day Jewish Community Center Book Festival and the Bioneers Convention Bookstore.

Of course, Lafayette was busy with holiday shoppers as well. "We had a great Christmas and were way up until the last few days," Simpson reported, "then we lost a little ground and ended with flat sales. But we were up about 50 percent for the year. It's a jammin' little store."

Danville, California, about ten miles south of Lafayette, is Simpson's hometown. The quaint downtown, dotted with specialty shops, had no independent bookstore until Simpson secured a 450-square-foot space in a 1920s-era cottage. As of September, the Danville Book Store, a scaled-down version of the mother store, has been open for browsers and buyers.

In October, space became available in the Lafayette Book Store's building, and Simpson took the opportunity to open a used-book store, offering a large selection of used and collectible books. Customers are encouraged to bring in boxes of their used books to get "the highest prices paid in the county."

In Pleasant Hill, a community about 10 miles north of Lafayette, Simpson won the contract for the John F. Kennedy University bookstore. The Pleasant Hill Book Store, which opened in November, serves as a combination general bookstore and textbook store. It is also the only independent bookstore in Pleasant Hill.

Simpson, a board member of the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association (NCIBA), finds the Book Sense 76 and Book Sense Bestseller lists very helpful in his stores. "In fact, I find that the Book Sense national bestseller list often reflects our customers' preferences more closely than the NCIBA list. It's probably because many stores in the NCIBA are in urban areas and the sales reflect this. Our clientele is more like suburban or small-town communities in the rest of the country."

"BookSense.com is a good marketing tool," he told BTW. "It's a way to directly interact with customers. People are always checking [our Web site] for events listings. People are always impressed with the site -- it makes us look good." --Nomi Schwartz