San Francisco State University Bookstore to Promote Value of Independents

To help booksellers educate consumers about the benefits independent businesses bring to their communities, last December, the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association (NCIBA) created two posters featuring attention-getting talking points. One poster compared Amazon.com's contributions to California, in terms of taxes, donations, and employment, to that of independent booksellers. A second poster, entitled "Local Businesses Support Local Economies," cites Civic Economics' "The Andersonville Study of Retail Economics," which highlighted the economic value of local businesses compared with chains.

Now, the San Francisco State University (SFSU) Bookstore is adapting the posters specifically for their store, reported Ken White, the bookstore's General Books Department manager. "The idea came about partly from the poster NCIBA did," White told BTW. "When we looked at our store, we felt we were a big enough entity that we could put in our own numbers -- and they seemed impressive in their own right. It seems to work."

The SFSU Bookstore-specific poster -- which has the headline "It's Your Store," below which are two boxes comparing the contributions SFSU Bookstore makes to the local community as compared to 'Onlinebooks'.com -- will be placed as an advertisement on the inside back cover of the new student handbook, opposite the campus map. The handbook will be distributed to incoming students at the May and June orientation for fall freshmen. Additionally, SFSU Bookstore is having the poster printed for placement around the store, and fliers, which will be used as bag stuffers.

White told BTW that he expects the posters to have an impact on students and store patrons. "We have a politically conscious campus that are ... unaware of us as an independent bookstore," he said. "This kind of education will go a long way in our favor."

Hut Landon, executive director of NCIBA, noted that their poster is adaptable for both bookstores and regional associations. "You could [adapt] it for [a regional association] or you could do this for the Tattered Cover.... The [poster] concept gave people a way to talk about Amazon, reminding people what it doesn't give [your community] and all the other things an independent bookstore provides."

For a previous article on this topic, click here.