Black Friday Better Than Expected

The National Retail Federation's good news of a three-percent bump in this year's Black Friday sales was tempered, since many retailers had slashed prices so deeply to reap modest results. Some indie booksellers contacted by BTW enjoyed the upside of an increase in business without the downside of gouging profits with a fire sale, while others were just relieved to stay flat in the midst of a recession. In addition, high traffic was often attributed to strong localism campaigns and the recognition of the value of books.

Osondu Booksellers in Waynesville, North Carolina, had a very busy Black Friday, along with the rest of the surrounding downtown area. Osondu gained about 15 percent over last year's figures, reported store manager Allison Best-Teague, by combining a community-minded fundraiser with moderate discounts. A percentage of sales were donated to Share the Warmth, a local home heating fuel assistance program, and the store also provided means for customers to donate directly.

Best-Teague explained that the store had carefully planned its Thanksgiving weekend promotion. "We tried to have a sale that was appealing, but would not hurt us financially. And we also wanted to have an event that showed how we are very community minded, but also encouraged others to give back to the community."

Contributing to Osondu's success, she added, were ready-to-help staff, displays of regional titles, and an emphasis on the value of independent businesses.

At R.J. Julia Booksellers in Madison, Connecticut, "Friday and Saturday were pretty good," said Karen Corvello, "though we were a teeny bit under budget. Sunday was a disappointment, but we at least had Santa and his elf there. The weather was wretched, and we don't get the crazy weekends that the malls get."

There haven't been any surprise bestsellers thus far, Corvello noted, but this may be because the store holds "an annual sale for our loyalty club members two weekends before Thanksgiving, which lets us see what's hot." Bestsellers over the weekend included American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham (Random House); Pat the Husband: A Parody by Kate Merrow Nelligan (Cider Mill Press); Stephanie Meyers' books; and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (Dial Press).

In Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Stephanie Anderson at Moravian Bookshop described the bookstore's numbers as "certainly better than expected," but a bit down from last year. Still, she said, Moravian had anticipated the slight downturn. The store has mitigated some of the economy's effects by "basically doing more with less -- bending over backwards with customer service, doing a lot more events, trying twice as hard with less inventory, doing a lot of merchandising, and taking advantage of a lot of publisher deals," said Anderson. Random House's cookbook deals, as well as art books from Rizzoli and Abrams afforded good margins and great sales.

Moravian is also actively promoting the IndieBound.org holiday book wish list, and sponsoring a contest based on the movement's "Why a Book?" taglines (e.g., "Why a book? Because a tie never changed anyone's life"). Customers are invited to come up with their own taglines. "It's keeping us endlessly entertained," said Anderson, "and it's something fun to do for the holidays." Her favorite so far comes from one of Morvavian's loyal teenage customers -- "Why a Book? Because because because because, because of the wonderful things it does." Staff will pick their three favorites, and the winners will receive their choices of staff-pick titles.

As in many communities around the country, Bethlehem's local business group, the Sustainable Business Network, has been promoting the Shop Local movement. Anderson said that in the downtown area, merchants project a similar theme in storefront windows during the holidays, and their ads invite shoppers to come to downtown Bethlehem to do their shopping rather than focus on individual stores.

Prairie Lights Books in Iowa City, Iowa, had a solid Black Friday, and sales were in line with last year, said Jim Harris, Prairie Lights founder and owner emeritus. "We're in a college town," Harris explained, where many of the students leave for the holidays. "However, people come to town to visit their children and grandchildren. They come from all over -- New York, San Francisco -- and they do a lot of shopping on Black Friday. It's always been the case."

Because Prairie Lights "has always catered to readers," Harris thinks it has somewhat lessened the impact of the economic downturn. "Just because there's a recession going on, people don't stop reading, they don't stop eating," he said.

Among the surprises at Prairie Lights was how well Roberto Bolano's 2666 (FSG) was doing. "I knew it was going to sell," Harris said, "but I didn't know it would be quite that strong. It's a literary novel in translation, and it's not an easy book to read, so that's great." Among the store's other strong titles were Marilynne Robinson's Home (FSG), Sarah Vowell's The Wordy Shipmates (Riverhead), and Jan Brett's Gingerbread Friends (Putnam Juvenile), but the biggest seller was The Oxford Project (Stephen G. Bloom, Peter Feldstein, Welcome), a collection of photographs of the residents of Oxford, Iowa. "It's a $50 title that we've sold over 500 copies of," said Harris, "and when you sell those big books, you get the little stuff, too."

Going into the holidays Harris has been able to maintain his optimism because "there are a lot of good books out there." But further down the road, in 2009, "if the economy continues to get pasted, who knows," he said.

Tome on the Range Books in Las Vegas, New Mexico, celebrated the grand opening of its new and expanded 3,200-square-foot location over the Black Friday weekend and did "gangbusters," said Nancy Colalillo, with sales doubling last year's results. To promote the celebration, Tome on the Range sent out about 200 postcards to friends and family offering a 25 percent discount, announced details of the grand opening on the radio, and counted on store regulars to e-mail their own contacts. And as it does every year, Tome on the Range stressed the value of supporting local businesses in all of its communications.

Although Tome on the Range did well, Colalillo said that "Black Friday is somewhat meaningless" as a barometer for the rest of the season, as many locals go out of town for the Thanksgiving weekend. However, the store always attracts those who stay and have incoming guests. "We get the friends and family who want to get the hell out of the house," Colalillo said.

While A Great Good Place for Books in Oakland, California, was a little slow on Black Friday, the rest of the Thanksgiving weekend made up for it, giving them a five- to ten-percent boost, said owner Kathleen Caldwell. "Saturday and Sunday were booming," she said, adding that she hadn't anticipated so much traffic and had just a skeleton crew on hand. "We all worked very hard, and went home very tired."

Caldwell ascribed the solid weekend sales to the community's increased commitment to shopping local. A Great Good Place has been using IndieBound bags and posters to help spread that message. The bookstore also did a cross promotion with a local bakery, in which each displayed coupons for the other's store. Caldwell called the promotion "fabulous."

Hot titles at A Great Good Place trended towards uplifting themes. "People are going for the more hopeful titles," Caldwell noted, adding that's in part thanks to President-elect Obama's win, which comes with the bonus that "anything with his name on it sells."

The weekend was marginally up at Portland, Oregon's Annie Bloom's Books, which was celebrating its 30th anniversary. Manager Will Peters said that in the current economic climate, he was relieved that sales kept pace with last year. "October was a bad month, and there are still so many problems with the economy. But maybe in some ways, it will lead more people to the bookstores."

Peters said the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association holiday catalog, which "keeps getting better every year," is always a draw. The catalog works well with his customers, he said, who show a strong interest in regional titles. "It's really the local books that break out for us this time of year."

Despite the condition of the economy, Peters considered Annie Bloom's customers somewhat undaunted. "People were very anxious in October because of the election. Even though the economy looks pretty bleak now, politically there's a lot more optimism. That helps people's outlook." --Karen Schechner, with reporting by David Grogan