Boosted by Welcoming Community, RoscoeBooks Plans for the Future

Last August, when Erika VanDam signed a lease on a vacant storefront on the pedestrian-friendly main strip in Roscoe Village, a family-oriented neighborhood in Chicago, she was faced with the choice of opening before Thanksgiving or not until the following year, VanDam recently told Bookselling This Week.

Before Thanksgiving it was: RoscoeBooks opened on November 21, in the heart of the busy holiday season. VanDam said that she and her staff made it their immediate focus to learn as much as they could about store systems, their customers, and keeping inventory in stock.

When January came around, RoscoeBooks did its first big return, set up new accounts with publishers, and did some rearranging of sections. “Now we’re thinking about events,” said VanDam.

This is the first foray into the book business for VanDam, who previously worked in ad sales. Following the birth of her baby in 2013, VanDam looked forward to returning to work but almost immediately realized that her job was no longer the right fit. “Having a child is a catalyst to make some changes in your life,” she said. “My husband encouraged me to make a big change. We made a list of all the things I love and possible directions I could go.”

Though they were new to the Roscoe Village neighborhood, the VanDams quickly realized the one thing missing was a bookstore. “I decided to sit with the idea and spend some time researching it, gathering as much information as I could,” said VanDam, who left her job for good in March 2014 to focus solely on opening the bookstore.

In May 2014, VanDam attended the “Owning a Bookstore: The Business Essentials” workshop facilitated by Mark Kaufman and Donna Paz Kaufman of The Bookstore Training Group of Paz & Associates and co-sponsored by the ABA. “That was a life changer,” she said. “I would not be doing this if I hadn’t gone to their workshop. It really taught me what I needed to know. It makes you understand and appreciate just how many moving parts there are in a business like this.”

On her return to Chicago, VanDam was on the lookout for a storefront on the main thoroughfare, Roscoe Street. “It was a matter of waiting until the right thing opened up,” she said, and it finally did that summer.

The 1,400-square-foot space now boasts an inventory encompassing all genres, a large children’s section decorated with a hand-painted mural, and array of non-book items. “We’re always adding new things,” said VanDam, who sees having a small space as a bit of a benefit. “It’s made us think even more carefully about where we want to put things and what we want to stock,” she said.

With four part-time employees — two co-managers and two booksellers — VanDam said that RoscoeBooks is “getting into a rhythm.”

Top priorities for the store now are to establish partnerships with area schools for book fairs, launch a story time, and welcome book clubs. With a growing knowledge of what their customers like, plans are in the works to establish a solid events schedule.

“Our main goal at this point is to be seen as a hub for the community,” said VanDam. “We want people to know that we’re here and that they’re always welcome.”

The warm welcome that RoscoeBooks has received since November from the surrounding community “has been better than anything I could have imagined,” VanDam said. “From day one, we had people coming in saying this is exactly what this neighborhood needed.”