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The Kids are Alright: B.C. Book Publishing

Cheri Hanson

| July 2, 2009

Image by: Lindsay Siu

While many independent booksellers have succumbed to the power of national chains, big-box outlets and online emporiums, local children’s book retailers have found their own path toward success

When Portia Tickell told people she was opening a children’s bookstore on Vancouver’s Main Street, jaws began flapping. Didn’t she know B.C.’s retail landscape is littered with the ghosts of independent booksellers? Hadn’t she heard the death knell for the Granville Book Company, Fireside Books, Women in Print and Black Sheep Books? How about Merlin Books in Kamloops? Or Prince George’s beloved Mosquito Books?

More importantly, didn’t she realize that a certain independent competitor had veritably ruled the roost since 1983? “They said, ‘Oh, you’re going up against Kidsbooks?’” Tickell recalls, her blue eyes widening. “‘Aren’t you a brave one!’”

It’s true. Kidsbooks runs three award-winning stores across the Lower Mainland and elicits pious devotion from customers of all ages. Clearly, Tickell was well advised to study the competitive scene. But not only had this former film script supervisor done her homework; she knew that B.C.’s children’s book retailers are beating the odds in a game that’s notoriously stacked against independents.

Her store, Once Upon a Huckleberry Bush, opened last August in the trendy South Main area. Tucked between a hipster hair salon and a fitness store for triathletes, the shop sits at the southern end of the street’s rapidly creeping gentrification, a location where noodle houses and antique shops still rub elbows with chic clothing boutiques and sleek cafés.

Once Upon a Huckleberry Bush became profitable almost immediately after the doors opened, and Tickell estimates that the store now sells about 25 to 35 per cent of its 9,000-title inventory each month, or between 2,250 and 3,150 books. With those numbers, the store would turn over its full inventory between three and four times each year – a very strong start, according to one industry observer. “Inventory turns vary by type and size of bookstore, but a reasonable benchmark is somewhere between 2½ and three times per year,” says Craig Riggs, a partner at the Vancouver strategy and communications consulting firm Turner-Riggs.

It’s early days for the business and Tickell admits she’s still tackling the learning curve inherent in running a bookstore and managing inventory, but she anticipates the store could achieve a 10 per cent profit margin by next month. According to Susan Dayus, executive director of the Canadian Booksellers Association, “A two per cent profit at year end is considered good in our industry, which does not leave much for booksellers to work with in a down economy.”

Riggs agrees. While he can’t reference hard data on average bookselling margins, “it’s generally held that average profits in indies are under five per cent.”

Tickell’s success to date indicates that there is enough room in Vancouver for more than one children’s bookstore. It also shows that independent kids’ booksellers can compete with a national bookstore chain, big-box grocery outlets and the online book emporiums that pose a very real threat to small book retailers across the province.

In Canada, retail market share has been steadily shifting away from independent booksellers since the mid-1990s. That’s when Indigo Books & Music Inc. began rolling out large-format stores under the Indigo and Chapters brands and consolidating smaller Coles, SmithBooks and The Book Company outlets in malls nationwide.

Today Indigo runs 247 stores across Canada and 37 in B.C. alone. A 2008 study for Canadian Heritage prepared by Turner-Riggs showed that Indigo had secured 44 per cent of Canada’s $1.59 billion consumer book sales by 2006. Non-traditional booksellers such as Costco and Wal-Mart accounted for another 20 per cent of sales, while four per cent went to online retailers and 12 per cent was sold directly from publishers and specialty wholesalers to libraries, schools and “other.” Just 20 per cent of the pie was left for indie retailers.

“Independent bookstores have been under a lot of pressure over the last 10 to 12 years,” says Riggs, who co-authored the Canadian Heritage report. Chain outlets and online retailers can afford aggressive pricing and maintain a massive inventory – from the ubiquitous Twilight and Traveling Pants teen series to more obscure titles. “A general independent bookstore can be really hard-pressed to compete in that space,” says Riggs. “But independent bookstores that have a category focus, like Kidsbooks, have a real advantage.”

Where retailers like Tickell can maximize that advantage is by creating an enhanced customer experience, one that emphasizes personalized service, interactive author events and deep product knowledge. Sure, customers can purchase Goodnight Moon while they pick up a crate of cat food, but “that’s not a book-buying experience,” Tickell explains. “They’re really sick of big-box stores. They might know they’re going to get a better deal, but they feel insignificant.”

It’s a soft explanation that underpins a year of research and meticulous planning. Sitting in the store’s reading area, Tickell, 46, radiates modest pride in the tidy, 885-square-foot space. A tree of hand puppets flanks the cash register. Bank lights illuminate blond laminate floors and highlight colourful book displays designed to lure in young readers. There’s a jumble of plastic toys near the back and a thicket of beanbag chairs, where parents and kids gather on Tuesday and Friday mornings for story time – when sales typically spike by 25 per cent.