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Brian_egeston
Newbie Poster
Username: Brian_egeston
Post Number: 4
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, April 06, 2004 - 01:12 pm: | 
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Economy takes toll on Black Images; loss of shop called a disaster
11:50 AM CST on Friday, April 2, 2004
By JEROME WEEKS / The Dallas Morning News
There may be only 20 bookstores like it in the country. Prominent authors and publishers hail the small retail outlet as a national inspiration, a cultural center.
But when her lease is up next year, owner Emma Rodgers says, she'll close Black Images Book Bazaar – the oldest African-American bookstore in Texas.
Yes, it's the old story about a small outlet being undersold by the chains, Web sites and huge discounters like Wal-Mart. And yes, Afro Awakenings in Arlington closed last year, so it shouldn't have been entirely unexpected.
It has actually been a mark of the success of specialty stores – gay bookstores, comics, Christian – that their products are now mainstream. And half of all book sales in America aren't in bookstores at all but in drugstores, computer stores.
As the poet Nikki Giovanni said last week, "I saw the new Toni Morrison on sale for $12 at Kroger's. Who would have thought?"
It's the economy, and it's the rent.
Nationwide, independent bookstores of all kinds have been suffering, says Ms. Rodgers, who's been a member on the national board of the American Booksellers Association. And for Black Images, "the handwriting has been on the wall for a while," she says. "We're not generating as many sales as we were, and this economy isn't helping."
In December, Ms. Rodgers took a hard look at the future of her store in Oak Cliff's Wynnewood Village. Three other black bookstores have closed around the country – including Afro Awakenings in Arlington – "and that makes you focus, seeing stores like your own go under," she says. "Like the funeral of a friend makes you think of your own mortality."
Black Images' closing "will be a disaster for this community," says Harry Robinson, president and chief executive officer of the African American Museum. "Emma has promoted authors, she's nurtured authors. She's been like a mother to them."
Walter Mosley, best-selling mystery writer and author of Devil in a Blue Dress, says that when he tours, he tries to visit Black Images, "a wonderful place."
Bookselling, he says, "is a hard business. And there's no way a store like Emma's makes it without a large mailing list and really working to bring people in."
Also Online
African-American bookstores such as Black Images "are not the biggest sellers of my books," the author says. "But that's not important. They're part of the culture that's reading me, part of the culture that I'm writing about."
Ms. Rodgers' lease runs through August 2005. But the bookseller, 59, says she hopes another retailer will take over the lease before then and free her to move out of the 3,000-square-foot space. Her monthly rent is $3,500, not including utilities.
Ms. Rodgers said that previously she signed five-year leases with Wynnewood Village's owner, New Plan Excel Realty Trust, based in New York and one of the nation's largest real estate companies. But last year she negotiated a three-year lease because she feared even then that the financial situation wasn't going to turn around.
Black Images' location on West Illinois Avenue near I-35 means that unlike many independent bookstores, Ms. Rodgers' doesn't compete directly with a superstore. The closest big competitor is a Barnes & Noble in Cedar Hill, more than 10 miles away.
But, she says, popular black fiction can now be bought in many places, including supermarkets, drugstores and giant bargain retailers such as Wal-Mart – and at heavily discounted prices that she can't match. A major source of her profits has disappeared, she says.
Reaching an audience
"We've always been trying to reach the next audience. Giving people what they want to read, but also recommending other things," she says. "And we've always recovered. Now, it's a challenge just keeping the old customers."
If Black Images closes, the only full-time black bookstore in Dallas will be Jokae's African American Books on Camp Wisdom Road, although the Sankofa Cafe, south of Fair Park, also sells books as Cultural Insights Books Plus.
"It certainly doesn't feel good being the only one," said Til Pettis, owner of the 12-year-old Jokae's. "But at present, we're planning on hanging on."
Ms. Rodgers hopes to remain in bookselling, but in a reduced or different capacity.
"We need to cut our overhead," she says. "Either we open in a much smaller space but make it like an airport bookstore, sell just the commercial fiction, no history, no depth. Or we hire out to handle off-site events, like conventions when they come to town."
Ms. Rodgers began selling books by mail order with her business partner, Ashira Tosihwe, in 1977. They opened in a flea market in Wynnewood Village in 1984, then a retail space in 1986.
Oren Teicher, chief operating officer of the American Booksellers Association, which represents 2,000 independent booksellers, said the membership has declined by half in a decade.
But contrary to popular perceptions, he says, independent bookstores have not been closing faster in recent years because of increased competition from online retailers, such as Amazon.com, or superstore chains, such as Barnes & Noble or Borders.
"There's always been a lot of turnover in the industry," he says. "But the number of closings has remained almost the same the past 10 years. What's happening is that stores aren't being replaced."
He says the superstore chains accounted for 22.1 percent of nationwide book sales last year; independents made up 15.9 percent.
Who you gonna ask?
Even so, said Calvin Reid, a news editor with Publishers Weekly, small independents and specialty stores are often valued by publishers for their influence, their ties to their markets.
"Stores like Emma's have the depth of inventory," Mr. Reid says. "They have the depth of knowledge that you can't find in a general store. And they have the passion, the hand-selling that can make books an event in the community."
"Hand-selling" is the industry term for inside-the-store word-of-mouth. It's the personal book recommendations that a store's staff makes to customers. Independent bookstores' hand-selling is sometimes credited with snowballing an unknown book's reputation until it becomes a best seller, as happened with Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain in 1997.
"Independent bookstores can make a writer's career," says Bebe Moore Campbell, the best-selling novelist who wrote Brothers and Sisters. "It's that hand-selling, Emma telling people, 'Ooh, I know a book you ought to read.' People respect her. If she says, 'This is the bomb,' you pay attention."
W. Paul Coates, the publisher of Black Classic Press in Baltimore, sells African-American books nationwide. He said the nation has only 15 to 20 black booksellers as large, respected and established as Black Images.
'Like a hero'
"Emma has had an extremely long run as a black store owner in Texas," Mr. Coates says. "But any time we lose a store like hers, we lose an important cultural center.
"Emma is like a hero for me," he says. In 1995, his firm, which specializes in publishing out-of-print or hard-to-find books, was facing hard times. He needed $300,000.
"I called Emma and asked if she had ever done any fund raising," he recalls. "She said no, but to count her in. That was Saturday. On Wednesday, her check for $1,000 arrived.
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Yukio
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Yukio
Post Number: 140
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, April 06, 2004 - 02:22 pm: |
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hmmmm...brian, this story sounds like a book of fiction or creative non-fiction...focusing not only on the economic issues, but the loss or transference of culture through mass culture, etc.... |
Akaivyleaf
Newbie Poster
Username: Akaivyleaf
Post Number: 15
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, April 06, 2004 - 03:56 pm: |
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We can lend our support to keeping this icon open by shopping on their website: www.blackimages.com |
Zambia
Newbie Poster
Username: Zambia
Post Number: 9
Registered: 02-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, April 06, 2004 - 05:31 pm: |
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I was devastated to learn that Black Images is closing. It is a fabulous bookstore and I loved going there a few years ago when I was in Dallas. On top of everything else, Emma Rogers is a very sweet, dedicated and loving lady who treated authors and illustrators like kings and queens. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 207
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, April 06, 2004 - 06:06 pm: |
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What would happen if these independent small book store owners lowered the prices of their books in order to compete with the big discount places? Wouldn't they sell a lot more books and end up making a profit???? Quick, somebody, give me a lesson in Econ. 101. |
Brian_egeston
Newbie Poster
Username: Brian_egeston
Post Number: 5
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, April 06, 2004 - 06:49 pm: |
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Cynique,
I may be wrong, but the reason Independent Bookstores(IB) can't compete is due in part to the overhead costs(rent, labor, utilities) and also the small source of revenue stream. For instance, the reason you go into Wal-Mart and Kroger and find newly released books for 40% is because they don’t mind losing money on books because they will make up the loss in so many of their products with higher profit margins.
I sell 10 books for five dollars each when it cost me seven dollars to get them from the publishers. So now I’m in the hole for a negative twenty dollars. Yet I also sell eggs. I sell 100 cartons of eggs for $1.50 a carton when it only cost me 20 cents a carton for the farmer. Well I made a profit of $130 on the eggs so I am at $110 total profit. Now I don’t care what loss I take on the books. I’m simply gonna push my high profit margin items. Omelet anyone?
An IB is struggling to make a profit on a $24 book when they offer it for 20% off. Amazon is selling it for 30% and Black Expressions is practically giving it away with every gallon of gas you buy.
B&N and Borders have so many books, their concentration is not on making a profit for every single book, but rather getting people in the store and simply spending money everyday all day. At the end of the year, they total up the heap of money and say we made a profit in 2003, let's keep going. The sales generated each month goes into one giant pile of money from which all B&N and Kroger, and Wal-Mart employees are paid out of. That same pile of money gets revenue from cookies, lawn equipment, milk, drawers, Starbucks coffee, or anything else they sell.
But you take an IB and the money they make in a month comes from one cash register. And that cash register gets buttons pressed from book sales only. So at the end of the month an IB has to assess if it can pay the rent, its employees, the light bills, and feed the owner's family.
They then realize that every penny counts because they don't have the inventory or divertsity of product that their competitors have. Thus being the case, if they start selling books for 40% off like Wal-Mart, then...they're gonna be working at Wal-Mart.
Because of technology, the world is a smaller place now and shopping choices are abundant. I spoke with an IB bookstore owner in Florida. The only Black IB bookstore in the entire city and there was only one chain store in the area. She said that her biggest competitor was not a chain store or amazon, but it was Black Expressions. And this IB was doing everything right. She has an online store where you can order any book in the world, she has a monthly newsletter, she attends events and sells books at festivals around the city, but what can you do when a competitor offers the most popular books at one dollar each. You cannot.
Alas, this is the beast of business. Those with good ideas, large piles of capital, and ways to offer the lowest prices will survive. It’s the theory of business Darwinism.
I think perhaps the saddest scene in this story is that IB’s are being put out to pasture because they have served their purpose. It’s analogous to a horse and buggy vs. the automobile.
The horse and buggy was a great idea. It got people where they needed to go and they could carry their loads with no problem. But when the automobile swept through with its speed and horsepower, the horse and buggy was largely useless. Despite the fact that cars pollute and are bad for the environment, no one’s gonna go back to horses and buggies except maybe the Amish( and I’ve seen some of them on an airplane).
Black bookstores were a place where our words could be found way back before the industry thought we bought books at all. Now that the world knows you can make a nice profit from Black books, there’s hardly a need for Black bookstores. It’s sad, but it’s true. I know some great bookstore owners and it’s a bad break for them.
Hope this helps.
Brian Egeston
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Whistlingwoman
Newbie Poster
Username: Whistlingwoman
Post Number: 9
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, April 06, 2004 - 08:59 pm: |
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Well done, Brian. |
Abm
Newbie Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 17
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, April 06, 2004 - 09:42 pm: |
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Excellent points, Brian. Unlike independent book dealers, major merchandisers can afford to use books as lost-leaders.
And Wal-Mart is especially threatening.
Wal-Mart has become so "all-powerful" that they can bully the publishers into charging the same or maybe even less than what many of the larger book chains are made to pay. So it is entirely possible that Wal-Mart is making a profit, even though they are charging consumers 60 cents on the dollar.
In fact, Wal-Mart is such a ruthless marketer that it has been predicted it will run most of your major toy retailers (e.g., Toy-R-Us) out of the business inside of 5 years.
The irony of the demise of black bookstores is that they are failing because non-Black distributors/retailers are capitalizing on the burgeoning popularity of Black books.
But fear not.
As always, the AA culture evolves. Non-Blacks, as always, will ignore or fail to recognize the change in our tastes. Then, to meet our needs, some fresher, more dynamic manifestation of "Black Images" will arise from the literary ashes. |
Thumper
Veteran Poster
Username: Thumper
Post Number: 73
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, April 06, 2004 - 10:04 pm: |
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Hello All,
I can't believe it either, *Brian brace yourself* but I agree with Brian. I just wanted to say that, and also post another post to get me all that much closer to becoming a gold member on my own damn discussion board. How did Cynique do it? But, I'm not hating on my new best friend Cynique. ***waving at her* Hey there girlfriend. How you? *big smile* Could you make a run to Ikea store for me, I need some baskets? ** |
Soulofaauthor
Newbie Poster
Username: Soulofaauthor
Post Number: 24
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, April 06, 2004 - 10:30 pm: |
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Where I live here in Arkansas our so called super walmart only basically carries African American books during the month of black history.And in away to me that is somewhat saying that in my area walmart feels that the african american consumer here only reads one month out of a year.Their is a african american book store 45 minutes from me. And the sad part about that is even the people who live in that town don't even know it exsist's.I have to be honest if walmart did have a better variety of african american books I would purchase more from them.I am all for supporting african american book dealer's that's why I go order online at the final call.com and travel the 45 minutes to afrika the african american bookstore near me.I have never been to black images in fact till I read this post I had never heard of it.I do shop at black expressions which isn't even black owned.I also shop at amazon I like how when I order from them my books come pretty fast.Also I have a question if I start ordering books off this site does that benefit this site because I love this site and would love to help support it in any way I can. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 212
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, April 06, 2004 - 11:21 pm: |
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Thanks, Brian, for answering my question. Too bad that answering the question doesn't solve the problem. Guess privately-owned black bookstores will eventually become a fond memory. |
Brian_egeston
Newbie Poster
Username: Brian_egeston
Post Number: 6
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, April 06, 2004 - 11:21 pm: |
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I change my position. Whatever I said, reverse it and that's my new opinion. It's way too early in the movie for Thumper and I to agree. People would walk out of the theater.
ABM: *SUPPOSEDLY* There was a legal agreement made a few years back and booksellers are not allowed to receive larger discounts from publishers/distributors based on the volume of books they order. It was done to level the playing field. I would not be at all surprised if this was not taking place today.
What's strange is that Wal-Mart gets all of it's books from one distributor-- Anderson Merchandisers. While other booksellers are buying from Baker & Taylor, Barnes & Noble, etc. Wal-Mart(which is my favorite store in the world by the way) has this nice quiet romance with one distributor. HmmmEgeston |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 213
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, April 06, 2004 - 11:25 pm: |
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Thumper, I'm a little embarrassed about this platinum status, myself. But when you're a peripatic gadabout like me, I guess that's your reward. You gotta put down that Pier Imports catalogue and start posting more. |
Blkmalereading
Regular Poster
Username: Blkmalereading
Post Number: 36
Registered: 02-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 07, 2004 - 12:18 am: |
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ABM, you are certainly right about Wal-Mart. I think folks are beginning to get 'hip' to this monopoly.
Don't be surprised if in a few years, we hear about Wal-Mart 'out sourcing' for their books somewhere in China for 10 cent a book, as they do with all of their other products.
Ruthless is right!
Has anyone found out from the store owner what it would take to keep her in business? Is it possible to save the store? Akaivyleaf gave a possible solution and it was just overlooked. Would it make a difference if we spent a certain percentage of our money with the store? But how long would that keep it open, because it is hard for most of us to pass up on a deal. What if avid book buyers committed to spending some of that money via the online buying store, would that help.
I'm not an avid book buyer and much of a bargain hunter myself. I tell you book selling is hard business. I can't tell you the last time that I personally spent full price for a book. I think the only time I may do this is when it's just to support an author, other than that, I'm a real deal hunter. I often go crazy and get books (hardbacks) for 1 or 2 dollars and not with Black Expressions either....
But I'm willing to buy a book or two for full price if it would keep the store open. Wonder if someone could find out if this would be of any help to the owner/s. The fundraiser thing even sounds like a good idea. She went to bat for others, maybe we could go to bat for her? Just asking...
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Bookgirl
Veteran Poster
Username: Bookgirl
Post Number: 58
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 07, 2004 - 12:51 am: |
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I'd buy a few books from her per month too. Like Blkmalereading; I am a bargain hunter when it comes to most things and I like to be able to get as many books as I can for my dollars.
However; I'd pay full price for a new book or two if it would help the sistah out. LOL |
Thumper
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Thumper
Post Number: 76
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 07, 2004 - 08:06 am: |
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Hello All,
Cynique: I'm a Gold member now! *LOL* Let's not go there with the innuendos and stuff. *LOL* So, is that a no on the IKEA run? I certianly hope not. See, I need baskets large enough to hold LPs.
SOA: the answer to your question is yes. If you purchase books using any of the links and buttons here on the site, we get a commission that goes to support us.
I wonder if there is anyway for a group of the black bookstores to form a block and arrange to get their books at the Wal Mart discount since all of them together can order a larger volume of books, thus justifying the distributors to provide them with lower price books, raising their profits. Certainly, if we all put our heads together, we can come up with a solution. |
Always_lurking
Newbie Poster
Username: Always_lurking
Post Number: 11
Registered: 02-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 07, 2004 - 09:22 am: |
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Brian, I know the IB in Florida. I am so sad to see her go. She is one of the most professional and innovative sisters (even if she is a Delta  ) I have met in the business. I love her store and it is a shame to see her go. She will be moving to an online status at www.heritagebookstoreandmore.com. She does a lot for the community as well as the readership.
Anyway, it is getting harder and harder for smaller businesses to compete with the bigger businesses out there. With outsourcing running wild and the economy being in a bad state, it may get worse before it gets better.
BTW, I Walmart is the evil business that I hate to love. I sneak in and sneak back out really fast so as not to get caught by my conscience. They don't treat employee that great and their business practices are questionable at best and they only care about the bottom line.
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Akaivyleaf
Newbie Poster
Username: Akaivyleaf
Post Number: 17
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 07, 2004 - 09:33 am: |
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Does independent necessarily exclude conglomeration? Thumper you make a good point, why can't IB join together to create a buying base which will allow them to buy a bigger volume of books at possibly lower prices.
Here is an example of independent even in a conglomeration. The black funeral home industry. A few years ago there was a big push for Lowens or RCI to come through and purchase small black funeral homes. The lure was that the funeral home was allowed to keep the name that so many people were accustomed to, nothing would change on the front end, the customer end. The changes would be reflected in the membership fee the funeral home paid to the consolidator in exchange for purchasing goods and services at a volume discount. Many funeral homes signed up- its preserved the family name in the community and has assured their continued profitability. They even have a network developed where people who don't have an affinity toward any funeral home get "recommended" to one in the time of need and the one they are recommended too might have slow business.
Back to books... I'm a bargin shopper, some people on this list even know my horrible secret concerning books but I too will purchase from Black Images because they need my help and who am I to preach community, spending my black dollars in the black community if I"m not willing to actually do that. Provided their customer service remains where it is, I can be supportive. I've also read someplace that their closure wasn't etched in stone. She (Emma?) is looking at a less expensive retail location. |
Chrishayden
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 100
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 07, 2004 - 11:21 am: |
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It was alleged here by a black book store owner that his larger competitors leaned on distributors to play hardball with him when he got in an accounts receivable problem with them--ie, if somebody owes you some money, you can take the strict line and say you get no more product unless you pay, or you can give them a break-and his distributors were not giving him a break ("He orders five copies of Beloved from you and we order fifty")
I cannot confirm this, but I would not be surprised. Ain't it the American way?
and he has since left town. |
Klb
Newbie Poster
Username: Klb
Post Number: 17
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 07, 2004 - 11:28 am: |
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I love Black Images bookstore. Ms. Emma is a great community resource (she bends over backward for local artist). I'm guilty of being a bargain hunter too. Most of the books I get from Blk Images are hard to find titles and books that aren't hot enough to be discounted elsewhere.
I have tried in the past to get my bookclub and other groups to puchase from her store. The major problem I find is not with the pricing but as we get more prosperous we get more spread out. So even when it's not cheaper to go to B&N or Wal-Mart it's just more time saving.
I'm hoping our ocmmunity leaders will extend an olive branch to help Ms. Emma save her business. I've called a couple of organizations to see if we can organize / help. |
Blkmalereading
Regular Poster
Username: Blkmalereading
Post Number: 37
Registered: 02-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 07, 2004 - 11:45 am: |
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Thumper:
That's a GREAT idea! Why not look into doing something like that? I hear this is how the Asian community does things. They are under one organization and are able to order in bulk. Hey, AALBC, could be the jumping board (distributor) for such a deal. |
Jmho
Newbie Poster
Username: Jmho
Post Number: 19
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 07, 2004 - 12:30 pm: |
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Thumper wrote:
I wonder if there is anyway for a group of the black bookstores to form a block and arrange to get their books at the Wal Mart discount since all of them together can order a larger volume of books, thus justifying the distributors to provide them with lower price books, raising their profits.
Thumper, this makes more sense to me. This month, it's Black Images that's in trouble and next month, it's another black book store, and then the month after, it's yet another. And on and on. Get my point. If we all start to buy from Black Images then won't the other black book stores begin to suffer if discontinue to buy from them? We need to become proactive rather than reactive. I want Black Images to survive but I also want my local black store owners to survive, as well, just as I am sure others want the same in their local areas.
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Abm
Newbie Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 21
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 07, 2004 - 01:22 pm: |
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Akaivyleaf,
I not sure the funeral home and book markets comparison is valid. People do not bargain-shop when they are burying their departed. Black folks are not going to seek funeral services with White funeral homes just because they are cheaper. Many Blacks will presume a Black funeral home to be more empathetic and understanding of how Blacks mourn. So, they will likely find the Black funeral home services to be more suited to their needs, and will, if necessary, pay more.
However, "The Color Purple" is the EXACT same book at Borders as it is at Black Images...only Borders sells it 10 - 25% cheaper, which could mean a $3 - $8 difference per book. And if I buy 50 hardcover books/year, that’s a savings of est. $150 - $400 annually. So if I like my money, unless I am ESPECIALLY loyal to BI’s, I’m shopping at Borders.
Cooperative book buying for independent dealers might help some. But cooperatives are often messy, contentious, partly because the more astute and savvy members often find there are situations where the terms they enjoy on their on are superior to those the cooperative yield. And, to garner resources sufficient to compete against the Barnes & Nobles (which total 100’s), the cooperatives would have to have HUGE membership, which would be hard to create and even more difficult to administer and maintain.
And let’s be honest: If Black people could/would work as effectively together as Asians do, we would enjoy socio-economic advantages that greatly transcend book dealing
The only way independent book dealers will be able to survive will be to offer goods/services that are not as easily replicated by the mass merchandisers. And, to replenish their customer base, they must aggressively market to the tastes of young people, which may include blending book reading with other popular activities/events (e.g., poetry & spoken word contests, sweepstakes, etc.) some of which might appear to be only tangibly related to book reading. |
Akaivyleaf
Newbie Poster
Username: Akaivyleaf
Post Number: 20
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 07, 2004 - 02:20 pm: |
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ABM I am a mortician by trade and by no means was I implying that we would shop around for our services I'm merely stating that some "black" funeral homes are no longer "black". They are no longer owned by the family name that is on the outside of the building but the customer would never know that. Same quality of service, same service same pricing structure the family has just sold out to the conglomeration in exchange for their ability to buy their caskets, services, supplies at a greater discounted wholesale price.
The same could hold true for black book stores... Why can't the 8 or 10 IB (forgive me if my count is wrong, Atlanta) in the Atlanta area go together and purchase their books at a more deeply discounted rate than they could individually. The buying public wouldn't know of their "merger" per se.
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Whistlingwoman
Newbie Poster
Username: Whistlingwoman
Post Number: 10
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 07, 2004 - 05:41 pm: |
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Walmart, by the way, was just shut out in Inglewod, California (largely African American community) last night when they tried to force themselves into the neighborhood. The organizers against the superchain used a lot of the reasons cited here (destroys small business) to trump up community support.
What was interesting in this case is that the city council voted against Walmart and the store went on to spend $1M putting an initiative on the ballot forcing people to vote. It was a scary precedent because if the initiative had passed Walmart would not have to comply with any guidelines set by the city.
Their presence in Inglewood would have driven a lot of mom & pop's (including bookstores) out of business so I am glad to see them thwarted in this case. My hometown in northern California loss three independent bookstores in less than two years time as soon as Barnes & Noble made their move into the area.
Anyway, there are great suggestions here for a buying block. Sibanye in Baltimore closed/is closing and it would be great for Black Images to survive all of this.
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Thumper
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Thumper
Post Number: 78
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 07, 2004 - 10:01 pm: |
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Hello All,
The reason why I am so scared of black bookstores disappearing is that if they all leave, and Walmart is the only one standing, THEN Walmart gets to dictate what books you or I buy. We will have no other option. So if WalMart decides to say not stock a Carl Weber book, for instance, and that's the only store you can go and get it, I guess you won't be reading Carl Weber anymore. Because now, Wal Mart is the only game in town. And don't say that Wal Mart won't do it. Remember the CDs they wouldn't stock because some Christian church group found it too offensive or too violent? *eyebrow raised* Yeah, money talks, but when you got power...huh, you can always get money. |
Thebooklady
First Time Poster
Username: Thebooklady
Post Number: 1
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 07, 2004 - 10:31 pm: |
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JmHO said: Thumper, this makes more sense to me. This month, it's Black Images that's in trouble and next month, it's another black book store, and then the month after, it's yet another. And on and on. Get my point. If we all start to buy from Black Images then won't the other black book stores begin to suffer if discontinue to buy from them? We need to become proactive rather than reactive. I want Black Images to survive but I also want my local black store owners to survive, as well, just as I am sure others want the same in their local areas.
JMHO--Excellent point! While I'm saddened and disappointed that Black Images might possibly be going out of business, I feel compelled to support my local AA bookstore to KEEP them in business. Additionally, it's A LOCAL THANG with me. I believe that by supporting a local small business I am supporting my local economic base. Yes, I can purchase books online or from Black Expressions at a lower price but as I try and teach my kids about economics and to buy Black it makes me feel good to take them to a bookstore that is AA owned and operated. Yes, in the near future, most of the independent owned stores might become obsolete, but until they do I will continue to support them. Because the bottom line is that if we don't support our OWN no one else will. Now, of course, this assumes that the customer service is excellent and the clerks are friendly and courteous.
(But then again folks shop at Wal-Mart everyday and I know those clerks aren't always in a good mood--I've run across a few of them back in the day--maybe they've improved in the last year or so but I wouldn't know because I don't shop at Wal-Mart. Unfortunately, I know too much about their business practices and as a consumer I choose not to spend my dollars with them).
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Brian_egeston
Newbie Poster
Username: Brian_egeston
Post Number: 9
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 08, 2004 - 10:38 am: |
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Great discussion here, everyone. Congratulations. Love it when words become dialouge.
Brian |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 221
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 08, 2004 - 06:36 pm: |
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Instead of pouring all of his money into the Rap industry, multi-millionaire entrepreneur Russell Simmons should think about syndicating black book stores. Ditto Jay-Z. |
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