Ashland

Only 2 bookstores here, Simple Pleasures and Bell, Book and Candle. Neither really specific to any genre. Ashland is also a college town with a college bookstore. Right off of 95 for easy access. Lots of old buildings, historic area, old town.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. I read the business section of the newspaper as often as possible. Every time I see some new business focused on some niche. Most recently I saw where a couple of guys opened up a storage build/office space for rent business. Not only did they provide the typical storage spaces, but they also rented out small office space that people could use for small start ups--those folks testing the waters before investing in a larger space or paying big rent. In the article I believe they were renting these spaces for as little as $400 month. They said, as a part of their research that they visited hundreds of businesses that started out as storage buildings and added other businesses to the mix (they bought a deserted warehouse or factory and converted it). Come to think of it I remember there was an operation near our home in Michigan that was a combination storage space/postal-copy center/hairdresser and auto detailing shop all in one! Using a no frills space, buying used fixtures, and bringing your vision to life--sometime the "place" isn't as important as the selection, the price, or the services offered.

r

A very sad, lonely blog.

not surprised

It is unfortunate that they are going out of business, but if you had ever been to the store it really comes as no surprise. Pretty much just thrown together and stuck in the corner of a shopping center (you could very easily drive right by it). They had a very specific niche--sci-fi, Harry Potter and Harry Potter wanna-bees, some horror, gothic stuff, etc. More like someone trying to push their passion onto someone else. Very narrow niche with prices that were not competitive with B and N. I imagine it was the rent that probably put them over the edge.

R

Out of Business

The Books and Authors section of the RTD has an ad on page 4 that announces the "Store Closing Sale" for Creature 'n Crooks Bookshoppe in Carytown. According to the web site ( http://www.cncbooks.com/ ) the owner will continue with an online sales and a blog...

better world books. com

Saw a news item on small businesses. Betterworld Books, small business success. Sells used text books at market prices. Inventory is primarily donated to them from schools, libraries, and book stores. Run out of a warehouse. Started with a line of credit in 2004. 31 million in sales last year. News item said they receive about 5,000 pounds of books a day and ship out just as much. Started by college buddies pissed off at the prices of textbooks and the fact that college bookstore wouldn't buy back the books. Find that niche.

r

bass-ackwards

I do believe that we will be booksellers with a book store at some point in time. I also believe that the opportunity will present itself in some unique, bass-ackwards way. We need to be on the lookout for unique opportunities, We need to be flexible and realize that the opportunity will not present itself in a perfect form or be in any way free of hurdles. We know we want to make it happen, we have to believe it will happen. Inspirational huh? It's all about the attitude. We can doo it! Research, inquiry, explore, wonder, question.

rock on