Independent bookstores thrive during the pandemic with new ways to connect with customers

“We increased 44 percent last week. Thirty-six percent in the last month.”

And Neill is not alone. When the pandemic first struck, independent bookstores felt their share of pain. Blockages in some regions have blocked foot traffic. Publishers have begun to hold back the titles, pending more favorable terms.

According to BookNet Canada, sales in the Canadian English-language retail book market fell by 24% between March and May.

But with the fall, a flood of new titles has arrived as booksellers across Canada are finding new ways to connect with customers.

What good books can do

In Toronto, TYPE Books co-owner Joanne Saul began delivering purchases when restrictions closed her doors.

“We had incredible support,” she said of local customers she met when she and her co-owner got into the car.

As readers hunker down to try to weather the pandemic, what Saul and other owners have observed is an increased appetite for understanding.

“People are trying to connect,” he said. “People try to learn, they try to make sense of the world … This is something that good books can do.”

The push to support the neighborhood store precedes the pandemic, said Doug Minett, executive director of the Canadian Independent Booksellers Association.

It points to a paper that Ryan Raffaelli submitted to the American Booksellers Association (ABA) in January, exploring the renaissance of independent bookstores. There was a 49% increase in the number of bookstores from 2009 to 2018, according to ABA.

“It’s called localism,” Minett said. “It’s one thing to just type something into your phone. It’s another to realize that someone is working with you and bringing you authors.”

Deliveries of books and wines, customized subscription services

If you’re looking for an example, there’s nothing more local than The Bookshelf in Guelph, Ontario, a store run by Minett’s family. When the pandemic subsided, he said they invented a complementary pairing of books and wine.

“We had a liquor license. [Premier] Doug Ford in Ontario said, “Hey, you can deliver it” “.

Minett said Bookshelf’s book and wine deliveries have already reached thousands.

At Mabel’s Fables children’s bookstore in Toronto, when the pandemic prevented some customers from visiting, General Manager Lizzie McKenzie began juggling a slew of weekly virtual book clubs.

“It helps children read and it’s a great way to connect with our customers,” she said.

Mabel’s Fables has also started a monthly subscription service where titles tailored to your reading preferences are shipped to your home.

Independent stores embrace online

With tight margins and limited staff, many smaller bookstores haven’t focused on pre-pandemic online sales. Mosaic owner Neill is also the founder of Bookmanger, a software system created for bookstores. Although it had hundreds of stores in Canada that used the product, many had never actually used the online sales portion.

Then the pandemic hit.

“We’ve been inundated with phone calls,” he said. “How do we turn it on? How does it work?”

His team was quick to get the shops online and saw a sharp increase in traffic. Between August and October 2019, Bookmanger tracking software processed 17,000 online orders, Neill said. This year, the same time period saw 116,000 orders.

The Knowledge Bookstore in Brampton, Ontario has also seen a new wave of online shoppers. Sean Liburd’s Knowledge Bookstore has been a fixture in the community for decades, selling a wide range of what he describes as “African-centric books”.

Following the Black Lives Matter protests, his wife began to notice a surge in business.

“She’s like, ‘What’s going on with our website?'” She said.

“We have never had thousands of people from Canada. This was extremely surprising to us.”

Before COVID, 90% of Liburd’s sales were in-store. By June and July, he claimed 98% of his business were visitors to the bookstore’s website. A wave of new customers was looking for everything from books like White fragility is The skin we are in to the classics of Maya Angelou.

As cooler weather approaches and coronavirus cases rise in Ontario, Liburd is trying to remain optimistic.

“I bought my Christmas supplies. So I run my chances of being positive, even if there are more restrictions.”

Crouch for the holidays

With future blocks a clear possibility, TYPE Books’ Saul said November is the new December.

“We are really encouraging people to shop early and anticipate some distribution problems.”

With publisher cuts, frustration over shipping delays is part of the pandemic landscape. Saul said that with customers leaving the house fewer, some are buying more when they come in and others are already planning.

“We are seeing people making stacks [of purchases] which we are normally used to seeing in December “.

WATCH | Small bookstores thrive on new connections during the pandemic:

Despite concerns that they would be replaced by online retailers like Amazon, some small book retailers in Canada have managed to thrive thanks to creative ways to connect with customers. 2:02

As for Minett, after reviewing members of the Canadian Independent Booksellers Association, he said the biggest problem is the cost of shipping. He would like the federal government to extend the same low shipping rates to bookstores that libraries currently enjoy.

But overall with the future of big-box libraries ongoing, he said COVID-19 is opening customers to a world of new possibilities.

“I think people are realizing, it’s not just about how to get it. But do you really want to have a community or not?”