Is having a strong children's section a secret to success for indie bookstores?
How big a role does having a children鈥檚 section play in the success of an indie bookstore?
recently did an informal survey of various independent bookstores to investigate how sales had gone over the summer and found that 鈥渕ost independent bookstores with strong children鈥檚 sections are doing fine鈥� financially, according to PW writer Judith Rosen, with a majority matching their sales from this time last year if not experiencing increases in sales numbers.聽
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what we would do without children鈥檚 book sales,鈥� Mary Emrick, co-owner of Turning Pages Books & More in Natchez, Miss., told Publishers Weekly. 鈥淭he section is our best.鈥�
Karen Hayes, co-owner of Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tenn., agreed.
鈥淐hildren brings parents in, who buy adult books along with kids鈥� books,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t gives the store a lot of life.鈥� Parnassus is experiencing a 27 percent increase in sales for the year so far, while Indiana-based 4 Kids Books & Toys told PW they鈥檙e having their best year yet.
One reason kids bump up sales numbers? They don鈥檛 go home and buy a book they saw in an indie store on Amazon, says Bruce DeLaney, owner of Rediscovered Books in Boise, Idaho.
鈥淎n adult will showroom you,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut they will not do that if their child has a lovely picture book in their hand.鈥�
Novels by John Green, who is behind titles such as 鈥淭he Fault in Our Stars鈥� and 鈥淟ooking for Alaska,鈥� are especially big, according to John Cavalier, co-owner of Cavalier House Books in Denham Springs, La.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 tell you how many we鈥檝e sold,鈥� he said of 鈥淔ault.鈥� 鈥淲e鈥檙e still ordering them 40 at a time.鈥� DeLaney agreed, saying Green鈥檚 books were some of his top sellers.
Children鈥檚 events also helped bring visitors to the stores, with Cavalier saying a story time program made Cavalier House Books more visible in the community.
鈥淚t did really well for us and got us a lot of attention,鈥� he said.
4 Kids Books & Toys owner Cynthia Compton said kids' events were big successes for them as well, with a summer reading program being a particular hit. Because of these initiatives, 鈥渄aily traffic was up, and there were more purchases,鈥� she said.
In addition, Compton said she sees adults as well as children in the YA books鈥� section, perhaps also driving children's sales.聽
鈥淎ny reluctance of adults to purchase YA has disappeared,鈥� she said. 鈥淚f there was a stigma, it鈥檚 been removed.鈥�
