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Ask HN: Know of a hacker in Cambridge or Boston who wants a bookstore?

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Ask HN: Know of a hacker in Cambridge or Boston who wants a bookstore?

#1

Post by mankins »

I started Lorem Ipsum Books 9 years ago with the belief that bookstores were an important part of our community--and that they needed to innovate in order to survive.

Freshly out of graduate school at MIT the bookstore was started with the notion that integrating Internet-sales into a traditional brick-and-mortar bookstore was the way forward for small retailers. Rather than run from technology, we were going to embrace it to provide a new sales channel. With a group of friends I built this new way forward, creating Lorem Ipsum Books in Inman Square, Cambridge.

Lorem Ipsum benefited from a custom-coded inventory system that automatically listed our inventory for sale at other online partners like Amazon.com. It was fun to use, efficient, and worked. For awhile there, it looked like this dual-listing was the answer to bookstore's problems. Then supply-ballooned, demand remained the same, and prices dropped.

We tried many things, but were unable to get the store from red to black.

They just deleted our Wikipedia page, citing progress as being 'unremarkable'. Clearly something has to be done...

It's time to innovate again.

The bookstore needs fresh ideas, a radical change in thinking, and a reimagining of the role of the bookstore in the future. I don't want to shut the store down, but may be forced to. Instead, I'm looking to pass the store to other keepers--other innovators--hands.

I write to Hacker News to ask if anyone knows anyone in the Cambridge or Boston area that would be interested in this project?

Re: Ask HN: Know of a hacker in Cambridge or Boston who wants a bookstore?

#4

Post by wheaties »

Someone else IS innovating. They're printing out of print books for a tidy fee. What's remarkable is that so many books are unavailable once they've run. That is publishers are incentived to destroy rather than keep books which don't immediately sell due to tax laws.

Research that and look around at other book stores. You'll find the one doing it.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/philjohnson/2012/05/10/the-man-w...

Re: Ask HN: Know of a hacker in Cambridge or Boston who wants a bookstore?

#5

Post by mankins »

wheaties wrote: post #4

Someone else IS innovating. They're printing out of print books for a tidy fee. What's remarkable is that so many books are unavailable once they've run. That is publishers are incentived to destroy rather than keep books which don't immediately sell due to tax laws. Research that and look around at other book stores. You'll find the one doing it. http://www.forbes.com/sites/philjohnson/2012/05/10/the-man-w...

The machine is so expensive. The lease on it is more than our rent. It works for that store because of its location.

Re: Ask HN: Know of a hacker in Cambridge or Boston who wants a bookstore?

#6

Post by drags »

This doesn't help pay the bills, but I lived right down the street from you a couple years back and loved your bookstore.

Have you looked into textbooks? There's a lot of money in the textbook market right now (for a variety of reasons). Won't help your storefront business, but could help on the internet side. I work in the industry; feel free to email if you want to chat more about the textbook side of the industry :)

Re: Ask HN: Know of a hacker in Cambridge or Boston who wants a bookstore?

#7

Post by mankins »

drags wrote: post #6

This doesn't help pay the bills, but I lived right down the street from you a couple years back and loved your bookstore. Have you looked into textbooks? There's a lot of money in the textbook market right now (for a variety of reasons). Won't help your storefront business, but could help on the internet side. I work in the industry; feel free to email if you want to chat more about the textbook side of the industry…

Thanks we did textbooks awhile back when we had a warehouse, but dropped them. The industry seemed to be changing too rapidly to understand. Tx for the help offer, all appreciated.

Re: Ask HN: Know of a hacker in Cambridge or Boston who wants a bookstore?

#8

Post by cllns »

Have you considered running it as a co-op? I think odds are low one person (or entity) would want to buy it outright, but you might be able to get 100 people to buy a stake of it. Just a thought!

Similarly, maybe it could have a future as a not-for-profit entity?

Re: Ask HN: Know of a hacker in Cambridge or Boston who wants a bookstore?

#10

Post by mankins »

cllns wrote: post #8

Have you considered running it as a co-op? I think odds are low one person (or entity) would want to buy it outright, but you might be able to get 100 people to buy a stake of it. Just a thought! Similarly, maybe it could have a future as a not-for-profit entity?

I'd be open to either. A big problem is that I live in NYC now, and haven't been able to be involved in the day-to-day events like I once was. I'm looking for someone--or a group--to step into that place.
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