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So You Want to Open a Small Press Bookstore/Artist-Run Space? A Cautionary Tale

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Re: So You Want to Open a Small Press Bookstore/Artist-Run Space? A Cautionary Tale

#191

Post by chiefalchemist »

coldtea wrote: post #105
chiefalchemist wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...incredibly thankless people can be... I hear you. But to be fair can we generalize less and say __some__ people? I'd also venture to say that the internet has educated more people in the art of self-expression. Like any art, doing it, and being good at it are two different things. Simultaneously, we're over stimulated, and have become less tolerant of "feedback." I certainly not going to dispute The A-hole Factor.…

> I hear you. But to be fair can we generalize less and say __some__ people? We could, but seemingly, if you've been in these situations, it's close to "all people".

Yeah. I have been in such a situation, and it was not all people. It was a minority. They were what they always were. What changed was my tolerance to their antics. Mind you, this was pre-internet so perhaps giving all a voice online has led to too much input IRL.

Re: So You Want to Open a Small Press Bookstore/Artist-Run Space? A Cautionary Tale

#192

Post by creature »

Noos wrote: post #161
l0b0 wrote: post #4

A recent experience from a hackerspace showed me how incredibly thankless people can be. After working really insanely hard to build an inclusive space with loads of features, every little hobby revolutionary in the community just shits all over the work and proclaims the people actually getting stuff done should just stop and leave it to them. Even if I had the time, money and expertise I would never do something li…

No one cares how hard you work when you open a business and keep it running. They aren't your friends, they are your customers, and the only reward you should expect is the cash they give you for the service or goods you provide. A point of the article should be that if you have to work insanely hard on your business and have to rely on volunteers or people like that, you need to not be in the business in the first p…

They were setting up a non-profit arts space. I don't feel like the customer/business relationship is a good fit there.

Re: So You Want to Open a Small Press Bookstore/Artist-Run Space? A Cautionary Tale

#193

Post by SyneRyder »

fermienrico wrote: post #147
SyneRyder wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm reluctant to say which company, as I'm not sure how public that information is. It's worth pointing out Starbucks has several competitors in the cafe-chain space in Australia. There are cities in Australia where Starbucks tried opening & then closed down because they were unable to beat the local incumbent cafe chains.

If it’s “Established” chain, I don’t understand your reasoning for not mentioning the business name. It’s public information by the virtue that it’s a cafe, not to mention, a chain. Why the secrecy?

The cafe chain is a privately held company. I'm not sure it's public information that they earn some of their income from owning & leasing nearby properties to completely unrelated retailers. I just happened to talk to someone who told me about it.

But my general point was less about this specific chain, and the idea that your profits may come from a part of the business that you're not known for. You then use that money to subsidize the other parts of the business. A bit like how Sony Corporation's profits come from life insurance & medical insurance, while their electronics division makes a loss.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/28/business/global/sonys-bre...

Re: So You Want to Open a Small Press Bookstore/Artist-Run Space? A Cautionary Tale

#194

Post by DonHopkins »

imglorp wrote: post #166
Hendrikto wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> volunteering requirement Isn’t that an oxymoron?

Another way to think about it is sweat equity. Habitat for Humanity is a great model here. In the HUD model, you hand out housing to poor people. Sometimes they take care of it and prosper, but usually not. Places get trashed, fixtures and copper ripped from the walls, and that's the end. You get "the projects." In the HFH model, recipients must have jobs, references, and commitment. They get ongoing support from HFH…

Wow, so Jimmy Carter really is one of the richest people in the world, if you count Habitat for Humanity sweat equity.

Re: So You Want to Open a Small Press Bookstore/Artist-Run Space? A Cautionary Tale

#195

Post by rossdavidh »

wiz21c wrote: post #120
chiefalchemist wrote: post #73

I was the owner of a retail store from '90 to '00. The ecomm version overlapped from '97 to 2007. Given that experience, I read this thinking: This person(s) was massively underprepared, as well as underfunded. They also seemed to believe that all their options (in growing the biz) were too difficult. Marketing was rarely mentioned. I don't want to be negative but there are two life rules (not just biz) that apply he…

I'd say their only problem was : underfunded. All others problems becomes much more easy when you're funded (they say it in the article I think). (and that's why, imho, if you have nobody to give (yep, "give") you the amount of money you need, you'll never ever make it; that's a very unequal world...)

Speaking of small businesses (I'm married to the founder of one), the number one downfall of small businesses is spending too much money early, when they don't know yet what actually pays back. Getting more funding early, tends to make this problem worse.

Re: So You Want to Open a Small Press Bookstore/Artist-Run Space? A Cautionary Tale

#196

Post by shriphani »

Hendrikto wrote: post #74
shriphani wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

gallery house in palo alto has an interesting model - membership comes with a volunteering requirement - it can't obviously reach the level of NY MOMA but it works well for Palo Alto and is a nice little gallery that has launched quite a few careers.

> volunteering requirement Isn’t that an oxymoron?

more like skin in the game maybe?

Re: So You Want to Open a Small Press Bookstore/Artist-Run Space? A Cautionary Tale

#197

Post by wiz21c »

cannonedhamster wrote: post #123
wiz21c wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd be more interested on the "why being a manager". Considering how shitty the atmosphere seems, I wonder why people want to be managers at all...

For me, I really enjoy helping people grow into their best selves. A lot of that means protecting them from politics and giving them the space to do their jobs effectively, make mistakes, learn and grow. It really isn't for everyone, because there's a lot less tangible rewards and the payoff can be pretty long tail, but when you can see potential in someone and then see them grow into that potential, it's a really fu…

I'm a manager too (my question was refering to a manager as a boss of a business, which is vastly different).

What you say is very true, except when your team is a bunch of people who positively don't want to grow, they just want the paycheck and the minimum trouble possible. You're basically managing to make sure the comfort zone doesn't grow. And that's as tough as it is boring.

I have nothing against the comfort zone, that's perfectly human. But not every team member want to grow.

(me realizes that maybe I has a cultural issue with the company :-))

Re: So You Want to Open a Small Press Bookstore/Artist-Run Space? A Cautionary Tale

#198

Post by pbhjpbhj »

gambiting wrote: post #163
dannypi921 wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it's strictly distance/price, then you make all of your coffee at home and work, right? You would never even think about going to Starbucks if that is all you cared about. Now you may pick coffee shops based on atmosphere, which I think many people do.

I do, I drink coffee at home before going to work, then at work we have a machine that's free to use. But obviously there are times when I am away and want a cup of coffee, and then I will occasionally have starbucks, because it happens to be the only thing available/nearest/cheapest - I honestly don't care for the taste.

I'd expect it's not the only thing, but you choose it because of brand recognition? That's usually how brand advertising pays off.

Re: So You Want to Open a Small Press Bookstore/Artist-Run Space? A Cautionary Tale

#199

Post by zeure »

bsenftner wrote: post #189

I was a founder and operator of the Los Angeles free co-working space DropLabs. We lasted for 3 years before closing out of lack of interest. We never intended anything other than a free place for geeks to collect and work. We had events in the evenings, which were fairly popular. Having multiple partners with graduate business degrees, we chose not to incorporate, we just rented a space and called it "Droplabs" (why…

Location is the most important thing in marketing a physical area.

Re: So You Want to Open a Small Press Bookstore/Artist-Run Space? A Cautionary Tale

#200

Post by dyarosla »

thedataangel wrote: post #78
underwater wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Starbucks equivalent in Australia? The only company I can think of to fill that space would be Gloria Jeans, but they don’t have the same pull as Starbucks.

Starbucks is next to non-existent in Australia. Partly it's because there were already established local chains when they tried to move into the market, but mostly because you can walk into almost any cafe in the country and get a much better cup of coffee at a comparable price.

Next to non-existent? They have several stores in each of the major cities. Is it the same number of stores as in Seattle? No. But near non-existent is way off.
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