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

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

#11

Post by helen842000 »

Surely there are lots of ways your book store could continue to innovate. You may need to move beyond being just a book store to something more social & digital but maybe that's what it will take. People are using book shops in a different kind of way now. It used to be that the local book store was quicker, while with online sales you had to wait a few days but it was cheaper. Now you can have any book in front of you, including a free sample chapter 24/7.

I still love to support my local independent book shop but I'm reading more than ever now but the last 5 books I read weren't even in printed format. It's time to compete in a different way.

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

#12

Post by mankins »

Andrea2s1 wrote: post #9

Have you considered branching out into related areas, like games? I'm talking European-style and other board games and similar... things where physical location still matters.

That's interesting. We've thought of many things, but not that. I'll pass it along.

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

#13

Post by anateus »

When it comes to physical stores, the general rule is "location location location", and just based on having lived near Cambridge for a decade and spent most of my time there Inman Sq just feels like a suboptimal location for a bookstore.

This is assuming of course that a problem is getting more traffic. I don't know if that's an issue, or if the problem is the "conversion rate". It would be interesting to find out what's working and what isn't, but don't know if you're inclined to share further. Myself I'm not in a position to take over, but I sure can provide free advice :>

I've always dreamed of hybrid book store/coffee shops. Perhaps ones that sell subscription access, becoming for-pay lending libraries with a book inventory that adjusts to patron demands. That way you have recurring revenue off each customer, and you can hope people sign up for it like they do for gym memberships and then don't show :)

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

#14

Post by mankins »

anateus wrote: post #13

When it comes to physical stores, the general rule is "location location location", and just based on having lived near Cambridge for a decade and spent most of my time there Inman Sq just feels like a suboptimal location for a bookstore. This is assuming of course that a problem is getting more traffic. I don't know if that's an issue, or if the problem is the "conversion rate". It would be interesting to find out w…

I like that idea of the lending library. I wonder if it would work... I guess there's only one way to find out: try.

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

#16

Post by oofoe »

mankins wrote: post #5
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.

Is it possible that because it's so expensive, you could make it yourself for a much better return on investment?

Is it so expensive that you could burn out three cheap laser printers a month for a fraction of the cost? What if it was one moderately expensive printer every two months?

What if you had a Raspberry Pi managing your print queue across multiple networked printers and you bind them with a surplus GBC machine? You could keep a supply of "nice" pre-printed covers available to wrap around books when they're ready.

One nice thing about this is that you could start small, and scale fairly easily. Use human labour (that's already running the shop) to fill in the gaps in automation.

It might be worth looking at Don Lancaster's web site (tinaja.com) for some thoughts on how to do this stuff before any pre-packaged solutions existed (look for "print-on-demand" resources).

I like bookstores a lot. I hope you'll be able to find a way to make it work for you!

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

#17

Post by keithwinstein »

I love Lorem Ipsum and remember when you guys moved a few years ago. (I used to live literally across the street.) I enjoyed buying used books at your store and that you would sometimes haggle over the price. But I doubt I have spent more than $80 there.

I don't know anything about the bookstore business except that it is tough. I was sad when Quantum Books closed, and their books were a lot more expensive than yours, and they were right next to MIT and sold a lot of textbooks to students.

Do you know the proprietors of Brookline Booksmith or Harvard Bookstore? I assume they are still making it, and maybe there are some ideas or principles here that would help that you guys could learn. They have a lot of readings and signings and events that I imagine help get people in the stores.

(I do sort-of-know Ken and Frenchie, the proprietors of the "banned in Boston" outdoor free book table that sometimes sets up in Harvard Square, but I'm guessing that introduction would not help you...)

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

#19

Post by mankins »

oofoe wrote: post #16
mankins wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Is it possible that because it's so expensive, you could make it yourself for a much better return on investment? Is it so expensive that you could burn out three cheap laser printers a month for a fraction of the cost? What if it was one moderately expensive printer every two months? What if you had a Raspberry Pi managing your print queue across multiple networked printers and you bind them with a surplus GBC machi…

Thanks for the ideas. Last I looked into this (a few years ago now) it was the binding part that I didn't know how to do.

I'd love to find someone who wants to get involved and do just what you describe.

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

#20

Post by karanbhangui »

mankins wrote: post #12
Andrea2s1 wrote: post #9

Have you considered branching out into related areas, like games? I'm talking European-style and other board games and similar... things where physical location still matters.

That's interesting. We've thought of many things, but not that. I'll pass it along.

A concept that works very well in college areas that I've seen is called "Snakes and Lattes". Basically a coffeeshop that has plenty of seating for playing board games. I've seen it work with bubbletea places as well. Seems to drive a lot of traffic by word of mouth due to its cooperative nature.
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