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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

#171

Post by lostlogin »

Terretta wrote: post #158
dragonwriter wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It would be more accurate to ask: “How the F can anyone make any money when Starbucks is on every other street corner and has the advantages of scale they have.” Source and roast your own beans, don't overroast the beans, charge a premium over Starbucks for not producing crap coffee from overroasted beans. Starbucks does some impressive work with the candy flavors it adds to distract from their coffee, but...

Objections from sibling comments aside, roughly ‘everyone’ who has compared coffees for taste feels Starbucks is ‘overroasted’. Curious then why Starbucks doesn’t adjust. Is it something in the scale manufacturing, such as, more margin for error in the overroasted side, so taste will be the same signature burnt at every Starbucks in the world? Is it that their market is former fast food coffee drinkers used to bland…

> Curious then why Starbucks doesn’t adjust.

Poor quality beans and robusta are ‘hidden’ with a dark roast as the flavour moves to bitter. This also lasts a long time and doesn’t go stale for ages. As a general rule in coffee, light roasts have a variety of tastes and dark ones are just bitter. This saves a lot of money. Low quality arabica beans are less than half the price of good ones, and that’s for me, purchasing a few kg at a time. Starbucks will be using a lot of low grade robusta and that stuff cheaper again. Combine this with a brand which makes coffee where the dominant flavour isn’t the coffee but the milk (if you can call miscellaneous juiced nuts etc that) which is often flavoured. I don’t think the coffee will be their primary cost in consumables, I’m guessing milk is. If you want to have a play, get a heat gun and a kilo of beans. Have a play about with different roast styles. It’s a slippery slope but it isn’t an expensive one.

Edit: Here is a link with a breakdown of Starbucks costs. Not sure how accurate it is, but it puts the coffee as 16c per cup, and the milk at the same. The cup itself is about 32c according to the article. http://coffeemakersusa.com/pricing-breakdown-cup-coffee/

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

#173

Post by biztos »

vertline3 wrote: post #168
intended wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup - first line of advice I give to family now is "shut your social profiles, and get off of the internet. Failing which here are the things you need to look out for" and the proceed to list a fraction of the issues that I know about, and see them get uncomfortable.

"Yup - first line of advice I give to family now is "shut your social profiles, and get off of the internet" I don't have facebook, but I find I'm very pressured to use it and instagram for work related promotion... I think the biggest problem is the addictive nature of it, followed by the self-esteem erosion. Does staying in contact outweigh the drawbacks?

> Does staying in contact outweigh the drawbacks?

That's the big question so many of us are struggling with these days!

I would say, if you're not already on FB/IG, DO NOT join. A long time ago many of us thought the commercial / exploitative side wouldn't be so bad, and it wasn't so addictive in the early days because it was harder to use.

And now here we sit, feeling like this is probably a bad idea, but unwilling to give up our "friends" for whatever reason. In my own case, it's because there are a bunch of people I really care about IRL and probably wouldn't keep in minimum touch with otherwise. Or maybe I would... I used to write letters, and the postal services still exist.

I find I use Instagram a lot and Facebook not so much, but every once in a while even FB provides a lot of utility. I find IG a very positive experience, at least for me, at least when I don't think about what Zuckerberg is doing with my data.

I think if the right 20% of my FB contacts left for another, less compromised service; and that service had an IG-like function, which it probably would; then I'd close my accounts. Or ghost on them, since I don't think you can make them actually delete your data, even under GDPR.

Consider yourself lucky, and stay away for personal stuff by all means. If you have to create accounts, do it only for your business.

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

#174

Post by 1123581321 »

curuinor wrote: post #148
FooHentai wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>These days you can't even ban assholes without everyone making like you're the one with a problem. That's been true since always. Speaking as someone that was in that position within a few online communities back in ~98 or so. Strange game. The only winning move is not to play.

Metafilter and Something Awful have successfully banned assholes multiple times. The secret: paywalls. Only truly dedicated crazy people are willing and able to spend a hundred bucks on annoying people.

Metafilter is great at stopping spammers and obvious belligerents. It is very poor at keeping out thankless community-ruiners (the “hobby revolutionaries” from the article.) They burnt out mathowie and are currently sniping at cortex for refusing to turn the community over to them (presumably without wanting to take on liability.) The story of a communal online space and physical space can be similar.

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

#175

Post by chiefalchemist »

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...)

Yes. Ultimely, no funds === "failure." None the less, what I read was someone expecting the process to be easier than a traditional job. If you have less money then time + energy is your next best asset. Sucks. But that's the nature of the beast.

I feel for this person(s). But they didn't do their homework. That is on them.

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

#176

Post by biztos »

clarkevans wrote: post #62

The author talks about this as a charitable (501c3) vs for-profit endeavor. I don't see any talk about using a cooperative structure. Cooperatives don't need IRS approval, since they operate commercially; any profits (and there won't be) are distributed proportionally to the users of the facility via 1099-DIV. Then, you run a membership drive to raise money. The membership then is used to select the board. Anyway, th…

Germany has a nice legal entity for stuff like this: the eingetragener Verein, or "Registered Association." This is used for pretty much every village football team, so you can raise money, have a bank account, sign contracts, etc. It's also used for larger things: my first encounter with the form was in the 80's as an exchange student. The whole exchange program was an e.V. It's also used for a lot of things that would be Foundations or Nonprofits in other countries.

The catch, if it's a catch, is that you have to have at least 7 people and there's no way to be "in charge" if four of them think you shouldn't be.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Registered_association_(German...

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

#177

Post by someguydave »

jrochkind1 wrote: post #156
someguydave wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn’t the members each be legally liable for anything that goes wrong?

It's a corporation. "limited liability" is part of the basic idea of a corporation, right? The _board_ will be individually liable for gross negligence or criminal malfeasance, same as any corporate board. The members are no more liable than shareholders in any other corporation, ie virtually none. (Beyond losing their equity completely, of course).

I thought you were specifying a partnership, not an LLC.

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

#178

Post by biztos »

mcguire wrote: post #127
coffeefirst wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. The rent is the problem. You can find coffee shops/bookstores/wine bars/libraries that will provide or rent out space for these events and it's far less risky.

I double-dog-dare you to find a library that will rent out space for that guy who is welding a 27 foot tall phallus.

For Burning Man, I presume?

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

#179

Post by lostlogin »

robocat wrote: post #116
SyneRyder wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I can't speak to Starbucks, a similar coffee chain in Australia is actually a property play. They don't just own their cafe, but also several of the adjacent stores as well, which they lease out to other retailers. Much of the value in the business actually comes from appreciation in property values.

I heard Starbucks is closing down in New Zealand due to lack of profit. But we have ridiculously good independent coffee shops, often run as "labours of love" or wishful thinking as per the article.

I’d heard that too, but they are still here. I buy green beans from a big supplier here and it’s interesting to chat to them. New Zealand imports good beans and very little low grade coffee comes into the country. Presumably the likes of Starbucks aren’t included in this statement as they import their own.

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

#180

Post by biztos »

keiferski wrote: post #37
roel_v wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's say 'a few' is 3. How can you get any work done when you have to stop every 20 mins (one someone else's schedule) and spend 3 mins making coffee & small talk? This sounds like people saying 'I won't have to pay for child care because I can work from home'. Uh, what? Either you're doing 'child care' or you're 'working from home', but you can't do both (for children < 5), and anyone who says they can, obviously h…

Most smaller art galleries get 5 visitors a day, tops. That industry revolves around openings, events, and networking, not people walking in off the street.

That sounds intuitively right (I go to a lot of galleries) -- but do you have a source for the number or are you just guessing?

(I'd love to see the source if you have one, it would probably contain other useful info.)

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