Site search
sponsored by
News
Sports
ENLARGE
Susan Wilmer owns The Old Firehouse Books with her husband.
In the front window of the Old Firehouse Bookstore is a bright red poster that has three words in big white block letters: Love Your Local.
The slogan is part of a nationwide and areawide campaign to persuade consumers to shop at locally owned stores, but it is especially apropos for independent bookstores. Roughly 85 percent of the books sold in the United States are in chains or on Amazon, so the little guy has to fight mightily for that remaining 15 percent.
If the number of independent bookstores is any indication, many Fort Collins readers are eager to buy new and used books without clicking a mouse or driving to Barnes & Noble.
There are four independent stores in Old Town that sell books — the Old Firehouse Bookstore, which used to be the Book Rack, Matter Bookstore, the Old Corner Bookstore, which has new owners and will undergo a name change, and Al’s Bookstand.
“Between the four of us, we offer what anyone can get at Barnes and Noble,” said Susan Wilmer, co-owner of the Old Firehouse with her husband, Richard Sommerfeld.
Outside of Old Town, there’s Reader’s Cove, Book Lovers and the newly opened BookEnds.
Each of the stores has carved, or is attempting to, a niche that will provide them a loyal base of customers that is essential for any “mom and pop” business to survive.
Most of the independents focus on used books. That’s what the Book Rack, which was started in 1980 by Bill Hawk, did for years. Wilmer took over ownership of the store in 2001 and eventually began to add new books to the inventory to appeal to the book-club crowd.
With about two-thirds of its inventory still in used books, her store is doing well despite the down economy.
“We’ve had really good growth in the past year,” Wilmer said.
Jacquie Hasan, a manager for Wilmer the past eight years and one of eight employees, said with readers becoming more cost-conscious, used books appeal to them.
“A lot of customers do come in and say they want to support their local bookstore,” Hasan said.
Both Hasan and Wilmer credit the Be Local campaign, which is also supported by many of the other store owners, for fostering this mentality. It’s also true, they say, that Fort Collins already had a ready-made community that shuns the big chains.
Charles Kaine started Reader’s Cove on the southside of town 2 1/2 years ago, and he said an independent bookstore can offer most of the titles of a chain, plus a little more — partnerships with school and community organizations, book signings with national and local authors, and anything else that can be dreamed up.
“It’s awe-inspiring to walk in (a chain store), but the truth of the matter is, I have all the same books, but I might have a couple of copies as opposed to 50,” Kaine said.
“We try to be an actual community bookstore rather than just a provider of books.”
Reader’s Cove is different from its independent counterparts in that it only sells new books, so it has been affected differently by the economic downturn.
“We try to be unique and original … but I won’t lie to you, it’s been a tough row to hoe,” Kaine said.
Certainly the competition provided not only by the chains, but by department and grocery stores that sell books, has taken a bite out of independents’ sales. But for the likes of Kaine and Wilmer, online giant Amazon proves to be the most irksome.
“The 800-pound gorilla on the block is Amazon,” Kaine said.
Wilmer takes a softer approach. “Amazon is not the evil empire, but I do have some bones to pick with them,” she said.
The main bone of contention is that books purchased online don’t have sales tax attached and thus the transaction doesn’t contribute to the local economic base.
The Book Rack recently underwent a radical makeover, moving from South College to the building on Walnut Street that was for years the old firehouse. Thus, the name change to the Old Firehouse Bookstore.
The building was constructed in 1881, Wilmer said, and it served municipal purposes through the 1970s, including as the city hall, jail, police station and even a private residence. It was most recently a liquor store.
For Wilmer, the space was meant for a bookstore. The new space, at 2,700 square feet, provides an additional 400 square feet. But the new location was the draw. Already, the store has seen an uptick in walk-in traffic, not just from book lovers but from tourists strolling around Old Town.
The book-selling landscape in Old Town has also undergone another change. The Old Corner Book Shop, long an institution at 216 Linden St., has changed owners. The longtime owner, Jane Tester, is in poor health and was no longer able to manage the store.
The new name will be Indigo Rose Books and Gifts, according to new owner Judith Winterowd. The name is a complement to Winterowd’s other store, the Indigo Rose, a vintage clothing shop at 200 N. College Ave.
Winterowd has collected books for many years, so she has a lot of her own inventory to stock the store — 3,500 new titles including hardcovers and paperbacks have already been added. Collectors, particularly, turn to the store to find books that they can’t find anywhere else.
“We find it’s more the serious book lovers that are calling and coming in,” Winterowd said.
John Steinbeck titles have hands-down been the most sought after since the store was reopened in mid April, she said.
The other new bookstore in town, BookEnds, is similar to Indigo Rose in that the owners are longtime collectors and had an inventory of books already started at their home.
Ross and Ronda Willmot opened BookEnds in the Riverside Shopping Center on May 1.
Ronda said they have 8,600 titles on the shelf, a number that will be up to 25,000 by the end of the summer. They have a collectibles and signed works section. She said the store’s focus will be on providing as many categories and genres as possible.
In three days of being opened, she’s already seen demand for books on history, science and the paranormal.
Like other stores that sell used books, BookEnds provides store credits for used books brought in.
And like many of the other independents, BookEnds will be a willing venue for local authors to show off their work.
“That’s very important. We want to keep that hometown atmosphere,” Willmot said.
The slogan is part of a nationwide and areawide campaign to persuade consumers to shop at locally owned stores, but it is especially apropos for independent bookstores. Roughly 85 percent of the books sold in the United States are in chains or on Amazon, so the little guy has to fight mightily for that remaining 15 percent.
If the number of independent bookstores is any indication, many Fort Collins readers are eager to buy new and used books without clicking a mouse or driving to Barnes & Noble.
There are four independent stores in Old Town that sell books — the Old Firehouse Bookstore, which used to be the Book Rack, Matter Bookstore, the Old Corner Bookstore, which has new owners and will undergo a name change, and Al’s Bookstand.
“Between the four of us, we offer what anyone can get at Barnes and Noble,” said Susan Wilmer, co-owner of the Old Firehouse with her husband, Richard Sommerfeld.
Outside of Old Town, there’s Reader’s Cove, Book Lovers and the newly opened BookEnds.
Each of the stores has carved, or is attempting to, a niche that will provide them a loyal base of customers that is essential for any “mom and pop” business to survive.
Most of the independents focus on used books. That’s what the Book Rack, which was started in 1980 by Bill Hawk, did for years. Wilmer took over ownership of the store in 2001 and eventually began to add new books to the inventory to appeal to the book-club crowd.
With about two-thirds of its inventory still in used books, her store is doing well despite the down economy.
“We’ve had really good growth in the past year,” Wilmer said.
Jacquie Hasan, a manager for Wilmer the past eight years and one of eight employees, said with readers becoming more cost-conscious, used books appeal to them.
“A lot of customers do come in and say they want to support their local bookstore,” Hasan said.
Both Hasan and Wilmer credit the Be Local campaign, which is also supported by many of the other store owners, for fostering this mentality. It’s also true, they say, that Fort Collins already had a ready-made community that shuns the big chains.
Charles Kaine started Reader’s Cove on the southside of town 2 1/2 years ago, and he said an independent bookstore can offer most of the titles of a chain, plus a little more — partnerships with school and community organizations, book signings with national and local authors, and anything else that can be dreamed up.
“It’s awe-inspiring to walk in (a chain store), but the truth of the matter is, I have all the same books, but I might have a couple of copies as opposed to 50,” Kaine said.
“We try to be an actual community bookstore rather than just a provider of books.”
Reader’s Cove is different from its independent counterparts in that it only sells new books, so it has been affected differently by the economic downturn.
“We try to be unique and original … but I won’t lie to you, it’s been a tough row to hoe,” Kaine said.
Certainly the competition provided not only by the chains, but by department and grocery stores that sell books, has taken a bite out of independents’ sales. But for the likes of Kaine and Wilmer, online giant Amazon proves to be the most irksome.
“The 800-pound gorilla on the block is Amazon,” Kaine said.
Wilmer takes a softer approach. “Amazon is not the evil empire, but I do have some bones to pick with them,” she said.
The main bone of contention is that books purchased online don’t have sales tax attached and thus the transaction doesn’t contribute to the local economic base.
The Book Rack recently underwent a radical makeover, moving from South College to the building on Walnut Street that was for years the old firehouse. Thus, the name change to the Old Firehouse Bookstore.
The building was constructed in 1881, Wilmer said, and it served municipal purposes through the 1970s, including as the city hall, jail, police station and even a private residence. It was most recently a liquor store.
For Wilmer, the space was meant for a bookstore. The new space, at 2,700 square feet, provides an additional 400 square feet. But the new location was the draw. Already, the store has seen an uptick in walk-in traffic, not just from book lovers but from tourists strolling around Old Town.
The book-selling landscape in Old Town has also undergone another change. The Old Corner Book Shop, long an institution at 216 Linden St., has changed owners. The longtime owner, Jane Tester, is in poor health and was no longer able to manage the store.
The new name will be Indigo Rose Books and Gifts, according to new owner Judith Winterowd. The name is a complement to Winterowd’s other store, the Indigo Rose, a vintage clothing shop at 200 N. College Ave.
Winterowd has collected books for many years, so she has a lot of her own inventory to stock the store — 3,500 new titles including hardcovers and paperbacks have already been added. Collectors, particularly, turn to the store to find books that they can’t find anywhere else.
“We find it’s more the serious book lovers that are calling and coming in,” Winterowd said.
John Steinbeck titles have hands-down been the most sought after since the store was reopened in mid April, she said.
The other new bookstore in town, BookEnds, is similar to Indigo Rose in that the owners are longtime collectors and had an inventory of books already started at their home.
Ross and Ronda Willmot opened BookEnds in the Riverside Shopping Center on May 1.
Ronda said they have 8,600 titles on the shelf, a number that will be up to 25,000 by the end of the summer. They have a collectibles and signed works section. She said the store’s focus will be on providing as many categories and genres as possible.
In three days of being opened, she’s already seen demand for books on history, science and the paranormal.
Like other stores that sell used books, BookEnds provides store credits for used books brought in.
And like many of the other independents, BookEnds will be a willing venue for local authors to show off their work.
“That’s very important. We want to keep that hometown atmosphere,” Willmot said.
