Four years after the pandemic, this Fresno business is still feeling the shutdown
The biggest challenge: People think this store closed for good. It didn’t. Four years ago, the world shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic, causing non-essential businesses to temporarily shut down for 2.5 months, causing many businesses to close completely for two months. Used bookstore Book Nook in Fresno, California, which has been in business for over 30 years, survived the crisis and is still selling used books at half their cover price and accepting books in exchange for store credit. The store's owner, L. Scott Brown, had just borrowed money to move the business to a bigger store when the pandemic hit. The biggest challenge for Book Nooks is that many customers believe it closed permanently, despite moving from its former spot on Herndon Avenue to a safer, bigger spot near the Smart & Final Extra! at First and Nees in 2020. Despite this, Brown remains committed to marketing to bring in more customers, but this can be costly.
发表 : 4 周前 经过 Bethany Clough 在 Lifestyle
Four years ago, the world shut down.
Or at least, that’s how it felt, especially to the owners of non-essential businesses that were forced to close completely for 2.5 months during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Today, life has mostly returned back to normal. But some businesses are still feeling the ripple effects of the upheaval from 2020.
One in particular, used bookstore Book Nook at First Street and Nees Avenue, is still reeling from the unique set of challenges it was hit with during the pandemic.
Owner L. Scott Brown had just borrowed money to move the business to a bigger store when the pandemic hit.
“It went from taking out a big loan to not making any money for 2.5 months,” he said.
The store has been in business for more than 30 years. Brown bought it 16 years ago, taking out a home equity line of credit on his house to pay for it.
The shop survived COVID and is still selling used books at half off the cover price and accepting books in exchange for store credit. But it was battered.
Book Nook faced many of the same challenges that affected most small retailers during the pandemic, noted Jennifer “Jax” Ward, who owns Crazy Squirrel Game Store a few doors down from Book Nook. Ward is also past president of the retail division of an international tabletop gaming organization, and has dealt with retailers all over the globe.
During the pandemic, customers shifted to shopping online — with local bookstores competing against Amazon — instead of in person at local stores, she said. Businesses burned through savings to weather the shutdown. And the pandemic accelerated a switch from using cash to cards or electronic forms of payment, which often come with fees paid by the retailer that take a chunk out of profits.
“A lot of those habits have remained,” Ward said, even though the pandemic is mostly over.
For Book Nook, the biggest blow from the pandemic is the fact that many of its customers think it closed permanently.
In addition to the temporary shutdown mandated by the state and city, the store moved from its former spot on Herndon Avenue to a safer, bigger spot near the Smart & Final Extra! at First and Nees in March 2020.
The move was planned long before the pandemic. It turned out to be an ideal time to move books — but not to retain customers.
Now, a customer comes in about once a week and says they thought the store was closed.
Ken Ainsworth of Coarsegold was one of them. He showed up last week for the first time in years to look for John Connelly’s dark suspense novels.
“When I saw you guys were not there, I thought you guys were just gone,” he said of the former location. “Wow, they are still around.”
Around 200,000 businesses closed permanently nationwide during the pandemic, so it’s not surprising people think that.
“People just assume there’s an empty business, COVID happened, they’re closed,” Brown said, even though a sign on the door directed customers to the new location.
Many of his customers are older and not on social media, his main form of marketing, along with word of mouth.
In a recent month, Book Nook has broken even about three days, Brown said. On other days, it’s bringing in around a third or a half of what the business needs to survive, said Brown, flipping through a notebook used to log sales.
His family has pitched in when he’s been in a financial pinch, and even money from the recent death of his father went toward the business.
“My mom has saved me more times than I can count,” he added.
Marketing to bring in more customers would seem like an easy solution — but that can be expensive, he said.
Even spending a relatively small amount on marketing, say $1,000, adds up when his books sell for $4 or $5 each.
“That’s 200 books I have to sell to cover that,” he said.
And it’s worth noting that Brown got financial help during the pandemic. He received a Paycheck Protection Program loan during the pandemic and it was forgiven (meaning he didn’t have to pay it back). And even though his rent doubled when he moved, his new landlords gave him a break on it until the store was fully open.
Of course, all small business troubles can’t all be blamed on COVID-19. Businesses are facing an avalanche of challenges recently.
Retailers from Macy’s to Family Dollar are closing stores, along with multiple restaurants. The family-owned Hallmark store in southeast Fresno closed after 37 years.
The businesses cited rising rents, power bills, insurance, and minimum wage and the associated bumps in pay for higher-earning employees.
“If you’ve got all these increases every year and you’re not having an increase in sales, you can’t stay in business because the math starts to turn upside down,” Ward said.
Inflation is also taking a big bite out of consumer spending power.
Some are evolving to stay relevant, including by turning to more service-oriented business. For Ward at neighboring Crazy Squirrel, that’s hosting birthday parties. For Book Nook, it’s partnering with Bookshop.org, an online book seller that gives 30% of the book price to the independent bookstore of the customer’s choice.
For Ward, another solution is to shop locally.
“I try to shop local as often as I can because all of the studies have said a majority of the money will stay in my local region,” she said. “If you want local restaurants and little niche stores and you want an economy to have a personality, you have to support the local businesses.”
话题: Food & Drink, Coronavirus