Ah, finally time for an update! Well, the Gutter Bookshop hasn't got far (as normal) but on the High Street we're in the thick of Christmas already. It amazes me every year as to how much we sell at this time of year and how much people seem to enjoy shopping. I must admit, in the thick of the madness I wonder why I'm expending so much energy in order to line someone else's pockets when I should be doing it for myself. Ok, so I get paid a decent wage and I should get a decent bonus (as long as sales hold up) but I'd much rather be a bit poorer and working for myself.
The good thing about my lack of Christmas cheer is that it's spurring me on to get myself sorted in the New Year. 2008 sounds like a good year to open a bookshop.
I was over in the UK for a few days last month and went to see a couple of old friends in North Oxford. They told me about a little independent bookshop a few miles away that they loved and thought I should see. It's called Jaffe and Neale and it's run by Patrick Neale and his partner Polly Jaffe... and it's wonderful! Exactly what I hope the Gutter Bookshop will be. A great range of books for their local market (a bit too posh and countryside for my place in Dublin but perfect for where they're situated) and some good tea and cake too. It was really inspiring to see an independent like this doing so well (they recently won "Independent Bookseller of the Year and the Book Retail Awards). Next time over I'll be visiting my old friend Hereward Corbett's new bookshop The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop down in Tetbury, another good bookseller escaping the constraints of chain-bookselling and offering people a bit of choice. I hope he does well too.
Slowly but surely we're getting there. Money is nearly sorted which will make me much happier. I'm starting to look for property again. Sadly, the site I've been keeping my eyes on seems to have been taken for a doctor's surgery so that one may be out of the picture but there does seem to be a regular turnover over property in the area I'm looking at so I'm positive that the right site will turn up soon. Having spent a year now running someone else's shop it's definitely time for a change, despite having a really good year moneywise I seem to be in a position where my bosses are making it more and more difficult for me to make them money... strange but true... I think I'd rather go and make money for myself and then I'll have no-one else to blame!
I'm still having issues with the website, it just doesn't seem to be updating properly which means by the time you get a chance to read this it will probably be the middle of next year. It does make you wonder if trying to everything yourself is really the best option in some situations! Anyway, I'm making a concerted effort to get everything up and running again so having a working website is vital. Hopefully it will be sorted in the next few days and we'll be updating again.
In terms of the Gutter Bookshop itself, it's time to get busy. It's been almost a year now since I took on my side project of running another bookshop and my feet are getting awfully itchy! It's been really educational, I've learnt a lot about managing a shop as well as building up a load of contacts, so that's all good. Sadly, it also means that I've not had any time to devote to my own project and it's time to change that. I'm in the process of moving all my funds into an Irish business account which will then allow me to register the business properly. After that, I can sign on the dotted line for a premises and we'll be off and running. At the moment, I'm hoping for an early 2008 start.
Thank you to all my friends and family for the encouragement so far. It seems to be taking forever but the Gutter Bookshop will open for business one day soon.
I've got my website back! That's the problem with being an amateur website builder (of the 'it must be cheaper to do it myself than pay someone else to do it' mould), when it all goes a bit wrong you run around like a mad thing trying to work out what's going on.
Anyway, I've got myself a new hosting company and they seem to be pretty good at getting things done so I'm happy again.
Now, back to building the bookshop...
Well, the refit is finally finished and I've given myself 5 days off to recover. It's amazing how long these things go on for and how much energy they take out of you. Anyway, it's done and the new shop looks great, and even better, we're taking more money so it all looks good for the future.
Now, of course, a new problem has reared it's head - payroll costs. I'm in the middle of my staff appraisals at the minute and the one thing that comes up in every one of them is how badly we pay our booksellers. Needless, to say, the finance department see things in a different way and somehow I get caught in the middle with neither side happy. It's all very interesting for me though as it makes me consider the issue for The Gutter Bookshop and how it will affect my own business.
Where did that month go? So much for the weekly update. Anyway, we now have an additional floor in the bookshop I'm currently managing. My initial reaction was one of disappointment - all that stress, work and dust (and there was a lot of dust) for a small bit of retail space but the real result will come in a few more weeks when we move all our goods-in space into the new basement and transform the ground floor into a thing of beauty. In other words, it's still not over. Next week beckons with some more late nights moving books around so that we can trade throughout the revamp. At this stage the staff feel that they've moved every book half a dozen times but with a bit of encouragement they'll move them again. I'm already lining up a big food and drink session for when it's all over.
As before, the Gutter is still on hold 'til I can get this current project finished, which at the moment seems to be stretching into the future like you wouldn't believe. It's always hard to weigh up your priorities, 'why am I wasting time doing all this for someone else when I should be doing it for me' versus 'I'm learning loads of useful stuff at someone else's expense (and risk)'. Fingers crossed I'll be out of the worst of it within the next month and I'll be able to get re-focused, and get a bit of sleep as well.
I'm exhausted! All I can think about is when I can crawl back into bed and go to sleep... I'm sure it's all good practice for running my own business but working from 8.30am to 7pm everyday with an hour's commute each way is taking its toll. It probably doesn't help that I spend everyday running on nervous energy and cups of tea so I burn off calories like they're going out of fashion.
Anyway, slowly but surely we're getting there. I'm in the process of ordering up extra stock to fill the refitted bookshop. It's quite scary when you can run your eye down a list of 1,000 computing books and know which ones will actually sell and which ones won't... I've obviously been in this business way too long.
The Irish Book Awards took place last night. Sadly no invite for me this year so my tuxedo is staying in the wardrobe for another year. Good to see that my old mate John Boyne won 2 awards for his children's novel 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas', 2007 looks set to be a good year for him. You can see a full list of the winners at www.rte.ie.
It's St. Patrick's Day tomorrow and I've been told that this normally heralds a mad day of few sales and many drunk customers. We'll see. My impression is that it's become much more a family day out than it used to be, with a large parade and firework display. Much more pleasant for everyone I'm sure but given half a chance I think I'd rather be one of the people falling out of a pub after a day's worth of drinking. Oh well, time moves on.
I swear it's only been a week - February was a very short month! (Well, maybe it's 10 days...)
In the middle of one of the hardest weeks I've ever had to work - anyone who has ever thought that running a bookshop is a lovely, quiet, relaxing thing to do should come and swap places with me for a few days! I've spent the last 3 days clearing out another shop that closed in mid-January - more books than you would know what to do with, and most of it so old that no-one will ever buy it (Barbie Annual 2005 anyone?). My request for a large hole in the floor to put it in was strangely ignored - although as part of the refit programme in my own shop they are in the process of creating one... We have had to list every dead and dying book on a sheet of A4 paper before placing it in a box to be stored who knows where for who knows how long. That has taken 3 people 3 days to do and was finally completed at 8pm last night.
It is also stock-take tonight which means I'll be working through to 1am checking that our stock-takers scan every single item in the entire shop correctly and accurately. Yesterday, I had all my staff searching for 'books in hiding', you'd be amazed what you can find down the back of a bookcase... Anyway, after unpacking last year's Christmas Cards ready for counting I think we might just about be ready.
On top of that, another stage of the refit goes ahead tomorrow night (I think I've notched up my 40 hours work already this week and it's only Wednesday) which means losing another bit of floor space and moving the Sport section for the third time in the last two weeks... Do you get the feeling it's all getting to me a bit?
Anyway, I keep telling myself it will all be over in 4 weeks and I can get back to my regular 50 hour week...
Once again, time has escaped me... This hasn't been helped by the fact that my internet connection has been cut off for the last two weeks due to phone line problems that no-one seems to believe are their fault, being caught between the dual ineptness of Eircom and BT Ireland is no fun at all. The best exchange so far has definitely been the one where Eircom 'phone my mobile to say they need access to the house to check the phone line and ask me to call them back to arrange a suitable time. I phone them back and they refuse to talk to me because I'm a BT customer (who rent their lines from Eircom). So I phone BT who tell me I need to talk to Eircom because it's a problem with the phone line... Ah, they must be making millions...
Anyway, enough grumbling about big business when I haven't even started a small one yet and don't even get to prove what customer service is supposed to involve. So, life trundles on. The big refit of my current shop is underway which is all very interesting. I've re-jigged the floorplans several times already to try to maximise the layout of sections and agonised over how many bays of Classics we really need (You get embarrassed if you don't have a Dickens' novel if someone asks for it but they only actually ask for it once a year and space is precious!). I've counted shelves, books on shelves, books not on shelves and worked out complicated formulas to work out how many more books to order for each section (it's when you get a minus number that you start to panic a bit!). And I've tried to reassure staff that we won't really be working in a shop full of drilling and dust for the next six weeks... which I'm hoping is true without being entirely convinced.
Tomorrow is due to be a fun day as we undertake a complete stocktake on the same day that they start knocking a big hole in the floor to open up the basement. What could possibly go wrong?
The Gutter Bookshop is still nagging away in my mind ('When am I going to be open again?!) but we will get there in the end. In the meantime I was a bit taken aback last night to discover that in one of the units I was keeping my eye on as a potential 'Gutter' space that someone has opened... a bookshop! I know, who would have thought it! Now, in fairness, it did use to be a bookshop but had been closed for a while as they renovated the building. Now, having seen it reopen I am a little concerned but sadly, not overly so, as I think it's really going to struggle. Firstly, it's trading as a specialist in Irish Literature, Poetry and Drama and it looks very literary and smart. Wonderful, but very difficult to make work. I'm only hoping they get large subsidies from somewhere because there's only so many irish poetry books you can sell in a day... Saying that, I honestly hope that they can make it work as the independent books sector continues to shrink every day. As they open, another independent bookshop in Dublin is closing. 'Anthology Books' based in Temple Bar are closing to concentrate on online sales and writing courses. Sad, but to be honest, inevitable. They had one of the strangest range of books I've ever come across and terrible shelving to display it on, and they gave away coffee for free when everyone around them was charging 3 euro a pop... Always upsetting to see someone trying something a bit different failing to get the support it needs though but it's a hard commercial world and retail space in Dublin is so expensive it's hard for even the big companies to make a profit.
I'm just back from spending a few days in Berlin and one of the things that really struck me was how many small, independently run businesses still exist out there. Loads of idiosyncratic cafes, bars, shops and art galleries. And it was wonderful, and interesting. Sure, there were still the obligatory Starbucks and McDonalds and they were very busy, but so were the small businesses. Why? Well, Berlin benefits slightly by not having a distinct centre so that there was no real focus for all the big conglomerates to aim at. But it was also to do with the businesses themselves, the successful ones had developed their own style, slightly arty, slightly left of centre but still commercial. They also offered an experience that was different, but of equal enjoyment, to that of the big boys. That's what I intend to do.
So where does this leave me? Still determined to make mine a go-er that's where! The past few months have taught me that my commercial instincts are strong, and that I can read customers' wants and needs well. Life is settling down slowly. The next 2 months will be a mad rush of getting my current shop under control and trading well in its new and expanded state. But then I think it might be time to take the plunge and get The Gutter up and running...
And I promise to do a weekly update from now on! (Internet link permitting...)
Ah, here we are again, the time is flying past so quickly at the moment. Well, after my New Year's resolution of getting things up and moving on The Gutter Bookshop once again there have been a few developments which may draw out the plans once again.
Last week the company I have been working for in the run up to Christmas offered me a full-time permanent position managing their City Centre bookshop and, after a fair bit of consideration, I have accepted. It seemed too good an opportunity to turn down as it will give me a steady income for a few months, get me back into the Dublin bookselling scene and teach me an awful lot more about managing a shop. The shop is also currently undergoing a refit which means I get to work on floorplans, layouts and see how it all comes together. If only they were putting in a coffee shop as well it would be like a full practice run for the Gutter.
Anyway, as it stands the Gutter is still going to come but I'm putting it on the back burner for a while to concentrate on the management position. I will keep updating the website though with news and reviews (if only to keep my hand in and build up a bank of information for when I do finally get the Gutter up and running.)
Happy New Year! And finally a day off where I can update the website! (Even if my head is a little bit sore this morning...)
I can't believe that it's been so long since I last got a chance to look at the Gutter plans. Due to a strange set of events I have spent the last six weeks managing a fair-sized Shopping Centre bookshop through the Christmas period. Not quite the 'keep me going whilst working on other things' job I was expecting but I've learnt a lot in the last month and it has been great to be around books and people again.
One thing that has really come home to me is how much the Irish love and value their books. Not all of them obviously, but there is a real enthusiasm for good books here and a real love for books that talk about their culture and country. Being in the centre of Dublin has also reminded me of how many people are around and willing to spend money, in all the last few weeks have confirmed my belief that the Gutter Bookshop could really work.
On a more practical note the new year also brings a new determination to get things moving. I received floor layout plans for the preferred site a week before Christmas which were great for confirming my budgeting, but made me realise how little a space I have to play with. However, I also have to remember that size isn't everything and as long as I've got room for the best new books and a coffee machine I'll be able to make some money. Ever so exciting to see book bays, display tables, gondola units (those stand-alone shelving units that sit in the middle of the floor) and coffee table all laid out on a plan.
Roll on 2007 and, hopefully, my own bookshop...
