The COVID-19 pandemic has sent a number of industries into a tailspin and bookstores are no exception. In July 2020, the U.S. Census reported that bookstore sales dropped 24.6% compared to a year ago. On top of that, the American Booksellers Association has reported that more than one independent bookstore has closed each week since the pandemic began. Booksellers have had to come up with creative ways to keep customers engaged. One that has recently taken social media by storm is the “October is the new December” initiative, which encourages customers to do their holiday shopping now.
Weighing in on the future of independent bookstores is Leah Koch, a “co-proprietress” of The Ripped Bodice bookstore in Culver City, California, along with sister Bea. The Ripped Bodice has the distinction of being the only brick-and-mortar bookstore on the West Coast that exclusively sells romance books.
R: What events did you hold at The Ripped Bodice prior to the onset of COVID-19?
L: About a dozen a month. Some we did each month like our three book clubs and our super popular stand up comedy night. We also did a big range of book events with authors from all over the country as well as writing workshops and groups.
R: You had to act quickly that first month of the pandemic; how did the bookstore cope?
L: Well we started a new business essentially. We went from doing about 85% of our revenue in-store to having to make 100% of it online. So we quickly switched gears and launched a care package program to help people order for themselves and their loved ones and support us. Our staff wasn’t able to come in for a couple of months so it was just me for most of March and April.
R: What sort of books have people been purchasing? Have they been going for comfort reads or perhaps committing to diverse books?
L: In the first couple of months it was definitely all comfort reads all the time. Now that people have realized how long this is going to go on, I think there has been a bit of a return to wider reading habits.
R: What have you been doing to preserve the bookselling experience?
L: That’s where our care package program really excelled. The best part of coming to a bookstore is getting help from a bookseller so with that program we were able to have people tell us (via a Google Form) a little about their likes and dislikes and then we would choose the books especially for them. Some people keep it broad but some get very specific! Just today I had a care package customer write that she wanted people falling in love over retail. So I sent her a book about a flower shop.
R: Bea had a book launch this year, what was that like?
L: On the one hand I was sad that we didn’t get to have a big party for her, but people really supported her online and we did some really fun virtual events. I do think people are reading more than they ever have so she was signing hundreds of copies for a couple of weeks!
R: What has it been like to do author events or community events virtually?
L: You do lose things going virtual but I am really focusing on how we’ve been able to host so many more authors that we normally couldn’t because of location! We’ve had authors from all over the world be able to participate in our events. And same goes for readers. We really enjoy in-person events but it’s wonderful to open up our events to anyone with a computer to watch and enjoy.
R: The holiday season will certainly look different this year; are you changing your approach at all?
L: Yes absolutely. Just preparing for pretty much 95% online traffic and 5% instore, whereas in years past it’s been about 30% online for the holidays. We always do curated gift boxes so we’ll be continuing those, just in a higher volume!
R: What can people do to support independent bookstores at these times?
L: There are other answers besides spend money which I’ll get to in a second but ultimately the main answer is spend money. We have got to maintain enough financial health to continue forward and for that we need customers! Other than that, spreading the word is always good! One thing I think people don’t think about is if you are going to send a book recommendation to someone, text a friend or tell your aunt about something you read, make the link from an indie. That way your associate is already on the website when they click on it and they are much more likely to buy it from that indie.