Auntie’S Owner Facing Book Business Changes

It’s pleasant to sit on the second level of Auntie’s Bookstore, overlooking the main floor. If the best bookstores are clean, well-lighted places, then Auntie’s goes the formula one better.

It’s clean, well-lighted and filled with many good things to read.

But things are not going well in the independent sector of the bookselling business. Facing stiff competition from the mega-store chains such as Barnes & Noble and Borders, and such online order services as Amazon.com, independent stores are facing an uncertain future.

After 26 years, The Bookseller in Coeur d’Alene is closing its doors. Seattle’s venerable Elliott Bay Bookstore, one of the prime stops for authors book-touring the Northwest, solved its ongoing financial crisis by recently selling out.

Even the University of Washington is being forced to revamp - eliminating its children’s books section, etc. - as a means of staying competitive.

As she approaches her 50th birthday (June 25), Auntie’s co-owner Chris O’Harra is staring change in the face. Her business partner since 1978, Shannon Ahern, is selling his interest in the main store to her effective April 1. One Barnes & Noble superstore has opened in the Spokane Valley, and another may open on the North Side. There’s been talk about Borders coming in.

And Amazon.com’s stock just posted a 13.3 percent rise.

In a recent conversation, over a large wooden table on that second level, O’Harra discussed all this and more:

In the 21 years that you’ve been in Spokane, what has most changed about the bookselling business?

“People are basically not reading as much anymore,” O’Harra says. “The coming generation is not as book-oriented as we are.”

But there’s an even larger reason, she says. “There’s just not as much time. I think that is what’s hurting, though probably not as much as Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble…. Everyone now has their little VCR. And if they have time, it’s just so easy to do the family thing, to just sit down and watch a movie instead of reading a book. Reading a book is hard.”

You say the book market is changing. How so?

“Everybody is selling books now. There was no Costco, there was no ShopKo a few years ago, but now they get their little chunk. You just know that if they are people who are watching their pennies, they’re going to get their John Grisham from Costco. We know it. You just have to live with that.”

Were you surprised by the Elliott Bay sale?

“We had heard rumors, so we had known for a couple of years that they were in financial trouble. But to hear that somebody was selling” was still a shock. “(Owner Walter Carr) was so fortunate that someplace like Third Place Books (a Puget Sound mini-chain) was around, because there aren’t too many people who could pay” what even the store’s inventory is worth.

Your literary readings attract a lot of people. Doesn’t that help your business?

“People will see one event - say, Sherman Alexie is in town - and we’ll have tons of people. Four hundred people for a Sherman Alexie. Well, the next one, we may get 10 people. And even at a huge reading, we may sell 10 or 15 books. It is the rare one that we ever break even on. But people don’t realize that. They see people in the store, `Oh, they must be making money.’ Not true.”

Explain the change in partnership.

“(Shannon Ahern) and I will still be partners in the building. We own it together. But he wants to get out of the book business. He’s tired, and he’s ready to do something else.” She says she will buy Auntie’s and the stationary store The Paper Garden. Ahern will take over the three Book & Game companies, Merlin’s and Uncle’s, she says. “And ultimately he will get out. He’s setting up some sort of partnership with the managers, and they’ll eventually buy him out.”

What effect will it have?

She calls Ahern the “idea person,” which is something that she will miss. Plus, she says, he’s always handled the store’s books. Overall, though, “I doubt that anybody would even notice anything.”

Is it hard to compete with online booksellers such as Amazon.com?

O’Harra is quick to point out that Amazon doesn’t always live up to its promises. “But people don’t know that,” she says. “Our staff is completely honest. They’ll say, `It should be here the next day, but it may take more days. We’ll order it today, and it should be here tomorrow.’ But, you know, things happen. So they wanted to tell people that it will be here in four to five days. You can’t do that. We’re in competition with people who say it will be here next day. You can’t tell them four or five. They’ll just say, `Oh, that’s OK, I’ll call Amazon.’ You have to be honest with people, you have to warn them that things can happen. But generally speaking, if we order it on Monday, it will be here on Tuesday. That’s just the way the system works.”

Has your business decreased?

“Until Barnes and Noble came in, we had consistent 10 to 20 percent increases every month. Well, that ended when they opened. What’s been hard to tell is whether it’s strictly Barnes & Noble or a combination with Amazon and everything else.”

Do you see yourself selling out?

“I can’t go away. I own the building so I’m kind of trapped. I can’t fold up and go away because I’ll lose the building and a lot of money that we’ve put into it. And I don’t want to fold and go away. I want to be here, in this wonderful location with wonderful customers. Somehow, we’re just got to do a better job about educating people that if they want us here, they’re going to have to support us.”

Barnes & Noble recently bought the Ingram Books, the nation’s largest book distribution company. Will this affect Auntie’s?

“It’s devastating. It’s the same thing as if Eagle Hardware had to buy their supplies, their restock, from Home Depot…. There’s no way that we’re going to want to deal a lot with them, because they’ll know what we’re selling. Plus you don’t know, will they be honest, will they be fair? If a shipment of a thousand comes in, and their stores need 800, are they going to get the 800 before we get any chance at it?”

And can you read the future?

“We’re concerned. But we’re in a strong position. We’ve got a strong location, we’ve got a lot of good customers. We’re going to be constantly monitoring it, but even if we’re hit real hard, we can still do more with our used (books)…. And we try to hire friendly, intelligent employees who like people, and that makes a big difference…. Maybe it’s because I’m an optimist, but I keep thinking that no matter what, we’re going to be OK. If any store can make it, it’s going to be us.”