Painting by Michael Draga
Earlier this year, The Archive began to run a series of standing sales off of sales. This was concerning news for regular shoppers, as the store, located in South City at the intersection of Jefferson and Pestalozzi, was already working on tight margins, having recently resettled inside a gorgeous old storefront that long housed neighborhood bakeries. But even as indie bakeries are enjoying an unusually brisk renaissance of late, mom-and-pop book dealers are continuing to decline in number.
The Archive sold used books, along with select, new titles from local publishers. The shop was owned by three proprietors: Steven Hoffmann, Amber Dover and Tom Freeman. Over time, they lived through a variety of experiences common to small businesses: there were avid customers and there were burglars, there were days of great online sales and others when not even a dozen books were purchased from the storefront. Working both the mail order and in-store angles help stave off the worst stretches, but, of late, even that business has been unable to overcome the wider, nationwide trends in book buying.
According to a release from the shop, sales will kick in heavily over the next few weeks: 40 percent off from Wednesday, November 6 through Sunday November 10; 50 percent off from Wednesday November 13 through Sunday November 17; 60 percent off from Wednesday November 20 though Sunday November 24; and 65 percent off from Wednesday November 27 through Friday November 29. On Thanksgiving, the store will feature a daylong open house. And on “Black Friday,” the shop will offer up everything left, including bookshelves and other fixtures.
In an online conversation with Hoffmann and Dover, topics ranged from the micro (can Jefferson regain some retail glory?) to the macro (why aren’t people buying books?), suggesting that The Archive fought multiple battles in staying a vibrant business, in order to provide St. Louis with an exceptional place to appreciate literary culture.
As you note in the release, there have been previous closures of notable, much-loved bookstores in St. Louis. For you, which now-gone stores are among your favorites? Any stories about those places?
SH: I worked at Amitin’s. I turned off the lights at his [Larry Amitin’s] store on Washington Avenue for the very last time the day we closed. We donated maybe a third to Larry Rice, a third to the dumpster, and we moved the rest three more times! I just heard that Larry [Amitin] finally just moved everything that he wants to keep into his house from storage. I hear he’s working on a sci-fi novel about downtown St. Louis. To be honest, the best “bookstore” in St. Louis is inside somebody’s private house; well, actually a mansion. Everything is priced and for sale, but you have to schedule an appointment in advance, and you have to know the owner to get in. There are a lot of oddballs in the world of collectors.
AD: I haven't been in St. Louis as long as Steven, and have only heard stories about Amitin's bookstore. I do wish I had been able to see that store before it was gone. It sounds like it was mammoth and epic in its own way. My first experience with a bookstore in St. Louis was The Book House, and I will always hold a fondness for the store they had in the old house. I look forward to seeing its reincarnation in Maplewood.
Buyers may have wondered about the store's future after the initial sales kicked in. What kinds of conversations have you had with regular customers since then? And were there efforts to perhaps find a different, perhaps more-affordable location?
SH: I’m sorry to have to say this, but renting to have a retail store is a losing proposition unless you own your own building, or you’re in Ladue, or you’re selling something with a whale of a profit margin. In the long run, this could kill Cherokee Street. Tons of businesses there are unsustainable, fighting month-to-month to pay (rising) rents. We never paid ourselves; in fact, we put in a bunch of our own money just to keep things going. We have no equity, just a bunch of really heavy assets: about 25,000 books. We sure did pay a lot of rent and utilities, though. I don’t regret it, and I would do it again. I’m a regular auction hound, and I see how many new businesses get churned up every week in this town.
AD: Many of our regulars have expressed concern from the start of our sales earlier this year. We even saw a lot more of the less-regular customers in this past summer. The hope from everyone was that we would be able to find a way to stay open and that we should find a new location. The common feeling was that our location was less than ideal. We did look into a few different brainstorms and ideas to move, but when it came down to it, we didn't find a place in the timeframe that we needed to, and we just didn't have the capital to move just a year and a half after the last move. In a perfect world, we would have loved to own the building our store was in, but in the real world we weren't in the position to make that happen. It was never the price at our current location, so much as the actual locale of the building and the surrounding elements that did us in.
Did the move from Cherokee to Jefferson influence your business in major ways? Or did people who were already shopping find you there without much issue?
AD: Moving to Jefferson greatly impacted our business. I don't know how the other small businesses on this corridor feel, but we find Jefferson to be a hard place to be, it's a major road, but people drive fast and don't stop a lot, that combined with the limited parking on such a busy street, I think it was easier for most people to just keep driving. We are also surrounded by a rougher atmosphere that can feel somewhat unwelcoming. We tried to soften the street with outdoor seating and plants, but the atmosphere here is a lot louder and less walkable than Cherokee was.
SH: We have a lot of loyal customers who have been with us since the beginning. We also have a lot of people who think we’re a book museum, and look around for an hour, then say “you have a very beautiful bookstore,” and leave without buying anything. I don’t understand that. I don’t think I’ve ever set foot in a bookstore without buying something. Most of our books are priced under $6. There are classics in great condition priced $1. Closing bookstores are the product of changing tastes and aggressive (and smart) business practices by huge corporations. Vote with your wallet. (A little-known fact is that the Archive really started at Cranky Yellow, on that back wall of bookshelves, then moved to our first store on Cherokee. I do love Cherokee Street, and hope that it can remain independent and funky. It would be such a shame to see a bunch of soulless corporations move in. Some people are working for that, some are working against it.)
Thoughts on being in a place that was more destination-based, as opposed to being on a foot-traffic block? And, to the same point, what are your thoughts on the future of the Gravois-to-Arsenal stretch of Jefferson, in terms of a being a place for new businesses to take root?
SH: For neighborhoods to be walkable, livable, to have vibrant businesses and night-life, a city needs population density, something that I don’t see happening unless major changes come to the people who populate city hall and to their policies. The city is raw enough to be cutting-edge though. I had some friends bike to the bookstore recently who were attending our five-year college reunion downtown. They were from D.C., Chicago, Texas. They were blown away by St. Louis all over again after having left in 2008.
AD: I think being a destination-based place isn't a bad thing, if you can accommodate things such as parking and a feeling of safety. To make people to want to come to the destination, they need to be enticed to go out of their way, because they know once they get there it will feel nice and not a hassle. We were never located in the heavily trafficked area of Cherokee Street either, but being on a street that is better known for shopping did help, because by default people were already driving or walking in the area, so going a block or three out of their way was different than driving your car to a new spot and find parking all over again. We had hoped we'd be able to carve out our own niche in the new spot, but people get set in their patterns and you have to practically give something away for free to shake them out of habits. There always seemed to be confusion about where we were on Jefferson, too. I heard over a dozen times the comment, "Oh, you're down by Kakao, right?" I think that clearly shows that a lot of people just aren't familiar with Jefferson. That is a problem for business.
What have you been hearing from colleagues in the business over recent years? Have you been able to trade notes with kindred business owners in other towns? Any commonalities in challenges and successes, when it comes to running an indie used bookstore?
AD: I'm going to let Steven answer this one for the most part, since he's been in the business a lot longer. What I will say is that anyone who has a bookstore has suffered the effects of online shopping and electronic books, that is pretty much a no-brainer. The demand for books, at least in the bookstore setting, has dropped dramatically. When you see the big chains like Borders throwing in the towel, you know things aren't good. The hope, of course, is that there will be a renewed demand for the experience of the bookstore. I think for a bookstore to make it anymore, it needs to have something else going for it, like a cafe or coffee shop attached. Especially used books.
SH: I sure hope Michelle Baron from The Book House is able to succeed in her new store in Maplewood. The earth-shattering changes that have come to this industry after online selling started are still reverberating. I think that in the future, every major city will have one or two giant bookstore destinations that will be social centers with a bookstore attached. Being a little guy is getting really, really hard. If only all of these little bookstores could get together in one giant building and build something together?
How has your mail order business been going in recent months? And do you anticipate continuing any of that operation, or will that stock also be liquidated?
AD: The online sales increase exponentially based on how many books we can get listed online, so it's a good focus to get books sold. I don't know what will happen with our listings, Steven will be taking that over, but The Archive itself is being dissolved/liquidated.
SH: I’m going to continue to sell some books online. I had a thousand books in my collection by the time I was 14. Losing the giant stacks of books that surround me permanently would be like losing a limb. If anybody out there is thinking about starting a bookstore: don’t. Build an online presence first. That was our major mistake, but we were exuberant about opening a physical store, and it was a blast.
I'd imagine that the largest goal of the next few weeks is to move books from your shelves to people's shopping bags. But, in addition to that, are there any things you'd enjoy happening in the next few weeks? In terms of community, or old shopper coming back 'round, or spontaneous readings, or...?
SH: Please come buy a stack of books. They've never been more affordable! We’re going to have a big party all day Thanksgiving, everybody please stop by. The bookstore is a Free Speech Zone, a Safe Space, non-discriminatory, and we’ve never censored anything that came across our desk. You can do anything you want here, as long as it’s peaceful.
AD: I'd love to see all the people that have supported us over the years in the store at least one more time. That is one reason we decided to have the Thanksgiving Day party, we wanted to have one last good memory of seeing the community in the space before it's all over. Spontaneous readings sound great; please don't hold back if you feel the spirit!
Any thoughts on "what's next" for any/all of you, inside or outside the book trade?
AD: I don't plan on opening another business in the near future. I'm in Kundalini yoga teacher training, so I'm hoping that will be my focus in the next few years. I'm going to enjoy the books from the other side, and just read them instead of trying to find them homes for a while.
SH: I have a million ideas for a “Bookstore of the Future.” The Strand Bookstore in New York employs 240 people. Places like City Lights in San Francisco or Powell’s (both the Powell’s in Chicago and the chain in the North West) are meccas to the written word. Bookstores suggest the possibility of a different kind of world. We’re losing public space, the commons, and bookstores have always been a kind of third way, semi-public, semi-private. I heard through the grapevine that when the Occupy movement broke out across the country, bookstore owners in several cities were some of the first people to show up and to try to foster a civil dialogue. This country’s political system is seriously in trouble, and I don’t know where else to turn to find the answers, other than to books.
The Archive is located at 2903 S. Jefferson. For more information call 314-827-5491, or visit their Facebook page.
