Lessons Learned From Owning & Operating A Used Bookstore 

All thanks to God for blessing me with family, close friends, great customers and supporters on this channel, none of this would be possible. You all keep me grounded and encourage me to push forward! Special thanks to my Mom and Dad they're the main reason for my successes. Nothing but love for you all.

Amen!!! I found your RU-vid by accident. I have been having very bad months running my bookstore and today after I viewed your RU-vid and listened to how freaking honest you are and the exact things I have been going thru for months. I did not know what got over me to 1st buy a bookstore, 4 hours from my home, keep the original staff, continue to work my full time job and drive there every weekend, until it crashed. Then my friends asked that I move the store closer to me, I did and it went well until COVID, then the struggle began and I'm still struggling. Rent has gone up (cannot afford to buy a building) and so has everything else, even books and I just wanted to give up. I'm still working my full time job to keep the store going, barely. Luckily, my best friend (she is retired) runs the store during the week and I take over on the weekends. When I listened to your RU-vid, my whole heart just cried and open and cried again. I can do this. I'm not giving up hope or faith. Thank you so very much for giving me the strength to keep going.

I am a humble little book collector. Not much really, just a regular guy. I do have some nice pieces that I got at little brick and mortar stores all over Europe and from a road trip in New England couple of years back. Point is that I treasure those because they came out of little used book / antiquarian shops. So having a brick and mortar is a unique selling point in its own right. At least for me (and hopefully many others out there) So, keep it up! My thanks go out to everyone who manages a used bookstore in this day and age. You are heroes and your work is important.

The rule about social media & a business is 20% sales (posts that try to sell) & the other 80% should be fun & entertaining (ask followers their fav. Books, genres, do polls, etc.

I live in an area with a lot of people, and only corporate bookstores and so few coffee places. It sorta gave me whiplash as I was from Madison WI with a lot of shops. I have a growing itch to start a bookshop with a small coffee shop. My demo would be young adults who want a community that doesn't involve alcohol.

I was fortunate to work at an incredible store for 2 years in college, often alongside the owner. Great to hear another person’s perspective on the profession, I’ve become a teacher but nothing rivals the education of working with literature.

I appreciate your willingness and time to pass on information on the book selling business. I sell some books on eBay.

Good video. I don’t have a bookstore per say but I have a large room full of mostly books at a local antique mall. Been there five years. Started with a wall of books on shelves and gradually expanded to my own room. I do fairly well. The mall takes care of the hours (open 7 days a week) and provides the staff so I don’t have to be there other than to restock. I’m free to go to book sales and estate sales at my convenience. And the networking with other vendors and the store owner has increased my ability to source books. I don’t really have the desire to open my own bookstore but I feel like this is a good middle ground. Thanks for sharing this video.

Great video Phil. One thing I would add is to ask yourself are you a collector or can you let material go. People can get emotionally attached to certain books. If it tears you apart to sell then skip this business and know you are just a collector at heart

I know I can trust a man wearing a Chris Knight hat. Interesting video. I was particularly surprised about the last part about the lack of local support for the bookshop. Maybe, like you say, people just want to buy everything online but they are missing out on the search. You never know what you will find! What a shame. And though I do order books online from various sites, it's not as enjoyable because I didn't get to search the shelves, talk to the book seller, etc. Maybe that's what people want these days? If so, that's sad. Have a good week, Phil.

I don't see myself having an open store, sell online at present, but still enjoyed this video. Thanks Phil, for all you do on this channel. Very enjoyable to watch.

I'm one of those people who fears failure and fears success. It's rough! I'm working on it though. The more I put myself out there, the better things get. I've got a long way to go but folk like you really help me learn, adapt, and grow. Thank you!

Thanks for making this video, all love from Egypt.

I’m 18 years old and opening a bookstore been my goal for longtime thanks for helping and all of this advices

Thank you for taking the time to make this video. ❤

I have an online bookstore since 2010. I really want a physical store. I do like what you said about owning your own building. That would be very lovely.

This is outstanding!

I don’t have any aspirations to sell books ( I sell sports cards on eBay as a side hustle) but I wanted to thank you for taking the time to put this video together. As some have said before, you presented some real nuggets of first-hand wisdom for running a successful business of ANY kind. I subscribed and wish you and your business continued success !

Thank you for this video, I found a lot of inspiration in your words❤❤❤ Greetings from Russia❤

Casually following you for awhile now, and I hope to visit your shops someday! And congrats on new building. I’ve been doing this over 25 years myself and also inherited the folks antique biz, so I thought it was neat to hear you say you had antiques in the beginning. I was mentored a bit by a crusty ol bearded hippie in overalls who had a shop nearby mine. 😂 we never stop learning, and that includes making funny and informative content online 😂, old dog, new tricks…