Profit is skyrocketing in many stores as well. In a bookstore survey earlier this year, about 80% of respondents said they had more sales in 2021 than in 2020, and nearly 70% said they had more sales last year than in 2019.
According to owner Valerie Koehler, Houston’s Blue Willow Bookshop revenue increased 20% in 2021 and last year was more revenue than 2019. Mitchell Kaplan, founder of Books & Books, an independent chain in South Florida, said sales in 2021 increased by more than 60% compared to 2020.
Many of the new stores that opened during the pandemic are run by non-white bookstores. Salt Toys Bookstore In Inglewood, California, he specializes in books by black women, girls and non-binary people. the Libros BookmobileLatina-owned mobile bookstore on a remodeled school bus in Taylor, Texas, with Spanish and English fiction. Reader’s blockA black-owned bookstore in Stratford, Connecticut.
Terry Ham decided to open Kindred Stories in Houston when her 14-year-old daughter said she was tired of the books her mother was taking home and reading. As an avid reader of her, she is drawn to books about Black Girls’ Generation.
“She realized that Houston didn’t have the space to discover and explore all the great works on the market written by Black Voice,” Ham said. “There was no space curated with her in mind.”
The rapid growth of physical stores is especially surprising when physical stores are facing fierce competition from Amazon and other online retailers. Many bookstore owners also have a harsh outlook for the economy as a whole, including labor shortages, supply chain disruptions, rising rents and interest rates, rising commodity costs, and a recession that could push down consumer spending. Faced with new uncertainties.
