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Unchained melody
April 6, 2009 by afp
Running my own business, two of them, really, when you count the day job at Augusta Free Press Publishing and the nights and weekends that I spend getting the Waynesboro Generals ready for the summer, I know that times are tight, that money is tighter, so when somebody wants to do business with me, I try to make it easy on them.
Which brings me to our little run-in today with the folks at the new Books-A-Million in the Waynesboro Towne Center, who are apparently doing really well for themselves in their new location, so well that they don’t need me to spend my money there anymore, which I gather in the wake of them telling AFP Publishing to take a big-time hike.
The backstory: Because of a scheduling snafu, our magazines got back to us a day later from the printer than we’d been planning on, and this sent the publisher and the editor on the road to deliver the April 2009 edition to several of the stops on the Waynesboro route. It was kind of fun, actually, and quite educational, particularly seeing just a few returns from our dropoffs for the month of March, meaning, I assume, that people are reading us.
Books-A-Million was our last stop this afternoon, and my wife, Crystal, the publisher, was most looking forward to getting there. “They’re supposed to be putting us in a new location, a better location than we’ve been in,” she said, noting that even in a more hidden spot there in previous months we’d been doing quite well there.
First sign of trouble - we couldn’t find the rack that we’d had there for a few months now. Then we couldn’t get anybody to tell us where it was. Eventually a manager came to the front with the rack in hand and said we were out. The boss of a boss of a boss was in the store a few weeks ago, he said, and made it clear: no more free local publications.
My wife was upset, to say the least. “I don’t get this,” she said, repeating herself a few times.
I get it. We’d been given a spot near their Joe Muggs coffee shop. The former manager who approved the location for us thought it would be a good addition for customers stopping for coffee and a donut or cookie to have something to leaf through while they were snacking. I’d bet just as important was that those same customers wouldn’t be inclined to grab a magazine or book from nearby and get crumbs or coffee on a page and then return the product to the shelf when they were done.
The new philosophy, as it comes across to me, is we’re not giving space to something we can’t make money on. As a businessman, I can see where they’re coming from there, I suppose. Funny thing, though. Stone Soup Books just up the street from our office has a lot less space to work with than the new Books-A-Million, and they give us a prominent location in their store. Of course, we know the owner - who isn’t the boss of a boss of a boss, but instead this nice lady named Mary Katharine who lives in Waynesboro and graduated like me with a degree in American government from UVa. and is a political moderate from on our discussions of current events and also opens her doors to not only AFP Publishing but also one of Crystal’s business-networking groups and an informal discussion group that I meet with and anybody and everybody else with an axe to grind or a meal to eat or a book to buy or whatever.
I drove away from the Books-A-Million a bit down thinking that I’d been looking forward to finally having a supersized bookstore in Waynesboro, and, well, I can’t see myself going back there again, considering. And then it hit me. The Books-A-Million folks don’t need my money; they obviously have more than they know what to do with. That bookstore up the street, though, not only do they like it when I come back to haunt, but did you know that they have a real, live chef who will even make you a special birthday dinner if you call ahead a couple days and ask real nice?
Where do you think my book money ought to go, seriously?
- Story by Chris Graham
The unfortunate thing is that Books-A-Million is hamstrung by a strange affinity for shooting itself in the foot. Any convenience and advantage of BAM’s large onsite inventory is nullified by strange little decisions like its refusal to get a bit closer to the community by carrying the local free news magazine.
The result is that now, rather than a trip to BAM for The New Dominion, grabbing a cup of coffee and purchasing a magazine, book or something else, I’ll find The New Dominion elsewhere and spend my time and cash there. Stone Soup would be my choice.
Thought I’ve found the staff at BAM knowledgeable, helpful and friendly, the upper management seems clueless about simple “Bookstore 101″ practices like cultivating interest in local authors (and therefore interest in other books on the shelves) properly arranging book signings, or creating ancillary activities linked to local culture, literacy or just plain reading for enjoyment. These activities would bring people to the store, create a sense of community and a loyal base of customers.
It seems that BAM can do no better than to toe some strange corporate line which allows for no creativity or small bit of autonomy by individual store managers or employees.
Stone Soup Books, in a few short years, has been able to build an amazing sense of community, friendship, and a deep commitment to local authors, musicians, culture and artists. Their chef and menu continue to be a sensation and are no small draw.
It’s ironic that BAM, despite their far greater resources and space, seem like the typical corporate entity…cold, unimaginative and remote.
What a shame. The cookie-cutter, in the box and regimented vacuum that is BAM is enough to keep me away. This story just confirms that! I assume that they believe that The New Dominion would cut into their newspaper/magazine business (I mean really?)
I much prefer spending my dollars in a place that embraces our local community and encourages it’s patrons to feel a part of things. Not a place that’s as anonymous, impersonal and AnywhereUSA like BAM.
Here here Chris!
I agree with the other comments. The staff at BAM is very helpful, and your earlier experience with them confirms that. The problem is senior management, which makes the “rules” that have to be followed, no matter the circumstances. They clearly don’t think of BAM as a community resource. Contrast with Stone Soup, which is more of a friendly gathering place. Bottom line: I go to Stone Soup because I enjoy it. I go to BAM when I’m unwilling to wait two days for a book ordered from Amazon.com–i.e. almost never.
Not to mention that many chain stores decline opportunities to spend marketing dollars with local newspapers. People are hemming and hawing day and night on the Leader blog about the Leader’s current financial problems being because they’re “liberal.” In reality, part of what the Leader and NV are experiencing is simply recession-related, sure, but the big factor is the growth in chain stores locally replacing mom-and-pops. The mom-and-pops spend money locally. Some of the big boys do, too, but it’s not at all the same.
I love Books-A-Million because of their vast inventory. I like to go there to browse through all of the books and then go buy what I want at Stone Soup Books. Stone Soup may not have the inventory of BAM, but Mary Katherine can order anything you want and it will be there in a couple of days. So, yeah, BAM is great for what it is - a place to look and touch and decide what you want. Fortunately, there’s a friendly, community-based store to then go make your purchases.
How long until BAM and Barnes and Noble drown in the Amazon(.com)?
To me all the shiny conveniences of ‘towne-centres’ come with very high prices that suck the money and the life out of communities. These mega-metro making monsters are killing American towns and small cities and it is very sad to see. I am sorry for your experience.
I’m kinda glad it happened. It opened my eyes. There are some wonderful local bookstores in Staunton, too. The good news for them is B-A-M moved out of town, and they don’t have to compete with the goliathon anymore.
As business coaches, your story is not surprising to Bill or I. Decisions are made without thought to the consequences. Policies are adopted and implemented by various people in the organization. It takes good communication up and down the org structure, input from all levels and good managers at all levels to consider the ramifications of their actions.
Not long ago, our marketing manager was in an adjacent store to BAM and the opposite happened. She happens to be a lovely black lady and she was buying items for us with the business credit card. A clerk became suspicious and asked questions. No problem with this so far.
She provided a business card from the our organizaion and showed other identification that reinforced her affiliation with us. The clerk was unconvinced and solicited help from another. The “investigation” start taking way too long and our marketing manager was invited to the office. Now I am starting to have a problem. Our marketing manager suggested that one of us be called to verify the legitimacy fo her actions. They did not. Now I have a problem.
One employee made a comment to the other, something like, “you know they steal don’t you”. Now our marketing manager and I really have a problem with these actions and the obvious racist remark. It isn’t about the credentials being submitted or the actions being undertaken. This is about their perception.
They suggested calling the police as a good next step. Our marketing manager agreed for opposite reasons. And finally, a more reasoned and sensible supervisor showed. After that individual’s review of the situation, apologies were offered, amazing discounts given, and our marketing manager left with the merchandise, unhappy with the treatment and without police arrival.
She too vows never to return given the treatment even though the event had a positive outcome and who could blame her. The hassle, time, and embarrassment were over the top. The supervisor knew it and tried to make amends. But the damage was done.
As business owners, the advice must be know and train your employees, support their involvement and input, empower them to do the right things, have checks and balances in place for review, correct poor behavior quickly and have appropriate consequences in place, implement policies and review them often for potential revision, and know despite the best actions, you will not be perfect. So support local business, because there they can make decisions quickly, give great service, and stand behind their business, their employees and their actions with pride. With the local business, they can implement sound policies and know where exceptions need to be granted. You loose a lot of this at the big box stores.
May more and more people understand how important it is to buy local whenever possible. Stone Soup Books is filling so many niches in our community usually out-sourced to Staunton, Harrisonburg, Charlottesville, and the web. Don’t get me wrong. Please be a responsible consumer and member of the Blue Ridge/Shen Valley region, but always try to shop in Waynesboro first. Where you spend your money, speaks multitudes to our city council, community members and even corporate America.
Another plug for Stone Soup Books: Unlike others who have loads of time to browse aisles and aisles of books, I need to quickly locate my desire or have a hankering for something be very quickly satisfied. (Working mom with young kids, need I say more?) I can go to most any bookshelf in Stone Soup, see a wonderful variety of books (few if any duplicates cluttering up the shelf), find something of interest, and more often than not it is a nicely used, thus inexpensive, copy. Use Amazon like one of the respondents above but then buy at Stone Soup! (Killer chocolate chip cookies, too!)
Hello Chris. Love your experience because it opened your eyes to several things, but the sweetest one is the power of the press and of the consumer, especially when they are the same.
Backpay’s a b*tch, but a lot of fun.
Support your local businesses because, as Pogo once said long ago, ‘They are us.”
Even more eye-opening has been the response to this column. I’m heartened by how many people are standing up to the corporate bureaucratization of America. Go, little guy!