Your Local Bookstore Wants You to Know That It’s Struggling

Source Booksellers, a Black-owned store in Detroit, saw an uptick in orders after the death of George Floyd, as readers sought out books on racism as well as ways to support African-American businesses.

“We had business from different states we had never seen before,” said Alyson Jones Turner, who owns the store with her mother, Janet Webster Jones. “Our being able to walk now has a lot to do with that moment.”

Allison K. Hill, the chief executive of the American Booksellers Association, said the group surveyed its 1,750 members in July and received responses from about 400 of them. Of those who answered, about a third said their sales were down 40 percent or more for the year. But another 26 percent said their sales were flat, or even up. The organization plans to do another survey in January, and Ms. Hill said she expects that positive number to have eroded.

Even at stores where sales have held on, profits are often down, Ms. Hill said. In the best of times, the margins at a bookstore are paper thin — traditionally, a successful shop hopes to make 2 percent in profits — but operating during a pandemic is even more expensive.

“We’re working harder for less this year,” said Kelly Estep, one of the owners of Carmichael’s Bookstore in Louisville, Ky.

Mailing a book to a customer requires more time and labor than ringing it up at the register. Some stores are offering hazard pay to their employees or have dedicated a staff member to greet people at the door, making sure they’re wearing masks and sanitizing their hands before they start running their fingers across the books.