I have an appointement to see a storefront tomorrow, which is really odd as it’s a Sunday. The guy said he didn’t have any other time this upcoming week until Friday, so I said Ok. Anyway this is great because my husband can come with me and look the place over, I always feel better with his input because he’s so clear-headed. I drove by it earlier today with my sons, it looked Ok from the outside. It’s in a good area with lots of foot traffic, and near a Mcdonald’s restaurant. I hope it’s not all busted inside.

We also went to a used bookstore to get a few books. I had fun looking around the store from the perspective of a soon-to-be store owner than just from the perspective of a store customer. This store is really cool but it used to be cooler. They took out their couches and just have these stool steps to sit on, and they added more walls/aisles since the last time I was there so it was crowded. The kid’s corner was kinda funky too, and their carpet was light-colored and nasty; all dirty. I’m going to have black carpet or that dappled grey carpet you see in offices in my store. All in all I got a lot of ideas of what I don’t want to do and how I want my store to look.

I am really excited about this year. I don’t have more time but what I do have is a better grasp of time. This helps me to get stuff done.

Let me see…I’m still working on my bookstore and hope to be open by March. I have way too many haters in my life who make it a point to tell me that I probably won’t make any money and will be lucky to break even, but they keep missing my point that making money is NOT the reason I want to have a bookstore. The reason is because the time I’ve spent in various bookstores, both new and used but especially old, dusty, used bookstores, has been some of the most special and best times of my life. I discovered my favorite writers in bookstores. In times of distress bookstores have been my solace. In times of extreme poverty, I could always go to a used bookstore and get a paperback for a quarter, some places. and the books I couldn’t afford to buy, I could stand and read strewn on some comfy old couch while drinking coffee. I love libraries as much as bookstores, but you can’t do that in any library I’ve been in, LOL.

I also found my voice as a writer, as an artist, as an activist, in book stores. I couldn’t tell you how many poetry readings, meetings, and writing groups I’ve attended at bookstores since I’ve been a teen…it’s a lot. and that’s how I want my bookstore to be. Welcoming, filled with light, couches, plants, and books wall, with events and meetings and people discovering good writing and themselves.

So I found a tiny space in Elyria, OH, which is west of Cleveland, that I think I’m going to rent. It is small but has a neat finished basement I could hold events at. It needs a lot of work but the owners said I could do whatever renovations to get up and running, and the rent includes utilities.

Whew! I haven’t posted for awhile about the progress going on with Texture. I’m getting more books, figuring out the filing/category system other stores employ, and still running around town looking for a decent inexpensive storefront. I have one tentavively on hold but I have to let the owner know end of this month if I’m going to take it or not. If you have some books you’d like to donate to my used bookstore and are in the Cleveland area, let me know and I will come pick them up. Not in Cleveland? you can mail them, PO Box 110393 Cleveland, OH 44012. If you have any questions, comments, or advice feel free to leave them here! or email me: texture at MSPmedia dot net. thanks!

Ok so I’m planning to open a used bookstore. I wanted to open this month, but the storefront I was renting the owner totally sold it. There was a string of robberies across the street culminating in the bike shop owner being beaten into a comatose state, which made the guy near there real nervous about his property. He hinted to me early last month about maybe selling, and he got a great offer which he says he couldn’t refuse and he apologized. My lawyer friend called him up and told him about some break-lease clause so he ended up giving me double my deposit back. The new owners are planning to flip the property to a franchise.

So anyway I am looking around and have visited a couple of other places. I’m going to see a few more today, but I had my heart set on this one place in particular. It is very cheap and totally fits into my idea of a small dusty old used bookstore, and they don’t mind any shelves or whatever I’ll need to put up. But they didn’t want me to sign the lease right away because they had other small biz owners want to break it within a few months. They advised me to walk around the neighborhood and really get a feel for what I’d be getting into.

Folks, I am in this neighborhood quite frequently, I shop at the thrift store there all the time, go to the market near there all the time, etc. I have friends who live in the gentrified section and in the hood section and neither have complained about the nighborhood other than the ratty schools. It’s a racially mixed neighborhood, unlike most of Cleveland. So I was thrilled to find this place.

But I took their advice and walked around one day after a doctor vist with my son Todd. I went into the library, and was shocked. You have to walk through a metal detector right at the door, and to use the bathroom! you have to get a key from a librarian. There were 3 security guard-types and I think they had guns. Least they acted like they did, tapping their holsters/holster area the way some police folk do, you know? None of this was about national security; I asked a librarian what was up. He told me it was because of all the homeless people and poor people hanging out in the library all day. I said I don’t see anyone doing anything wrong and he said Just you wait. Before I could continue some pre-teens came in, and one of the guards immediately marched up to them and told them to Get Out. They just resignedly shrugged and turned around without saying anything, but before the outer door slammed shut one of them shouted a@@hole! Which I might have too under those circumstances. The librarian turned to me and said We don’t allow children and teens in the library without an adult during school hours. Then he smiled down at my son with this totally creepy if-your-mom-wasn’t-here-we’d-toss-you-out-too smile. I just said, Oh, all punked-out and quiet-like.

I was so shocked, I didn’t know what to say, and I was kinda scared if I made an issue out of it or a complaint the guards would come hassle me too. So me and Todd went to the children’s section…and we were the only people there. I know most of the moms in this neighborhood work outside the home but there are stay-home moms there. It was no surprise they wouldn’t come to that library, who would want to bring their kids to such a hostile place. We left shortly thereafter.

So that spurred me to look for another storefront, and the owners of that one were not surprised at my response although they took it the wrong way. They said part of the reason they rent it out so cheap is because of the security costs anyone renting it would have to incurr. But it weighs on my mind. That place is so perfect for me, and I love the neighborhood. and I think about the people who live there, not being welcomed right in their neighborhood library. Then I think, I have so rarely met a snotty or mean-spirited librarian before then, even in racist and classist Cleveland, so maybe that librarian was worn out by alot of, I don’t know, off the wall behavior from the library’s clientle. I am torn. Part of me says I should just go for it. Part of me says be sensible and keep looking. What do you think?

Someone mentioned to me that they have seen many black bookstores come and go. I wondered what they meant, why did that apply to me. I’m not marketing Texture as a black bookstore or afrocentric bookstore. I too have seen such come and go, mostly because they don’t provide a wide selection. Which has always puzzled me as there are thousands of black authors; more than enough to fill a store if indeed you wanted to have a bookstore targeted just to that culture. My store will be a used book store (with a small new books selection) not targeted to any specific ethnic group.

His comment made me wonder, how many people will see my store as a black bookstore simply because I am black. That never occurred to me. When I think of a store or a product or a service or whatever as being ‘black’ I think of something that specifically is targeted to, for, or about black people. Like Spelman is a black college. BET is a black television station/channel. Essence is a black magazine. You get what I mean? I hope no one is disappointed when they see it is just a used bookstore not targeted specifically for black people.

I put up a website for my bookstore:
Texture

I have a storefront, tentatively, the owner said he’d hold it for me no deposit until next month, then I’d have to make a decision. I am going to keep looking around as this place is smaller than I would like and has very little shelving. I’d have to put in some time getting the shelves up and stuff. On the other hand the lease on it is very affordable and includes utilties! something very important in cold Cleveland, OH. I would hate to have to freeze my customers due to not being able to afford a high heating bill.

Ok, so I have gotten a little hateration from a few folks. Nothing major, just little comments and stuff from people close to me about my opening a bookstore. A few friends started commenting about how most bookstores don’t make any money or how indie bookstores can’t compete with the chains and stuff like that. Yeah, I know that.

Another thing that has been puzzling me: so many people immediately say, Add a cafe! Add a vegetarian restaurant! Add a coffeeshop! One of my best friends wants to set up a smoothie bar in my bookstore. I’m thinking to myself as they say all this, Well none of that is my dream. And any of those ideas makes my opening a bookstore more complicated and expensive. I wonder what is there motive for suggesting these things to me. especially when they are not doing it themselves? Is it to make me doubt myself, to add so much additional pressure on me that I quit before I begin?

One of my brothers was so adamant about the vegetarian restaurant, it startled me. He kept saying I wouldn’t make any money just selling books and I really needed to do this. I told him repeatedly, I have no interest in owning a restaurant right now. At one point in my life, I did want a veggie restaurant but not anymore. It would drive me crazy because that is not where my passion lies. I love books. I love writing. I love bookstores. So I write and I’m opening a bookstore. I asked him, why don’t you go ahead and do it? He then replied, Hey I am not even vegetarian, I’m just trying to help you out with ideas for a profitable business. I thanked him and left it at that.

I’ve still been looking for storefronts as the space I wanted to have is no longer available. This weekend my sons and I went out footing it because a lot of places aren’t listed in the paper; they just put a ‘for rent’ up sign in the storefront window. It was an adventure, I tell you. I’ve found places as cheap as $150 a month to places as expensive as over a grand!! and deciding where I want to have my store has been a trip, too. I really should document the process.

So I talked to my dad about my opening a bookstore, and he was very helpful and supportive. I am going to spend January and February looking for a place and building inventory, and just jump in and open in March. I have enough books in my house and garage to open a small used bookstore right now, but I think I will also add new books and of course, zines and stuff. I am excited to get started!

I have not discussed my book store idea with my dad yet, although I am insanely curious about what he thinks and what advice he’ll give me. He is somewhat supportive of my indie publishing biz ( http://www.MSPmedia.net ) but he hasn’t invested any money in it or given me a whole lot of advice. With 2 of my brothers, he invested in their businesses financially and gave them all sorts of leads and business contacts. This past year though he finally read one of my zines and 2 of my books and was really impressed, and is helping me prepare a better business plan so I can maybe get some loans. I think he thought I was just playing around with it, I am going to ask him about that. At any rate I know he can give me some great advice on location and stuff.

I may be able to do this before spring, a space has become available that is just perfect for what I envision. It will be ready in January. It is perfect, great location, low rent, somewhat shelved. I think I should jump on it, but if I do money will be tight for a while.

My plan is to open a small indie bookstore next spring and a full-fledged indie bookstore in May 2007. As some folks know I’m a writer and put out my own books and zines and publishing 2 other authors next year, and I have a bunch of indie friends who put out their own stuff so I’ll stock their stuff too. I will start out slow with part-time hours, Friday-Sunday, maybe 9am-5 on Friday and 10-10pm Saturday & Sunday.

There’s no way to compete against the big chains so I will have to specialize in providing books and other indie stuff you can’t typically get at Border’s or Barnes & Nobles and other stores like that. I envision a big but cosy space with lots of old comfy couches and chairs and a wide variety of books and zines and an area for kids to explore and learn. Used books and new books, and people could sell books to me too. It’ll be cool.