Securing an Invaluable Resource for New & Experienced Booksellers

What free tool, available exclusively to ABA member stores, shows you where your bookstore's operating costs are too high and where your budget needs adjustment, can help you renegotiate your lease, or help secure funding for a new store or to finance an expansion? Here's the resounding answer of Candy Pearson of Apple Blossom Books, Amy Thomas of Pegasus and Pendragon Books, and Allison Hill of Vroman's.

Pearson, who opened Apple Blossom Books in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in August 2005, said comparison data provided by ABA's ABACUS Survey of independent bookstores' financial operations, "has been extremely helpful to me as a newer bookstore in adjusting my annual budgets to be more in line with what successful stores achieve." ABACUS data was crucial, too, in helping her secure initial funding for the store. "It was also very helpful as a tool and reference when speaking to my banker about the performance of my bookshop and what the bank could expect to see," said Pearson.

"I have made a lot of headway in making my store profitable as quickly as possible using [ABACUS] data. The improvement in the performance for my store between the first 16 months in business without this data and the next two calendar years with the data is very pronounced."

About 13 years ago, as the new owner of Pegasus and Pendragon Books in Berkeley and Oakland, California, Amy Thomas used ABACUS to determine her "rent was too high, but not by much, and only at one location." And, she explained, she was able to see "my employee costs were much higher than for other bookstores, but our lower cost of goods, attributable in part to our mix of new and used, and partly to our taking advantage of nonreturnable discounts, really helped offset the difference. Our advertising budget could, and probably should, be higher -- perhaps a fun new ad campaign was in order -- and we could afford it."

This invaluable analysis was just the first year. "Every year since I have been not only eager to do my numbers -- a good refresher on the past year in and of itself -- but have been on pins and needles waiting for the full report that shows how we line up against other businesses, and how our efforts to improve our situation have fared," said Thomas.

For Allison Hill, president and COO of Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena, California, ABACUS helps "establish goals, determine areas for potential improvement, and monitor our progress. It offers us valuable information and a broader context." Vroman's has also used ABACUS results to help negotiate with landlords, to set benchmarks for payroll, and to identify overlooked areas where the store could improve profitability. "In the midst of all the business, ABACUS gives us the opportunity to stop and look at how we're doing. For the relatively small amount of effort it takes to participate, it's a big benefit," concluded Hill.

Now, in addition to receiving an invaluable customized report analyzing their business' financial results, booksellers at stores that submit their 2008 financial data to ABACUS by the August 15 deadline are also eligible to apply for the Avin Mark Domnitz Scholarship to the Fifth Annual Winter Institute. Created to honor the former ABA CEO's wide-ranging contributions to independent bookselling, the scholarship is also a tribute to Domnitz's work over the years with the ABACUS Survey, which he will once again oversee this year. (Learn more about the scholarship.)

With the August 15 deadline for submissions to the 2009 ABACUS study just three weeks away, it's imperative that ABA member booksellers submit their 2008 financial data via the secure and confidential survey form as soon as possible. Completing the easy-to-use ABACUS Survey form takes about an hour. An Excel spreadsheet allows booksellers to organize the information from their financial statements so that it matches the categories on the ABACUS form. All information provided to the ABACUS study is kept strictly confidential. Domnitz will be the only person who will see any individual store's numbers.

Questions, suggestions, comments, and other feedback relating to ABACUS may be submitted here.