If you are a book-loving Vancouverite, then you already know Pulpfiction Books. It’s been nearly 25 years since the bookstore opened its doors. Owner Christopher Brayshaw has learned a lot about running a successful small business in Vancouver.
Small Business BC connected with Pulpfiction Books to learn more about how the bookstore started, its biggest challenges, and how to retain a fiercely loyal customer base.
How Did Pulp Fiction Books Start?
“After working in a variety of new and used bookstores beginning in my teens, I opened Pulpfiction’s Mount Pleasant storefront on my 30th birthday in June 2000.
Many friends lived in the neighbourhood, and I thought I’d be able to write art criticism at the desk in between occasional sales. But things were busy right away, and I soon found myself hiring staff and slowly expanding into other local neighbourhoods.
Twenty-four and a half years on, I find myself with excellent long-term staff, two neighbourhood locations in Mount Pleasant and on Commercial Drive, an online-only warehouse in the suburbs, and a small not-for-profit visual art project space funded by the shops.”
What Has Been Your Biggest Challenge?
“Vancouver retail rents have always been high and show no signs of returning to earth. And high residential rents have lately encouraged a steady exodus of working – and middle-class people, including those who, historically, have worked as booksellers.”
How Do You Compete with Online Retailers like Amazon?
“Amazon’s incompetence as a retailer – its easily gamed reviews and hobbled search engine; its erratic pricing and frequent shipping of damaged or defective merchandise – generates a steady stream of new clients who prefer to deal with real people who can make non-algorithmic recommendations, read widely, and can apply common sense and empathy when, occasionally, things go wrong somewhere in the supply chain.”
What’s Your Advice for Small Business Owners Competing with Bigger Rivals?
“You are not required to compete with the mainstream, nor should you.
Carry products that are of good physical and/or aesthetic quality that you personally use or believe in. Over the long run, the market is a weighing mechanism, not a popularity contest and enduring quality will always win out.
When we order new titles for stock, one test we apply is to ask, if a customer returns the book for trade or cash buyback in two to three years, will anyone still care about it? Is it of durable, lasting interest? The more confidently we can answer this question, the more likely we are to carry it new.”
How Do You Maintain a Loyal Customer Base?
“I’m a Twitter power-user and active on Instagram. I enjoy following our regulars on both sites and learning about their lives and “where the books go” once they head out the door.
I’ve received JPEGs and photographs of readers in Europe, Australia, a hanging belay on a first ascent in Alaska, and, once, memorably, in Antarctica. You can take joy in your customers’ lives and accomplishments, and the commerce part will take care of itself.”
No one likes what I call the ‘We’re a store and have things you can buy’ style of social media posting so prevalent today.”
What’s the Future of Pulpfiction Books?
“Customers have been asking for Pulpfiction Books merchandise since day one, and after two decades of to-ing and fro-ing we have t-shirts and tote bags on the way, with designs by a famous (and as yet undisclosed) local artist.
No short-term plans for expansion – I’d rather run fewer, better stores than an empire of poorly merchandised, cookie-cutter franchises, but medium- to long-term- term there may be one or two chances in the Lower Mainland and on Vancouver Island to partner with existing or former Pulp Fiction Books staff members, and it’s these opportunities – to work with friends who are known quantities, rather than just 100% starting from scratch – that keep me enthused about coming into work, even after 24.5 years.”
You can learn more about Pulpfiction Books on their website and follow them on social media for updates.
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