Superstores write new chapter in retailing; lure serious buyers, browsers with reading areas, cafes - book marketing

Discount Store News, May 3, 1993 by Laura Liebeck

Whether a customer sips a cup of cappuccino while quietly perusing the latest poetry titles or the headlines in some far away newspaper, the creature comforts offered by the super book stores are having a profound effect on book retailing.

The services and ambience offered by the book superstores have caused book retailers of all kinds to spruce up their shops and make them easy, comfortable and attractive places to read and buy books.

As a result, there is a major transformation in the business now taking place that could alter the look of book stores in the future. Whether the book superstores win the lion's share of customers with their cushy chairs and inviting aromas is still a few years off, but experts agree that the book business is in a transition phase from the old and familiar to the new and hopefully improved.

At no time in recent memory have so many purchasing options been available to book buyers. People may buy books through the traditional book stores, discount stores, warehouse clubs and supermarkets, to name just a few. And now the landscape is dotted with book superstores which offer substantially more titles, ambience and refreshments to satiate more than a customer's yen for knowledge.

Since the super duper book stores hit the national scene in 1990 with an entry by privately held Barnes & Noble, the battle lines for retail book dollars have become clearly drawn. So far, no concrete sales data is available on the success of the superstores, said the American Booksellers Association, Tarrytown, N.Y., but clearly, the larger stores sell more books and are better equipped to keep patrons in the store longer.

The goal of book superstores is to provide a comfortable and inviting atmosphere for serious book buyers and browsers. As a result, the stores look more like libraries with carpeted reading areas, more books shown face out, especially in the children's area, plus chairs and tables to relax in while reading. As an added bonus, a number of the stores have added coffee and tea cafes to both attract shoppers into the store and keep them there. The chain stores borrowed the idea from the independent booksellers which have been offering such refined service for more than 10 years now.

The stimulus for this format creativity appears to be the aging baby boom generation that "wants more interesting places to shop" than the mall operators have offered, observed Jim Knapp, director of retail sales for Meredith Books, which is part of the Better Homes & Garden magazine company.

Also, $16 billion in retail sales is a pretty hefty pie many retailers want a slice of for themselves.

"Part of what we're seeing is a shift in how people obtain their books," said Chuck Robinson, president of the American Booksellers Association, an organization of 4,500 members. Robinson, himself a bookstore owner in Bellingham, Wash., said various outlets for book purchases are now available, "reflecting what's happening with mall sales across the country."

So far, the superstores are so new on the retail scene that it is too early to predict their future or even their portion of last year's total sales. However, they are causing a flurry of activity that is giving numerous retailers pause to consider their next move. If they are successful there will be shifts in the marketplace, said Robinson.

Already, experts note that there is some sales cannibalization of retail book sales when superstores enter a market. Exactly how pervasive that is is still unknown and varies by market. For example, if a market is already well stored, the superstores tend to cannibalize book sales. If the market is underserved by book retailers, superstores can tend to expand the market, or simply fill the need not met.

For the new Books "R" Us prototype forwarded by Toys "R" Us in partnership with Western Publishing, the latter seems to be true.

According to Richard Bernstein, chairman and chief executive of Western Publishing, the first 30 Books "R" Us prototype stores expanded the market for children's books.

"This has expanded the marketplace. We have done careful research in the trading area around the existing 30 stores to see if we've had an effect on the retailers in that marketplace. All of the evidence comes back incremental," said Bernstein, who, with Toys "R" Us chairman Charles Lazarus created the idea of the children's book superstore to expand the market for children's books. The department is between 700 sq. ft. and 800 sq. ft. with 1,500 titles.

"What you're dealing with is a very dynamic marketplace now. It's changing, changing probably like it hasn't changed since the chains were built. The industry hasn't seen anything like this," said Steven Morvey, senior vice president, marketing, for Waldenbooks, the largest book retailer in the country.

Waldenbooks, currently evaluating its position in the market as a traditional, mall-based book store operator, is experimenting with what has come to be known as superstore-like furnishings for some of its stores, plus combination book and toy stores.