Local Bookstore Plans A Wholesale Service

1 1 I H H V - ifiiii- -'-'-:~ 5 51515 '11 3v`i ¥5§€fE5 _5Er "-5i2E2E1€=§1E2€2§2 "§1' 2§=§=E22iE¥5 ‘ .-f- 1 .~.'.`;.-:- I .-.-:-: ' ' 1'f.§f§?ZE:§i _-;f’°8i222§¢i1ifEfEIi" 7 -%%".,-’.f'/_-6% .f :E:§:’:§:1:§:;;;:;r;1;f;.____ _ _ ;1;1~‘ 1
_ 1 rr - re
_ » 0 C a 0 0 S t O 1 , S ' r. ir‘e""r'1" ...
W I I 1S o ______ _ __,__ _ 1 -t 51
A 110 e S 3 B 1 1 € I‘VlC 3 ---1
_. ,i ~ . ‘ if ` ~ ' 1 _ 22' ‘ 1 »12i if "`_ ““__ is -i ' in
vlto n,»¢'“1 I ,,~_.-H.. H 19 76 A j ' rv, _ 7 V __ E __ I -_L _‘::
BY ,M NORMAN B... 1 __ nt _ 1 1 So far Borders has Plans to supply .,.r. _ _ ..__ _._.. e10
leer-°==s~1~»»-f meer Business-1 1 1 new ber Si<>f<-ee is helping in '”f"fff .- . 3 r
Keeping up n bookstore inventory is 1 . 1 1 _ _Birnnne*‘e'n» D°e"1’“rn» Keienneee _ srsi rfs* 'ifirrifri il . 0
like twine te revies your wus as r it d 1 “S ‘“““S‘”g' “‘°’ “Pi” Sept- " . r1r . »s- -1 11r1‘ r li _ __ _...ne ..._
fast ss the kids pick them and keen . . .thefi are “ls” 1?l“?‘““d 1” "““’°" 1 ; '11r 1 11.. __=-1_ . ii; 'rr'e`i’ iii? ._""` "~°' 535555 -f i;
no n-.bona nntnynn ynn 1 if 1r r ;Bu1ld1ng ““‘Y°“‘*” ‘=°“tee- Seen" t° ee” ef' . __1 tle - 1 1° if _ is ' 1 _
one-S no onsytnnn if you are inn _ 051 l1~ ter- r _ * _ 1 iff , 1.r Qfi r. r _ _ .,r -2 . he ... "'r iiee
Borders nnnnm at 303 s. sen with 1 1 They will be Sefviees from e new 0 »... 1fefe 7 ti 0 1 1 »1sas »- .--~1».-»i-.-.._. » ...111 i ..... - --1~11=
. - . - 1 - fi ‘ ` - '.-l 11512; ;¢1 ` 1.5 ,;:;; ;i§:~L51 5'-'f T;-_ '1-' E21 “itfjieiirké '1"'i" "QI ~;.._»=- E- 4 1 1 ~-_' EE- ~<» " ;- fn 52111 . .-_< ,-52" es.1°r=~" . ',"ff ? ;€;¢;;g__~ _ __ ____ ,__,-5,g§;E'_I- _ V_j.;5;;§¢j;;;;5;5;5_;g5
ee- neee 1" eteereee ee ieveeterr inventory Centro; .__ to any new book M00 squirf wonn won oven $100,000. 1 1 innnnnnnn who i 1 them inns sole ‘ng °°*1“’ _" ° ei . _ SW* d' ...-s -.__ _ __ _ ____,_ _ _..el‘ 0 . ...- e so
So Louis Borders. a 27-year-o1d`fo1~ supplier. ` 1 “ea” the A““ ‘°t'b°'.°“`1’°"° Name ef _ "__ 1 ‘-_’. 1f_- _.__. _l__ .1 __~_ . _
mer U_M~ math major with a year of This week the derses began 0f_ U16 Wh0l€S3l€ firm IS Book IIlV€l`ll.0I`y »,. 1 _ v
graduate Work atlMIT.“sigr1ed HD for fering seminars‘ii't;l`iii"io‘spective_ book- Systems' 1“°° . ‘ . `i'i it'» :j§i§i;;;_, 1 ` _
a four-week\lBM oomputertvroarsm- store operators. 'Wov`1d operate as The Warehouse :viii allow- Small .1'“=. _..., H1 in _ 1 _ -..__ __ __.`i 01
mingieouisef 1 1 1 0 __ 'independent bu ses under their “Wk Sellers ‘° Wi’ he" b””‘”g WW' .riff 9 ’ 1' 7
The training not him write an inven- own store nnmostr 1 ‘ef ‘° ee* '°“"‘ 1”‘°°S and Wie? ie" .»~~ __; ii§§.=.f" 1 . 0 11ri~ 1 ~
tory control program one in the non. °~»1~ney1n=, not cnises." explains “ee fre” the 3,,,,_S0me pub,ju.)h,,,g 11r. . 1r. . i1 1r
1% years has doubled the turnover of Louis. “That wo ' i as a bad connota- houses Binders currfmuy dea1S"wlth° "_1 l 7 ~~i» 'isnt ' i ` _
Borders"book stocks and allowed the tionf” 1_p, ff* ~ _ Acwrdmg. to Louis; a $25,000 cash °:`= _I i -
brothers to add another 25,000 titles. 'The only link 5 1 een the cooperat- Investment _‘S _eeeeee t° Sgt Yourself 'S 2 5523 : --~ li A Y ii 7
The system has been so suecessful 'ing bookstores i nordors would be “P ‘“ th? "°°k 1~t- “ad” ‘““k’“g “ °°i“' `i"’ ""'ii"'i l" 'i"` ` . 1 1- .
ee* 'ees ee ne “nee” ree e eeeeee eerie ” on 90 dm f°§‘1?i’~‘§1‘"°°t“e8f’ ia” ““’°"‘i'“ yea’ . ____..__ _
lerenening inte the been Wholesale tieeifi the inde # 1 1 A ‘nts aren’t satis- -W’ . ‘ _e pn". _“S‘””S e’“’°"°'lce`
business. offering free eomputerized non,1.nnS Says. 1 Wit" that einer feeeey Yee eeeie .s.. ~
_ 1 I _ ~ :5.,i,_ 1 1 borrow another $37,000 at a 1:l.5 ;= ~'~ 1 ~ 1 1" " ' "" "fi"' ` ' . Qi/
equity-totdebf ratio to outfit 8 2,000- 1"` -1 1~=11- -- --»=~.-11-=~. ’
square-foot bookshop requiring four ° Y j _ 4 _ 3% _ . _ _
or/five employes. _ _ lt %.£ .` m"E\ .ff i` ll if k I '
“A lot-_of people have been asking _ Eng ry i k A
us, how they could do it,” 'says Louis, -_rio 1 1 1 _ S 1
"‘but we really haven’t been ready to for The Borders brothers, Louis (left) and Tom, efficient they plan to offer it to customers of their
promgte Lbgxthfng yer” browse through a computerized. inventory print-out new wholesale business. (News photo by Larry E. ' _
An ad liifjj-*The Am1'A|jb01°'New5 lag( _ of their 60,000 title stock. The system has proved so Wright.) ' 1
week _brought numerous responses ._ ' \ ‘
from"‘"booklover's" and investors, he
says. _ _ _
` Louis says the publishers he deals
with, who have resisted such comput-
erization, S have ‘been skeptical” of his
wholesaling services. The mortality
rate ,of book stores,` like most new
businesses, is '/ “
He admits the book business is
probably not as busy- in some other
places as in Ann' Arbor,” where the
"inte1lectua1_community ‘here supports
more than 207new, usedf and textbook
stores. _f __ ` ,
` But Louis 'says the book _industry ,
has failed _to carry its product' to the
people' in 'sufficient variety to capital-
ize on_ what he believes is a~ vast con-
sumer demand for readingmaterials.
“Everybody is interested in books,”
he' says. “but they haven’t been _acces-
sible. i
“People are more intelligent and
they are morefwiiling _to learn than
the publishers want to admit,” he
says. _.. ._ " `
The space-saving computer invento-
ry system could “open up whole sec-
tions of books people have never seen
before” in the new stores, Borders
says. 1
A big advantage to the entrepeneur
is the fact that the_Borderses offer to
put together a starting inventory care-
fully based on Borders’ own weekly
print-outs of its best-selling titles.