Blue Jacket Books

Blue Jacket Books Moving in a Different Direction

/ rtrube54 / 1 Comment
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Lawrence Hammar, co-owner of Blue Jacket Books, in one of the many rooms of books in his store.

I saw a post the other day that reflects the challenges of bookselling, particularly if you are based in a small town.

“There are big changes afoot at and in and with Blue Jacket Books about which I wish to inform you. How’s that for a bracing opening?

I’m excited about the future, I am, don’t think that I’m not, but I am forced to go in a different direction so as to make a living.

Here’s why: I love selling retail, I love being your hometown, independent bookseller, but in terms of in-store sales (not on-line, that is), the bookstore operates at a net loss. Very few Xenians buy books here. Sales in-store have for a long time been flat, slow, maybe even declining. The terrible truth is that, the better has the bookstore become, the better the books, the larger the number thereof, the better the organization, etc., the worse have become the in-store sales. Compliments are up, our reputation improves by the day, the oohs and aahs become more vocal, we get Facebook “likes” by the cart-load, but yet very few people actually buy the danged books, especially not from Xenia. Our customers from Xenia are loyal, don’t get me wrong, but they are not many.

We’re doing okay on-line, we’re doing okay with direct orders, too, but I can’t keep working 80 hours a week so as to lose money in-store. We love the building, we love being in Xenia, we get along great with our building occupants and fellow small-business people, but again, few of our customers are from Xenia. $81 Saturdays and $123 First Fridays and the occasional $0 days have left permanent dents in my psyche. I don’t expect the political-economy or the socio-demography of Xenia to change, so I must try something else.

I’ve therefore decided to move in a different direction.”

I had a delightful visit a couple years ago to Blue Jacket Books in Xenia, which is about a 45 minute or so drive from Columbus. I wrote about it here. We had a delightful time with the owner, came away with an armload of books, and intentions of coming back some time. I have to admit wondering how such a wonderful place could make it in a small town.

I have another friend I’ve met online who also puts in long weeks, sells books at conferences, promotes the store online, and barely scrapes by. He knows books and, at the drop of a hat, can probably make ten good recommendations on any subject, after getting to know you. I much prefer that kind of attention to an algorithm, but perhaps I’m in a minority. That big online bookseller makes getting books quick and easy for those who still read. And like the store in Xenia, direct and online sales rather than in-store sales enable him to stay afloat.

So I can see how the move online makes sense for the folks at Blue Jacket. They can probably do better business in fewer hours (an many people who run stores like this are at the stage of life where they want to go slower). The store definitely appeals to a literate crowd. If Xenia, a town of just over 25,000 and the county seat of Greene Country, were a college town, it might sustain a store like this. Nevertheless, I can see how the loss of the store decreases the mix of stores and the richness of its cultural life. I don’t know the answer to this, aside from a broad cultural change in reading habits and habits of mind.

For now, the store is “purging” their inventory, at least through the end of July according to their Facebook page. In a Dayton Daily News story, it sounds like they are trying to sell off 30,000 of the 50,000 books in their inventory to focus on selling Civil War, Americana, academic works and fine art via direct and online sales. Blue Jacket Books is located at 30 S. Detroit Street, Xenia, OH 45385 and their phone is 937-376-3522, if you want to pick up a great bargain during their “purge.” I assume their website will remain the access point for their online business. But the loss of this good place with its various rooms of books on different topics is one more marker on the road to what I think a less intellectually rich and interesting society. But thanks, Lawrence Hammar and Cassandra Lee for making it such a good place for the past ten years. I wish you well as you take Blue Jacket in a different direction!

An Amazing Bookstore

/ rtrube54 / 2 Comments
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One of the many alcoves at Blue Jacket Books, an amazing store in Xenia, Ohio

Have you had the experience of discovering an amazing bookstore, one that seemed to have any book about anything? There seemed to be miles of shelves, cubby holes where you could curl up with a book, and great bargains on remaindered books–ones you wanted to read when they were full price, except you hadn’t gotten around to it.

In a Literary Hub article I discovered that we have James Lackington to thank for all of this. Lackington opened a store in 1774 in London that revolutionized bookselling to this day. His store, The Temple of Muses, eventually stocked 500,000 volumes. He bought large quantities of remaindered titles and, instead of destroying most of them to drive up the price, he passed the savings on to customers. He had four floors of books with “lounging rooms” for customers. It sounds like it was an incredible place.

I remember my first visit to a Borders store while we were house hunting in Columbus. This was when they were still owned by the Borders brothers. I couldn’t believe the depth of selection in each topic area, there was an amazing sale table, and lots of places to sit and browse your finds, as well as a cafe so that you could do it all drink in hand. All the things Lackington figured out made a great bookstore were present.

Now Borders is gone. There is only one major brick and mortar bookseller to speak of. More and more, the selection is limited to either the most significant or most current books in a genre. The only “everything” store is online. But there are still some great stores around the country such as Powell’s or BookPeople who still approximate this ideal. And the second hand stores, particularly some of the Half Price Books stores provide the opportunity for finding great bargains and unusual books. There are some independents as well, some in out of the way places like Blue Jacket Books in Xenia, Ohio that approximate this ideal.

I find myself wondering if a generation from now, people will still have the jaw-dropping experience of walking into a huge bookstore that seems to stock everything, where there are miles of aisles and shelves to explore on every conceivable topic. I also wonder if we will foster a culture that values such places. But there is the wonderful experience of finding your favorite section, and leisurely reading down the shelves of books and making those serendipitous finds that a logarithm or a heuristic might not predict because it only goes off your past history, and not your future interests, the ones that may be awakened by a title, a book cover, or a table of contents. It is a cultural good I hope we do not lose.

I do feel fortunate because in our city, Columbus, while we don’t have any “temples” to books, we have some pretty interesting stores. Some, like the Book Loft in German Village, with its 32 rooms over a couple floors, or the Half Price store on Lane Ave that sprawls and winds through a couple connected buildings get kind of close to Lackington’s ideal. A while back I wrote a post about bookstore crawling in Columbus. If you ever come through, I hope you will come visit some of my favorite places and help keep them alive!

I’d love to hear about your amazing bookstore experiences, so I can visit if I ever come through your town!

Bookstore Review: Blue Jacket Books

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IMG_2382Wednesday took us in a different direction on our vacation bookstore crawl, to Xenia, Ohio and Blue Jacket Books. We heard about this store when we reviewed another store in nearby Yellow Springs last summer. So it was time to see if it was up to the rave reviews of our comment-er. It was!

IMG_2373What impresses you the moment you walk into Blue Jacket Books is the friendly greeting from owner Lawrence Hammar. He will offer to assist you in finding books in whatever subject matter you are interested. He is able to do so. This is one of the larger independent used book stores I’ve come across in Ohio, with hallways, and side rooms and various sections devoted to every conceivable genre. As one walks straight down the hallway where you entered, you encounter beautifully bound books and first editions, local and Civil War history, further down American history, a sitting area with religious books and a back area being developed for his recently acquired Midwest Americana collection (8,000 books acquired from an Illinois bookseller in outstanding condition).

IMG_2364Coming back up the hallway you will find on your left first the art room with an extensive collection of art books as well as books on music. Many of the art books come from a collection owned by deceased Columbus artist Paul-Henri Bourguignon. In the next room on the left are a number of books covering the cultures and literature of every part of the world. There is an extensive section on cultural anthropology that come from the owner’s own collection (he taught as a faculty member in the area of cultural anthropology and also women’s studies for many years). This area also has books from the collection of Erika Bourguignon, an Ohio State professor in anthropology and folklore studies. This room includes a seating area which is used for author signings/readings and other book group gatherings. Off of this room is “The Outdoor Room” which includes sections on nature and sports.

IMG_2369Across the hall from this room is the main showroom areas featuring various genres of fiction including mysteries, fantasy and science fiction, classical literature as well as non-fiction genres from poltical science to auto repair. Toward the front of the store one finds an extensive antiquarian section as well as an area inside the front windows dedicated to children’s literature. Off to one corner near the front, there was even a section for “Bibliophiles and Bibliophilia”!

The store first opened in 2006 under the ownership of Elizabeth Svendsen. Lawrence Hammar took over ownership of the store in 2011, adding his own extensive collection of books to its inventory of over 50,000 books. Because of the specialized and academic nature of many of the works in this store, roughly one-third of the store’s sales are online. The store does buy books and collections although at the present time (July 2015) they are not buying books due their recent acquisition of Midwest Americana. First time purchasers are given a bookmark offering them a fifty percent discount on future purchases of five or more books at a time.

IMG_2381The owner represented to me the quintessential independent book store owner. He loves books, knows his inventory, and can readily direct one to books in his or her area of interest. He even recommended a mystery author I’ve not heard of, James Lee Burke, and I walked away with one of his books, The Lost Get-Back Boogie. He loves to host authors for book-signings and readings and welcomes book groups for special tours of the store. And soon, it will get even better as his wife opens The Table of Contents Cafe next door.

If you are interested in making a day of book store crawling in this area, after visiting Blue Jacket Books, you can head north on U.S. Route 68 for about 10 miles to Yellow Springs to visit two other book shops: Epic Book Shop and Dark Star Books (reviewed here last year). Make sure to head north after visiting these stores to Young’s Dairy for some good ice cream!

Blue Jacket Books is located at 30 S. Detroit Street, Xenia, OH 45385 and their phone is 937-376-3522. You may also order online from their website, although only a fraction of their books appear online. Best bet if you are looking for a particular book is to call the store. They will be happy to help!

[Since this post, Blue Jacket Books has closed.]