Retailing and Public Libraries

In some respects public libraries have many aspects of the ‘retail’ model.

• We have branches like local chain stores.
• We have transactions  – circulation versus sales – although we get more stuff back (most of the time).
• We have an online presence and our clients can do many things online that used to be physical location oriented.
• We use bar codes and RFID just like retailers.
• We have a front service desk – most of the time.
• We’ve adopted many key retailers strategies –  like coffee shops in bookstores and they’ve adopted some of ours – like story hours in bookstores or DIY programs at hardware big boxes.
• We have online competitors like Google and Amazon and Goodreads and more…

Anyway, I was thinking it would make a great unconference or staff day activity to delve into the role of retail strategies in libraries and what they are learning from changes in the marketplace and to dig deeper into what strategic challenges we’re facing together and what we might learn and gain insights into what priorities and tactics we need to accomplish.

Here are some provocations to help to get the conversation started:

1. How many video rental places are there left in your community?  How do your friends get their videos now?  Is the short term uptick in public library DVD circulation a very short term consequence of  the loss of commercially viable rental stores?  What is the impact of online streaming (and/or downloading)?  How many people have switched to Netflix or torrents or underground DVDs rather than renting?

2. How many ‘community’ spaces are there in your community that offer free Wi-Fi?  Just about every Starbucks, Tim Horton’s, hotel lobby,  Panera, etc. do.  What’s the draw there?  Are those spaces better located or better experiences than your library offers?  Maybe not – but good coffee, good music and great convenient locations matter.

3. What stores are failing and why?  In Canada we’ve seen the recent demise of:

• Future Shop (About half are being rebranded as Best Buy and half are shuttering.
• Sony Canada, the Japanese electronics company is closing all 14 retail stores in Canada.
• Grand & Toy and Office Depot are disappearing and going online only or you need to find a smaller number of Staples.
• Target closes their last of 133 stores in Canada in April (largely attributed to arrogance and a huge misinterpretation of Canadian culture).
• Sears Canada closed a bunch of stores in 2014 and Zellers closed all of its stores in 2011.
• Fashion stores are closing in big numbers: Jacob (92 locations), Smart Set (76 locations), Mexx Canada (95 stores), Jones New York (36 locations in Canada), Tiger Direct Canada (31 locations),
• Sobey’s (a major food retailer) closed 50 stores across Canada in 2014.
• Bowring and Bombay & Co. filed for creditor protection last summer, closing 40 stores.
• Add to this the loss of Borders in the US and decline in the number of independent bookstores – what’s happening there?  Add to this the demise of Blockbuster years ago.
• Other former successes like Pottery Barn and Williams-Sonoma are cutting stores.

There’s lots to chew on as to why these stores failed to thrive and being open to learning what we can learn.

4. How about newspaper boxes and magazine racks?  Do you see more or less of them?  What’s happening to popular reading?  When you ride transit (if you do) what are people reading with – paper, phones, tablets, e-readers?  Did they buy or borrow?

4. Now what stores are opening and why might they succeed, or not?  In Canada we note the imminent the arrivals of Nordstrom, Saks, Uniqlo, Simons, among others.

5. Lastly, what makes public libraries different?  Is it enough of a differentiator to attract enough people – physically and virtually –  to keep you busy and contributing a rising positive impact on your users and communities?

Each of the retailers above did research about store siting and demographics and more during their tenure and, yet, they weren’t able to survive the onslaught of changing consumer tastes, online competition, poor supply chain and logistics, substandard customer experiences, economic dips, or changing technologies.

What can we learn from their lessons as part of our plan to help libraries survive and thrive?

Stephen