Christian bookstore perseveres through challenging times
WINNIPEG, MB�"It's harder than ever to run a successful bookstore, but for Margo Smith, managing director of Hull's Family Bookstore in downtown Winnipeg, it's worth it.
“Margins [are] always slim, physical retail stores are expensive to run and [it takes] time and energy...to run a small business," Smith says. “The key motivators have always been the customers and their stories, and the power of books to inspire, encourage, heal and teach."
Smith recalls one encounter with a customer, a mother whose child had recently died.
“She said, 'The more I read, the more it helps,'" Smith says. “That was one of my earliest experiences at Hull's. It was a difficult exchange because it was so poignant, [but] I realized that Hull's has a role not only in terms of Christian education, but in terms of healing."
Smith has managed Hull's along with her sister-in-law Kathie ever since their family purchased the store in 1996.
Since then, Smith has witnessed a dramatic shift in the bookselling industry.
In 1996, Christian bookstores were the only specialty stores at which customers could find certain products. Today, general trade bookstores, big box stores and online book sellers carry many of the same titles as Hull's, often using books as loss leaders and selling for less than their cost.
“This sounds like good news for customers, but we found we actually had to sell 20 per cent more books just to make the same sales," Smith says.
That, combined with the rise of the Canadian dollar and the digital revolution that changed the music industry�"CD sales declined from 25 per cent of the store's business to 10 per cent in the last 15 years�"means Hull's has to be careful about the way it operates.
“We're certainly holding our own," Smith says. “If I had to define how [2010] went for us, I would call it flat, and flat is the new up when it comes to certain kinds of retail, particularly bookselling."
Started in 1919 by the Hull brothers, and owned until 1996 by the Hull family, Smith says the bookstore has managed to hold its own because of its commitment to being a good quality bookstore that is of interest to a variety of denominations.
Bertha Hadden is a long-time Hull's customer, and she agrees with Smith.
“They have a wonderful grasp on how to run a business," says Hadden, who owned and operated Hadden's Bookstore on Henderson Highway with her late husband for 20 years before closing in 1996.
Hadden enjoys the breadth of products the store offers and the generosity of its owners.
“As far as I'm concerned, it's a thoroughly good store," Hadden says. “Let us hope they keep going."
Smith believes that even though times are tough, Hull's will persevere.
“I do think there's room in the marketplace for independent specialty retailers like us," she says. “I believe our cities will be the poorer without a local Christian bookstore, and I've witnessed countless examples of the good that happens in them.
“But at the same time, God will accomplish his purposes and new ways will rise up, whether there is a Christian bookstore in every city or not."
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