Cross Country Friends Connect – A Maryland Tour

Jim Ludlum, Business Manager of the Friends of the Montgomery County Used Book Stores (Wheaton, Md.)

A big thanks to Jim Ludlum, Business Manager of the Montgomery County Friends of the Library Book Store (Wheaton, Maryland.), who took me on a tour of the store today.

Jim, a retired private high school English teacher, has been involved with the store since it was first opened full time in 1996. He’s been manager for about a decade.

The store, located under the Wheaton Regional Library on Georgia Avenue, is the largest of the Montgomery County Friends‘ three book stores.

Money earned at this larger store goes directly to the Montgomery County Public Library to support programs, facilities and more, but not collection growth (which is supported from other funds).

Jim introduced himself on this blog in January. I’m in the DC area visiting my parents so I stopped in to take a closer look at the store. Today, he graciously offered to give me on a behind the scenes tour of book store operations.

Have you shopped here before? From the outside, you’d never guess how big it is. The only hint? The shopping carts.

At first glance, can you guess how big this store is?

Walk inside, though, and prepare to stay awhile. Browsing takes time. This is a 5000 square foot store. The books are organized by subject and/or genre. So finding the right section isn’t the issue. There are just so many books and other materials, including audio books, to consider.

The store has a friendly thieves-market feel, comfortable and casual enough that you know there are deals to be had. You just feel it. Off the main sales walkway are rows upon rows of shelves, several organized into alcoves.

Inside the Montgomery County Friends of the Library Book Store (Wheaton, Md) -- and these pictures don't do it justice!

Montgomery County has a population of approximatley a million people. Of the three Friend of the Library book stores, this is the largest. It’s been opened the longest (since …) and seemes to have a longstanding customer base. Jim spends most of his time at this larger store, but also oversees the other two operations, each of which have other paid staff.

Together, all three stores gross approximately $1 million a year. Jim is among the 17 paid staff, most of which work at this main store. The bulk of the workers, though, are volunteers.

Like most Friends of the Library used book stores, this Wheaton, Md, store operates with a small marketing budget — just a few hundred dollars.  They sell some books (many antique) online but nothing compared to their on-site sales. They don’t use social media or any aggressive email marketing strategies yet. They do, however, communicate using other community partners, like schools, who will put notices in their email newsletters.

They also share store information through the Friends of the Montgomery County Library  newsletter, as well as some low key on site signage.

Given the size of the Montgomery Counry community this book store serves, you can  imagine the large flow of donated books that need to be sifted, priced, and shelved.  Behind the scenes, though, you get a better since of the magnitude of the work involved in processing and storing all those books. To say that there are a lot of boxes of books doesn’t even begin to describe it.

There are several large storage areas off the main selling area, unseen by most customers. These include this gated holding area (picture to right) for keeping books that will ultimately make it to the shelves, such as sets awaiting missing volumes. It’s accessed through a door near the fiction area.

Just to the right of where Jim is standing (in the picture, above right) are several large bins for recycling books to  charities. Specified charities are invited to sift through books the shop knows won’t sell quickly enough — or at all — to justify shelf space at the book shop. Do you recycle books this way. We at the Friends Corner Book Shop give our extra books to Pacific Rim, a local charity in our area.

Books waiting for a future big "lobby sale"

At the  far left back corner of the store, Jim moved a bookcase to reveal a door to a second, much larger, 2-room storage area.

Books set aside for a future teacher sale.

One of the rooms houses piles and boxes of  higher priced books stored for a future big sale in the library lobby. Jim says this is the best way to maximize revenue while minimizing inventory lost due to shoplifters in the main store area.

The larger room has space for several zones, including boxes from large-scale donations yet to be sifted, as well as  boxes and stacks of books currenlty set aside for their traditional extra low-priced preview sale held for area teachers.

Back on the main selling floor, Jim and I moved behind the counter into even more storage/sorting space, as well as a smaller room where antique and other items marked for internet sale are stored.

All this storage space was great, but Jim says that storage is still a problem. Remember – we’re talking a lot of books flowing through this store.

Cubbies of books, ready to be priced.

Nearby, there are cubbies where sorters temporarily store books by category (history, art, cooking, etc…), awaiting pricing. Several pricers focus on only one specific category for which they become relative experts in values. This minimizes mispricing like underpricing art books, for example.

The store’s pricing strategy?

“I like to tell people to price books high enough to make re-sellers think twice,” says Jim.

But, like most Friends of the Library book stores, the goal is really to move inventory quick enough to make room for newer donations. That means good news for buyers.

It takes customers to turn donated books into dollars for library. Here, one man buys $25 worth.

Today, I found 5 interesting marketing books that I bought for  a total of $5.35, including tax. Nice.

Bottom line: If you find yourself near Wheaton, Maryland, this store is worth a visit. If you do, let us know what you think.

Thanks again to Jim Ludlum for the great tour, and letting me share these pictures and shop details with you.