Indie Book Store's Days May be Numbered

Come summer, a community staple may come undone.

at 6275 Delmar has fulfilled the literary needs of the Loop since Kelly Von Plonski first opened the store in 2000. Disappointing sales, however, may force the store to shut down if the sales figures from January to June 2011 don't match the sales of the same period in 2010.

"We have 5 months to turn our sales around or else we're out of business Sept 1," Von Plonski wrote on the book store's Facebook Page.

Selection at the store isn't a problem. With everything from the classics to current bestsellers and from literature anthologies to humor writing, Subterranean has book lovers covered.

"What we need is more people in the store buying books," Von Plonski said in a phone interview Thursday. "The issue is we have no cushion. Our overhead is as low as it can possibly get so that when sales do drop, we don’t have anything to cushion it with."

Sales from April to November of last year were poor. And while December was a strong month thanks to holiday shoppers, January 2011 saw a 25 percent sales decrease from January 2010.

Von Plonski attributes a number of factors to a decline in sales. For one, of course, you have the recession. People are buying fewer books in general than before the economic collapse began.

The new trend in e-books is not exactly helping, either. The store does, in fact, sell e-books on its website through Google, but the profit margins are meager.

"I think we make a dollar or two" from each e-book sale, Von Plonski said.

Contrast that with keeping 40 to 46 percent of paper copies.

But if you ask Von Plonski for the real culprit of the indie book store's troubles, and she can offer a one-word answer: Amazon. Their low prices come at great cost to local book stores.

"The sad thing is for Amazon to sell things at the price they sell them at, they have to bully the publishers," she said. "Amazon uses strong-arm tactics, which is really kind of creepy. You hear these tales from these small publishers who are really threatened if they don’t agree to their terms. And small publishers really depend on Amazon, so they really have to bow to them."

Amazon's sales also go untaxed, unlike those at brick-and-mortar stores, Von Plonski said. Although the lack of taxation creates instant savings for online consumers, the long-term effect is to take away revenue used to maintain streets and other public resources.

Another problem is people browsing without intending to buy anything. At least, not from the store.

"One of the biggest things that we’ve faced are people using us as a showroom," Von Plonski said.  "They’ll look at the books in the store and then buy them online. We can't afford to be a showroom for Amazon. And that really hurts."

Von Plonski has posted a survey on Subterranean's Facebook page, hoping to get feedback on the store and how it could be improved.

Despite poor sales in recent months, the store will continue its frequent buyer program, which awards loyal customers with store credit equal to the average sale price of their ten most recent purchases.

What's next for the store is still up in the air.  

"I really believe that people choose where to spend their money. If they choose not to spend with us anymore then there’s no reason for us to be here," Von Plonski said. "I don’t like to guilt people into supporting us. We have to do something to earn people’s respect."

To that end, Von Plonski and the store's associates are in the planning process for a fundraising event this spring, possibly in March. Details are yet to be solidified.