When Annell Gerson and her husband Jim opened their first Bookmiser bookstore in Roswell in 1998, Borders was the chief competition.
That was three years after Amazon, then a little-known Seattle company, was modestly selling books online. As the Gersons expanded to open an East Cobb location on Roswell Road, the book industry would undergo profound changes.
By the time Borders went out of business in 2011 (including a store at The Avenue East Cobb), Amazon had become not just a virtual bookselling colossus but a dominant force in the online retail world.
“You just keep morphing, you just keep reinventing yourself,” said Annell Gerson on Small Business Saturday, referring to Bookmiser’s sustainability amid the changes.
It was nine years ago that American Express came up with the Small Business Saturday promotion to help small, independent retailers in the wake of Black Friday at the start of the holiday shopping season.
Bookmiser has taken part each year, and takes part in Independent Bookstore Day, the last Saturday in April. The Small Business Saturday logo adorns the store’s website, and a floor mat is situated at the checkout counter.
Gerson says the promotions are good for raising awareness long-term more than prompting same-day sales, but every little bit helps.
What started exclusively as a used bookstore with a trading program has expanded into providing required reading materials for school classes, New York Times bestsellers, special orders and authors’ events.
Every book is sold at a 20 percent discount, used or new, without any membership requirements. Bookmiser customers also get further discounts and sales offerings via the store’s e-mail newsletter, which included 25 percent off all this weekend.
“As a bookstore, you have to establish relationships with people,” Gerson said. “We know exactly what they like to read.”
The store at 3822 Roswell Road (at the eastern intersection of Robinson Road) includes a wide variety of literary and popular fiction. Many of the featured authors are what Gerson refers to as “women’s fiction,” and events at the Milton and Sandy Springs libraries feature local and national authors.
Gerson said several years ago, as she was doing an event with former Congressman Tom Price, she counted up the number of bookstores in and around his north metro Atlanta base that had closed in recent years.
“Twenty-two,” she said.
Even with a focus on customer service (1-2 days for special orders to arrive, no delivery charges) and special event, the competitive challenges for indie bookstores have grown. While Bookmiser is located in an affluent, well-educated community, that’s not necessarily an advantage.
“It’s so easy to push the button,” she said, referring to Amazon. “It’s a David and Goliath story every day.”
Unlike Amazon and other online sellers, “we pay property tax. We pay school tax. We pay for air conditioning.”
And Bookmiser, like many small and independent businesses, chips in to partner with community organizations, including the Walton volleyball and baseball programs, Dance Stop, the Chattahoochee Nature Center and Curing Kids’ Cancer.
Bookmiser also took part in helping run the Milton Literary Festival until this year’s event. Last year, the Gersons closed the Roswell store (located on Sandy Plains Road near the Sandy Plains Village shopping center), and donated the last of its stock to the Friends of the Milton Library.
In 2016, Half-Price Books opened in East Cobb at the Woodlawn Square Shopping Center. While other indie book stores exist in East Cobb at the Book Exchange and the Book Nook, another used-bookstore, Once and Again Books, closed last year on Shallowford Road.
Gerson said continuing to adapt to the retail book market and customer demands are imperative. Starting in 2020, Bookmiser will gradually increase its new book stock to take up about half of the store.
“That’s what we’re seeing the community wants,” she said of the growing demand for new books. “And they want it now.”
Bookmiser is open from 10-7 Monday-Friday, 10-6 Saturday and 12-5 Sunday. Phone: (770) 509-5611.
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