Village Books: The 'Heart of the District'
"The mission of the business is to build community," Chuck Robinson, co-owner--with his wife, Dee--of Village Books and Paper Dreams in the Fairhaven section of Bellingham, Wash., told WhatcomTalk, which profiled the shop in a piece headlined "Whatcom County's Book-Buying Destination Is the Heart of Fairhaven."
"Obviously, we have to make a living for the people who work here and business has to be profitable to be able to stay around, but we've tried to build something that's as much a community center as a place that sells stuff," he added.
Noting the Robinsons "dreamed up Village Books while driving around the country in a motor home at the tail end of 1979," WhatcomTalk wrote that the business "continues to thrive by doing what so many independent bookstores have not: grow, innovate, and remain a central part of its surrounding community, while continuing to welcome book-buyers through their doors year after year."
What has been their key to success? "The main key is we've been willing to change," said Chuck. "A lot of people who closed their stores didn't fail at their business, they just decided that that wasn't the business they wanted to be in--they didn't want to make those changes."
Those changes include the early decision in 1982 to open Paper Dreams, the greeting card and gift store. "Most of the bookstores that have thrived have increased the percentage of non-books that they're selling in the stores, because there's a much better margin."
"People talk about separating their work life from their home life, but we've never tried to do that," Chuck observed. "I kind of think, well, you live one life and Village Books is just a part of ours."
"Obviously, we have to make a living for the people who work here and business has to be profitable to be able to stay around, but we've tried to build something that's as much a community center as a place that sells stuff," he added.
Noting the Robinsons "dreamed up Village Books while driving around the country in a motor home at the tail end of 1979," WhatcomTalk wrote that the business "continues to thrive by doing what so many independent bookstores have not: grow, innovate, and remain a central part of its surrounding community, while continuing to welcome book-buyers through their doors year after year."What has been their key to success? "The main key is we've been willing to change," said Chuck. "A lot of people who closed their stores didn't fail at their business, they just decided that that wasn't the business they wanted to be in--they didn't want to make those changes."
Those changes include the early decision in 1982 to open Paper Dreams, the greeting card and gift store. "Most of the bookstores that have thrived have increased the percentage of non-books that they're selling in the stores, because there's a much better margin."
"People talk about separating their work life from their home life, but we've never tried to do that," Chuck observed. "I kind of think, well, you live one life and Village Books is just a part of ours."
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