A conversation with bookseller Jim Tolbert.

Clark, David Draper

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Jim Tolbert, a graduate of the University of Oklahoma and Stanford University, has had a rich and varied forty-year career as a company doctor (fixer of distressed companies), civic leader, and investor. The passion of his life, however, is bookselling. His Full Circle Bookstore (fullcirclebooks.com), the largest independent in Oklahoma, is a unique combination of retail store, cafe, and cultural sanctuary. WLT's editor in chief sat down with Tolbert recently to gain his insights into the current state of book culture and bookselling in the United States.

When did you decide to become a bookseller, and why did you choose to do so?

In the mid-1970s I was serving as chief executive of a large, complex business. My work was satisfying but intangible, and I craved a more hands-on experience, more contact with people who shared my interests. When I had the opportunity to evaluate a small bookstore (The Full Circle) that was for sale, I realized I could lead two lives--that I could fulfill a lifelong fantasy by becoming a bookseller without giving up my day job; and I could do the buying and back-office work in the evenings and spend time with customers on the weekends.

What major changes has the Full Circle Bookstore undergone throughout its history?

When I purchased the store in 1978, it was small (about 6,000 titles and less than 1,000 square feet) and catered to the interests of the generation that became adults in the 1960s and 1970s. There was a strong bias in the stock toward Eastern religions, science fiction and fantasy, and the special interests of that era such as yoga and The Whole Earth Catalog. It had a warm, comfortable ambiance, including a semiresident dog.

Since that time the store has evolved almost continually in response to a fire, dramatic changes in competition, and my desire to serve a broader clientele. It now stocks more than 60,000 titles and covers more than 7,500 square feet. It has, I think, a wonderful ambiance, with rolling ladders, oak shelving, three fireplaces, comfortable seating, a cafe, and a garden terrace. It offers a very broad selection with great strength in fiction, literature, poetry, history, biography, science, Native American studies, politics, current events, art, architecture, audio books, travel, and books for children and young adults. Also, ever since I purchased the store, we have emphasized expanding the selection of Oklahoma history, biography, and the works of Oklahoma authors.

How do independent booksellers compete with the national chain bookstores here in the United States?

The first chain competition in the mid-1980s came from the mall bookstores, B. Dalton and Waldenbooks. Their major advantage was their ubiquity, and thus convenience, and the ability to do some discounting because of bulk purchasing and, subsequently, more favorable pricing from the publishers. What independents soon discovered was that their disadvantage of limited selection, high rent, and uninformed staff gave impersonal service at best. Full Circle and many other--but sadly not all--independents successfully countered the mall stores' competition by, in our case, strengthening our service by employing a service/floor manager, expanding our selection by enlarging the store, and enhancing the ambiance by adding our first fireplace.

In the early 1990s the big-box bookstore chains Barnes & Noble and Borders entered our market with five 15,000- to 25,000-square-foot stores carrying 100,000-plus titles and offering significant discounts and, in the case of Barnes & Noble, the only Starbucks in our market. The result of this onslaught, which effectively tripled the number of square feet devoted to the selling of books in Oklahoma City, was that all but three independents--including Full Circle--failed, and we experienced a very dramatic decline in volume.

In response to this calamity, we surveyed our customer base, conducted focus groups, and examined how independents in other markets had survived. This extensive analysis revealed that a significant segment of the reading public would respond to personal service, a knowledgeable staff, a well-crafted ambiance, and a large, carefully tailored inventory. Furthermore, this profiled customer, while not expecting across-the-board discounts, expected a pricing philosophy that showed respect for his or her patronage.

Over the next several years, we repeatedly expanded our store and our inventory; enlarged our service to include out-of-print book searches, quick-response special ordering, out-of-store book sales at events (which we call "book catering"); and began a targeted discount program that favors the serious book buyer. In addition, we added an espresso cart that, in our present location, became a cafe. As a result, through an ever-growing program of events--including book-signings, discussion groups, music in the cafe on weekends, and children's story time--we have become a center of community activity focused on books and reading. Alas, however, there is no semi-resident dog.

Virtually all independents that have survived have followed a similar program. The exception seems to be small niche children's and special-interest stores.

How do independent booksellers support one another in light of the strong competition among them and with other bookstores ill general?

The American Booksellers Association, which originally represented the entire industry, has morphed into a trade group for the independents. Since that transformation occurred, it has been effective in preventing publishers from giving unfair pricing advantages to the chains. It has also successfully lobbied to prevent the acquisition of the wholesaler, whose national distribution capabilities allow independents to remain competitive in special orders for our customers and respond to time-sensitive inventory needs by one of the chains. More recently, it has created tools that allow the websites of independents access to a million-title inventory. These efforts, plus numerous marketing programs, have been invaluable.

Regional efforts at cooperation, at least in our area, have had limited success. Locally there are now only two of us, and we make every effort to be mutually supportive.

Could you mention or suggest some of the finest or more interesting independent booksellers here in the United States?

The alpha and the omega of independent bookselling is the Tattered Cover in Denver. Now with four locations and more than 400,000 titles, it is one of the largest in the U.S. Joyce Meskis, who founded Tattered Cover, was the first to initiate all the things we independents do now to make our stores institutions in our communities, and the Tattered Cover still does them better than most of us.

Powell's in Portland and the Elliot Bay Bookstore in Seattle are almost as large as Tattered Cover and equally beloved in their cites. Powell's also has a remarkable used bookstore.

Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi, was founded by Richard Howoth and offers a selection of southern fiction appropriate to a community that was home to William Faulkner and is the current home of John Grisham. Richard is currently the mayor of Oxford.

Politics and Prose in Washington, D.C., near the Capitol, is a fine general bookstore but with a natural bias toward politics, current events, and government. This being an election year, it is hosting regular Signings by nationally prominent political commentators, current and former government officials, and Washington insiders.

Most major cities have at least one major independent, but they are sometimes difficult to locate because they must seek out locations with reasonable rent. For this reason, Rainy Day Books in Kansas City is not downtown or on the Alameda Plaza but in Kansas City, Kansas.

Several years ago cultural leaders in Austin realized that despite the presence of a major university and a highly educated population, Austin lacked a bookstore, so they raised several million dollars and created BookPeople, which has become an instant institution.

What is the best-selling category of books in your shop?

Oklahoma history, biography, and Native American studies taken together as books about Oklahoma have become the best-selling sections at Full Circle, followed by fiction of all genres. Over the years we have tried to position our store as the primary source for books about Oklahoma. The combination of the centennial celebration of statehood in 2007 and an Oklahoma-focused publishing program by our sister organization, the Full Circle Press, have resulted in substantial increases in this category.

What differences are there in dealing with large publishers and small or local presses?

There is an enormous difference in our experience, even among the large publishers, that is magnified in dealing with small and regional publishers. Issues such as order response time, financial flexibility, ease of returns, and magnitude of marketing and promotional support vary from publisher to publisher regardless of size. The principal distinction is that the mass of resources available to large publishers is often counterbalanced by the personal interest in an individual title by a small press.

What do you foresee as the future of bookselling in the United States? Are there any concerns you have about book culture in this country?

In the long term I am not very sanguine about books and bookselling in this country and, by extension, throughout the world. In the short term I am very concerned about independent bookselling.

Books and reading have never had so much competition! The explosion of sources of information, of stimulus and types of diversion, have resulted in a measurable decline in time devoted to reading for pleasure and individuals' perceived need for books as sources of information.

Books themselves are increasingly having to compete with literature and information supplied in an electronic form. The pervasive presence of television in the childhood of many who are now young adults has conditioned them to seek ways to fill their information and entertainment needs visually. None of these developments bodes well for books and reading.

For those who do continue to require books in their lives, there is now a new and wonderfully convenient alternative to visiting a bookseller: the Internet. Although we all have websites and make aggressive use of e-mail, booksellers don't know how to compete against the convenience and selection (and, tragically, the sales tax exemption) of Amazon and its imitators. The result is that our customer base is gradually aging as younger readers who find the Internet to be almost a personal extension of self do more and more of their book buying online.

Having tried to candidly respond to your question, I still believe there will always remain a need for many to experience the pleasure of browsing, of fondling a book in anticipation of reading, and the unquestioned satisfaction of interacting with others who share your passion, and therefore independent bookstores will survive. My goal is for Full Circle to be one of those that does.

June 2008