A bookstore for Franklin and Park Place: Hullabaloo

whynot_31

Coming soon to 711 Franklin Avenue: A bookstore!

Longtime readers of this board may remember this as briefly being the site of a "We buy Gold and Electronics" store.

Now, it is in the process of being reborn as a bookstore, and will be run by the same folks who operate Little Zelda (coffee and wine), It Takes a Village (a childcare cooperative), and Wedge (a cheeseshop).

More info can be found on a Kickstarter page:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1936103651/hullabaloo-bookstore-event-series

They hope to open on August 30th.

ridonkulous

A big step up from pawn shop

whynot_31

Yes, and I am interested in seeing how it does.

Because bookstores seem to be in decline, if I operated a bookstore, I might focus on just re-selling people's used books. ...All those super literate people in the neighborhood could basically exchange their books, with the bookstore taking a cut. I would use a consignment model, so I didn't tie up any capital (aka minimized my risk and investment).

His vision is:

Kickstarterpage wrote: We plan to host local and international authors for readings, have monthly speakers series, hold weekly free storytelling events for kids, as well as writing workshops for teens and adults and much much more. We also consider our street presence fundamental and are creating an evocative street garden for the community to enjoy as an outdoor reading space! The vision is a combination of community garden space, writing center, literary venue for events and readings, and the best micro bookstore in the world.

As most folks know, hoping to run a bookstore as a profitable business is a fool’s errand. The concept behind Hullabaloo is somewhere between nonprofit culture space and for-profit bookstore selling new and used books.

I still have not gotten used to new business owners asking the public for money via Kickstarter, and assume that 90% of the people who donate know the owners.

I view it kind of like a house warming party, where you get gifts for your new apartment: You don't expect everyone to donate, but if you want to give me a toaster ....um, thanks.

The difference is that this comes right out and asks for what is needed (cash), and is visible to all, not just people you know well.

ridonkulous

I suspect that in this case it's to create a sense of ownership among members of the community who participate (b/c I can't imagine the owner(s) don't have the capital to start a bookstore, given their proven history of operating successful businesses) Curious to see if this approach will get many takers.

Happy to see a bookstore attempted here anyway. Hopefully it'll be successful in some form or another.

whynot_31

If I understand correctly, he is only renting the box that jutts into the back parking lot. Zooming in on this aerial view shows just how small this place will be:

<small>View Larger Map</small>

yuppie_scum

Any word as to whether they'll bring back the mural?

whynot_31

I'm thinking a montage of first and second tier college logos might work as a mural:

Obviously you'd want less big NCAA sports schools, and more small ones.

Then, I'd then paint "College of Humanities" right above the door.

...throw a few copies of The Atlantic and The New Yorker around, put NPR on the radio and then sit back and secretly count/despise people who say "I wish you were big like The Strand".

epiclylaterd

FINALLY.

whynot_31

Does any know anyone at Unnameable Books, over on Vanderbilt?

http://unnameablebooks.blogspot.com/

They have been there for a while. Do they, um, make enough money to pay their staff and rent?

chekhovian

Unnameable is still in business, so I think that answers your question.

howncreights

Unnameable serves wine at night, I've heard. There seem to be a fair number of bookstores opening around Brooklyn, for what it's worth. Some are combining books with other things, like coffee.

Not having street-side windows seems like a strange move, for any commercial establishment (except a speakeasy.) My guess is they'll change their minds on that one.

Also, let's see how they do on their Kickstarter. If they make it on tons of little donations, I'd say they're going to have a pretty good customer base.

epiclylaterd

Wait, are they not going to alter the outside of that building? Totally agree with you about the street side windows. Thought they would do some minor construction there.

whynot_31

Their kickstarter describes what they would like to do.

...it seems to describe a little garden out front, but no alterations of the structure

howncreights

They need to raise $16,000 more, in 18 days. And we're off to the races.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1936103651/hullabaloo-bookstore-event-series

Anyone ready to take odds?

whynot_31

From my reading of the Kickstarter page, we are already getting a bookstore, and any money raised via Kickstarter goes toward funding community events at said bookstore.

howncreights

Right-- but for Kickstarter, you need to reach your goal, or you don't get any of the funding.

That said, nothing to stop them from having a friend front the remaining money, right before the deadline, so they get the rest. But I think it will be interesting to see if they can reach it/exceed it without any mystery last minute donors.

dl

Regarding the street-side windows, the Kickstarter entry specifically mentions that they don't plan to install any, to add extra space for shelving and to "create a sense of mystery". If they really pull off the design properly, that can work, otherwise it might just feel dark and cramped. But they did a pretty great job with the other stores, so let's see!

Side note--how do bookstores like this, that mostly host free events, pay the rent?

chekhovian

The events are intended to draw customers to the store. If a bookstore does not host events, they often do not attract customers to the store frequently enough.

whynot_31

I am told that they will be branding it with this logo, instead of my ideas...

Article in Daily News about how the store is showing the neighborhood's next chapter.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/new-bookstore-new-crown-heights-article-1.1421744

nothinlikeabklyngirl

The comments on the Daily News story are hilarious.

whynot_31

95

backers

$3,814

pledged of $18,420 goal

7

days to go

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1936103651/hullabaloo-bookstore-event-series

whynot_31

Press: http://brooklynbased.com/blog/2013/08/13/three-new-indie-bookstores-on-our-radar/#comment-section

howncreights

They now need to make $13,000 in three days. Oh well.

Any eccentric millionaires reading Brooklynian tonight?

whynot_31

HownCreights said:

Right-- but for Kickstarter, you need to reach your goal, or you don't get any of the funding.

That said, nothing to stop them from having a friend front the remaining money, right before the deadline, so they get the rest. But I think it will be interesting to see if they can reach it/exceed it without any mystery last minute donors.

There is no time like the present to start taking bets on whether this method will be used.

whynot_31

They seem to have rec'd another $7k in pledges over the last 4 days. As of Aug 15, 4:45 PM:

130

Backers

$10,242

pledged of $18,420 goal

3

days to go

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1936103651/hullabaloo-bookstore-event-series

whynot_31

158

backers

$11,325

pledged of $18,420 goal

30

hours to go

whynot_31

171

backers

$16,850

pledged of $18,420 goal

7

hours to go

whynot_31

They achieved their goal:

193

backers

$18,421

pledged of $18,420 goal

0

seconds to go

epiclylaterd

I figured this would happen and I'm glad they made their goal, but do alot of the people on Kickstarter milk the system a bit? Often times I see a Kickstarter and its stagnant for days but then miraculously at the last minute, all these backers come out of nowhere

mishaps

I've backed a lot of Kickstarter projects and I have NEVER seen one that did anything this egregious. The closest I've seen was one where the person running the Kickstarter called in favors to increase the backer rewards and to get a famous novelist to tweet encouraging other people to contribute.

It's true that a lot of Kickstarter projects do increase their funding in the last days -- usually because the people behind the project kick up a gear in their fundraising efforts, or people see that it's almost at goal and chip in. But a project that is so far from goal that late in the fundraising period will typically fail, as (at least as of the last time I was keeping up on these things) over half of Kickstarter project do.

In all honesty, as someone who did back this, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth, because it makes them seem dishonest. Either work harder to get backers (there seemed to be very little promotion) or use a platform that isn't all-or-nothing like Indiegogo.

whynot_31

There may have been lots of promotion outside of the circles we are in.