Read into books

Each year around 2,000 people fill Hulfish Street in the Palmer Square section of Princeton, N.J. The event: Summer Solstice, a Harry Potter-themed block party started by JaZams, the local toy and book store, four years ago. The event usually takes place during the last Friday of school, which typically falls around the solstice, June 19-24.

The street fair includes arts and crafts tables and readings, and local restaurants provide food like organic burgers, beer and wine for parents. This is one way JaZams ties their toy and book store to the community. Author book signings and four to six book fairs throughout the year with local schools are some other ways they try to draw in the crowd and give a little something back to customers.

Since the beginning, the store has tried—its owners would say successfully—to tie the worlds of toy merchant and bookseller together. For instance, a spring book signing with author Anthony Horowitz (Stormbreakers) helped them tie-in their spy toys, like Wild Planet's Spy Gear. However, owner Joanne Farrugia says it's a fine line to walk between too much and too little when it comes to events like book signings. You don't want to do something too much, say monthly book signings or other events. “Rather, do fewer things really big,” she tells Playthings. “We'll have two or three [book signings] a year, but it's mostly panels.”

Farrugia has books in her store because it's a natural complement to toys. “It's part of childhood,” she says of books. “It's as critical a component to a child as toys are, and it definitely increases your margin or bottom line. You can definitely have too many toys but cannot have too many books. If someone is looking for something in particular, you can say, 'Hey, do you want to add-on a book?' If they're already buying toys like a pirate or fairy, recommend books about it.”

Markie Carlson, owner of the Children's Gift Shop, Northfield, Ill., says that it's great for cross-selling to have books and toys in the same store since the two merge so easily. Carlson doesn't do book events in store, but it has no affect on sales, because she mixes books into the toy selection by color, theme or idea—and it works. For example, she has cuddle dolls from Douglas which she displays near a Time for Sleep (Henry Holt & Co.) book. She also adds baseball toys and games to books on baseball, she says, in a cross-promotion that works for all sports. Thomas the Tank Engine is always a popular seller, she adds, because of its wide range of product in both categories, as is Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Penguin-Philomel Books) first published in 1994. Both the book and Small World Toys' and other Eric Carle-licensed items sell well in conjunction with each other.

Instead of readings and signings, Carlson donates books from customers and the store to a non-profit organization, Bookworm Angel, out of Chicago several times a year. She also offers discounts, including a 30 percent off sale for grandparents the weekend after Thanksgiving weekend so as not to compete with the fanatical shopping on Black Friday.

“Some books actually are books with toys,” she says. “Sometimes I will just find the toys to match. You can do cute cross marketing that works. And parents really do love a good book. It really depends on who is walking in the store. Grandparents and parents may bring kids, but the choices are ultimately being made by grandparents and parents.”

Another way Carlson tries to reach out to her customers is via postcards, once she gathers their information in store. But postcards can be expensive, so she also uses her email list to inform customers of upcoming new books and toys.

Carlson encourages her employees to read the books in store. “You can sell a book if you know about it, read it and like it,” she says. And when deciding on selection, any small toy store that is adding books to their merchandise mix should start simple with board books and picture books. She says it's unwise to try to cater to everyone with young readers, novels and even adult books from the start. Start small with books that can easily fit with toys and see where it goes before adding on. And have themes, she advises. Put all Easter books and toys together or all Hanukkah books and toys together.

She adds that it's hard for smaller retailers to cherry pick books from different publishers, because there are so many. She recommends getting books through distributors rather than the publishers themselves.

Stanley Moore, owner of Austin-based Over the Rainbow Toys, keeps things simple with his book and toy selection. Knights, pirates, princesses and castles are all popular themes, so he displays books on knights and dragons around a toy castle with knights, princesses and dragon figures.

Dragonology from Candlewick Press, Cambridge, Mass., and related games from Sababa Toys are big sellers, Moore says, as are as the other books in the series: Piratology, Wizardology and Egyptology. All work well in toy-book displays, because they are consistently popular themes.

Moore's 3,000-square-foot store has a separate book section, but toys still permeate the books area as do books in the toy sections. “The book section is distinct from other parts of the store, but some books merge into the toy store,” he says. “Set up in such a way that people that are really book people can come in and shop for books. We catch others not looking for books, but it's there, and they wander into that section.”

Moore says one line that stands on its own and always has steady sales is Klutz. He has a separate display for the regular Klutz books as well the company's younger-skewing Chicken Socks line.

Pop-ups, particularly ones by author Robert Sabuda, are also doing well, Moore says; he has to continuously reorder them. “It's a natural for toy stores, because it's kind of a toy too and a strong category.”

Other areas that work for toys and books include Lego, which has a line of books. Science is also growing rapidly and allows Moore to put products into different categories, like space or dinosaurs. He mentions the Weather Station and other Smart Lab science kits produced by Chronicle Books as well as pricier kits from Thames & Cosmos, a company he didn't initially want to include because he felt their products were expensive. When he did, though, he sold through. “The stuff was expensive, and I looked at it for couple of years without buying,” he says, “because the meat of business is in the $15 to $20 price point.”

In the 31 years that Over the Rainbow has been in business, Moore has opened two other stores, but had to eventually close them and focus on the original store on Exposition Boulevard in downtown Austin. He says he's seen so many people in business try to expand and fail. “I decided that it's easier and better to have just one,” he says. “When times got tough in '80s, I retreated back to the original business. I've seen too many people try to expand too much and go under because of it. It's hard to do it.”

Like Carlson, Moore also doesn't hold in-store events tied to books or toys. “I know you're supposed to have play days and book signings, but we've never done much of that. I'm not knocking it, but for our purpose it doesn't work,” he says.

Perhaps the coupling of books and toys speaks for itself. In terms of sales, Over the Rainbow takes in 20 percent from books and 80 percent from toys each year.

For Mrs. Nelson's in La Verne, Calif., in-store events are important, but aren't always in store. While cross-promotion with related toys and books works, the 21-year-old store also sponsors book signings at local elementary schools as well as in the 3,000-square-foot store as a means to drive sales. There are currently 17 authors lined up to visit in the next few months, including Ann Martin, author of The Babysitters Club, A Dog's Life and On Christmas Eve, and a book reading and signing around A Series of Unfortunate Events featuring Lemony Snicket, Brett Helquist, and a musical performance by The Gothic Archies, which is scheduled for the end of October at the University of La Verne. For book signings, customers can also reserve copies of autographed and personalized books.

Also held in store are art workshops for ages 5 to adult, and story time on Fridays and Saturdays. Story times feature crafts and are free of charge. Store-sponsored book fairs also take place at schools and other venues throughout the year with books donated by customers and the store.

“We work with schools, specifically public schools and private schools, with things that work within their curriculum,” says Andrea Vulet, a distributor for the store. “We have a strong, well-read staff, and we like to recommend books that teachers can use in class, toys more ancillary than books in some cases.”

Mrs. Nelson's book selection has more than 35,000 titles in stock. Its toys span most categories, including wooden, construction, role play, arts and crafts and infant.

Books don't take up as much space as toys at JaZams, even though books, according to Farrugia, are the biggest department in terms of sales. Considerable space is saved because they are shelved library-style with spines outward. She estimates that books take up about an eighth of the store, which has nine to 10 sections in total.

Farrugia agrees with Carlson that it's better to start with a theme of board books first rather than young adult books. “Do things to tie-in, like farm animals, cars and trucks,” she says. “Use classics like Eric Carle and Curious George or knights. Maybe some music books for your music department, art books for the art department or cook books for the kitchen section.” But that's not to say Carlson doesn't have merchandise that appeals to the older demographic. JaZams stocks young adult and adult books and strategy games, brain teasers and puzzles up to 1,500 pieces from Ravensburger. Uglydolls and Buddha boards are also big sellers with teens to adults.

Kathleen Tanner, owner of KidStop in Scottsdale, Ariz., says she cheated in the beginning, because KidStop was initially supposed to be a teacher's store when it opened seven years ago, so books were a must-have category from the start. In total, books comprise 4 to 5 percent of total sales, which Tanner says is average. The 3,400-square-foot store has a dedicated books section, but you'll also find books on bugs with bug-themed toys, Princess Penelope books near the dress-up hats, and DK science books with science toys. She says that Candlewick's The Dot, about a little girl who doesn't know what to do in art class and finally makes her mark with a dot, has been a top seller. She displays the book with Do-A-Dot Art supplies like markers and coloring books.

She tells Playthings that books belong in toy stores, but warns retailers not to make the mistake of trying to have everything. Instead, she advises, get the latest batch to start and showcase behind the register to let people know that you also have books available. “If you have the newest, freshest book, there's a good chance that a kid won't have it yet, and it will sell,” she says.

She adds, “Take a look at the top publishers, find the reps, go to gift shows, pick up 50 books and pick the top ten. We have a dinosaur toy section, and it includes the How do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? (Blue Sky Press) book. If you have a princess or fairy section, put related books there. It's how you get your foot in door.”

In terms of events, attendance for story times at the store dwindled, which is why Tanner has stopped holding them. She adds that story time at retailers like Barnes & Noble and Borders has made people “story-houred out,” and “our kids are overbooked and overscheduled already.” However, whenever there is downtime from customers or from a birthday party (parties can be held in-store), she encourages employees to sit down and read for 20 minutes, not to children, but for themselves, so they better know the books they're selling and can make recommendations. “We stand for family,” says Tanner. “It's a place you come for birthdays and holidays. Employees know the toys, will even wrap them for you, and we're not open Sunday, what I consider a day for family, which has actually cut expenses and continued sales.”

If you want to create volume, keep pushing books in display, so people associate your store with books. “Books are fun,” Tanner says. “Give someone a book that they love and treasure, and they will come back and buy it for their friends. The most beautiful gift you can give is a book.”