Russo's Books in Bakersfield, California

April 19, 2006

In 1989, the Russo family -- Kathleen and Tony and their children Michael, Anna-Marie, Patricia, and John -- started their bookselling careers by buying the Book Mark, a Bakersfield used-book store, which they discovered through a classified ad. "I don't want to say it was a lark, but we thought we'd enjoy it. And we've had a good time ever since," Michael Russo said recently.

During the intervening 17 years, the Russos opened three new-book stores, the eponymous Russo's Books, and they recently sold the original Book Mark.

Both Michael Russo and his father, Tony, had retail experience before they became owners of the Book Mark. "My family were retailers by trade," said Russo. "My father managed a Montgomery Ward store for years, and we both had business degrees. My mother was a booklover. The combination made for a good management team."

Michael Russo and his parents continue to work full-time in the stores and his siblings work part-time.

"A lot of people go into a business with their family, and they're just not able to make it work," said Russo. "But we have a great relationship. We're able to have our professional differences and still have Sunday dinner together." Acknowledging that for some this might be difficult, he jokingly added, "But we're trained professionals. Don't try this at home."

The Russo's built upon the initial success of the Book Mark by opening two new-book stores in the mid '90s, including their flagship 6,500-square-foot location, which houses approximately 50,000 titles. In 2003, they added a third store, also selling new books, and in 2005 closed the Book Mark.

The stores bill themselves as "family fun for everyone," said Russo, who explained that Russo's Books positions itself as a community center by creating a full events calendar that includes author and non-book events and by offering an extensive array of hobbyist sidelines, including football and baseball trading cards, Pokemon cards, and scrap book supplies. "It's one of the ways we've made ourselves unique. It's just a fun store to go to. There's lots to do."

The trading cards take approximately 15 percent of the floor space in the flagship store, but account for 20 percent of sales. The cards mesh well with books, said Russo. "It's really fun for us to do displays and what-have-you. We use sports memorabilia, trading cards, and sports books in displays throughout the store."

Russo's also shows the work of local artists and hosts regular American Girl Club nights, children's song and story hours, Pokemon tournaments, local bands -- in addition to the one or two weekly author events. "We just give people lots of reasons to come to the store," said Russo.

Since attending the January Winter Institute (Kathleen Russo won an ABA scholarship to attend the two-day program, but Michael went instead), he has grown the Russo's BookSense.com website.

"During the last couple of weeks we posted pictures of employees and local authors. We list all of our locations. Now I'm able to give customers really good service online," Russo explained. "If a book shows up on the website, we can usually get the book for them. We're trying to show people that anything Barnes & Noble or Amazon.com can do, we can do as well. Now that we have a solid web presence, we can do that. We've already seen an uptick in sales."

Russo mentioned another tip gleaned from the Winter Institute that's directly affecting his bottom line. "I went to a great workshop on lease negotiation. Our real estate market has gone crazy, and our landlords have asked for a hefty increase. But they've agreed to negotiate, so it looks like the increase won't be as outrageous as it could be." --Karen Schechner

Topics: News - Bookselling, Book Sense, About Bookstores,