10 Things We Learned from Opening a Neighborhood Bookstore
Weens’ Family photo by Morgan Weber, 2024
This blog is adapted from an article for Monstera’s Books, an independent bookstore owned by my wife and I. To celebrate our 1-year store anniversary, we made a zine that included our favorite photos and stories from the first year, including this article.
By: Justin Wieners
Co-owner, Bookstore Dad, Marketing Guy
I do not see myself as a business person. I’m not good at budgeting or spreadsheets or organization – Kate is our CEO and is great at those things. If you need real business advice, you should probably ask her. I am a just graphic designer who spends all my money on baseball cards and old cameras on eBay.
That said, I have loved becoming an entrepreneur. I’m learning that my own skills are also valuable: curiosity, problem solving, connecting people, trying new things. This list may not be “business advice”, but sometimes you just need someone to hype you up about trying a crazy idea. If so, this one’s for you.
Here’s 10 things we’ve learned (so far) from opening the bookstore:
1 – We really do love our neighbors
If you pay attention to politics online, it can feel like we all hate each other and things will never get better. When you start talking to the people around you (in real life!), it doesn’t take long to find that nearly everyone is kind, supportive, encouraging, and compassionate. Life is better when you know and take care of your neighbors!
2 – Ask for help
We thought we would run the store ourselves for at least 6 months. It’s just a bookstore, we thought, it’ll take a while for things to take off. We were overwhelmed within the first month and had to make our first hires. The store is better off because of the people who’ve jumped in to provide their individual expertise – not to mention that our lives are better because we get to work with those wonderful people every day.
The winter before we opened, we watched the documentary The Booksellers. I was obsessed with this photo from the movie (top left) and recreated it the morning we opened our own store.
3 – Good ideas don’t have to be new
When we were searching for a building to rent, our landlord kept saying “But how are you going to compete with Amazon?!” It was really discouraging to hear that as much as we did, but we followed through anyway. And it turned out to be a good idea! We identified a gap – that people were fed up with the big tech era and that there wasn’t a bookstore nearby – and we filled that gap. You don’t have to invent something out of thin air to add value to the world.
4 – You can’t see the end before you start
The most difficult part of the process was that we knew what we wanted to do, but didn’t know how we would get there. We had no idea what success would actually look like. You just have to put one foot in front of the other and make slow progress – and eventually the path starts to become more clear. You look back and think, Oh, wow we’re doing it. Then you do the process all over again. Don’t let uncertainty stop you from getting started... or you may never get started.
5 – Your people will find you
There’s something magic that happens when you do something you’re proud of and then share it with the world: the people who really care about it will find YOU. We have met so many wonderful people – friends, customers, or even employees – simply because we put this thing out into the world. Do your thing and go tell people about it!
Photo cred: My buddy, Lauren Stefl.
6 – Some people might never understand
Lots of bros come into the store and say, “So how do you even get people to come here?!” or “I didn’t think you could make any money selling books!” They will say this when the store is full of shoppers and its like, “Dude. YOU are here right now. We got YOU to come here.” There are always going to be people who don’t get it – and that’s okay. Your idea might not be for them anyway.
7 – We’re all looking for more community
Amazon might be able to offer cheaper books (consumers pay for this discount in other ways, by the way), but I think we are all feeling disillusioned by big tech’s promises and where they’ve gotten us. You can feel the tides shifting. People are leaning in to community and real-life connection. Our community-focused events – like plant classes, game nights, and book clubs – almost always generate the best responses.
8 – Opening a business is like a public service
We’ve been surprised at how many people say “Thank you for doing this.” For the most part, we did it for selfish reasons: to have jobs we like, to pay our bills, to hang around books and plants. But we quickly realized that it’s bigger than that. We’re making a place that our neighbors share and a place that makes our town a little better. It’s more valuable to people than we thought.
9 – Optimism is an opportunity
All of us soak in negativity all day, every day. Content feeds are built for it and rage gets the most attention. But we believe assuming the best in people and defaulting to the positive is part of why our business has made it this far. Life is short, don’t let the haters get you down.
Building the bookshelves, February '24.
10 – Good things take time
We still have so much to learn and so many dreams we want to accomplish. But we’re a lot farther along than we were a year ago! And I hope we say the same thing a year from now. Jewel once said, “Hard wood grows slowly.” We want to make something strong and lasting. I think to do that, you just keep moving forward slowly. One step at a time.
“Hello, Neighbor!” – The Monstera’s Books photo zine. Illustrations by Afton Lin and photos by me.