Left Bank Books searches for buyer
By Ashley Zuzek, The Dartmouth Staff
Published on Wednesday, April 5, 2006
Corlan Johnson, the owner of Left Bank Books used books store, is looking to sell the operation due to recent competition on Main Street.
Although Hanover is a small town, many of its long-established, small businesses have recently been forced to compete with some not so small-town newcomers. Now, at least one of these small businesses has become, at least in part, a casualty of this trend.
Left Bank Books, a small used-books store on Main Street that has been in operation for seven years, is searching for a buyer. In 2004, national bookstore chain Barnes and Noble College Booksellers, a branch of Barnes and Noble that operates 550 college bookstores, took over management of the Dartmouth Bookstore.
Other Hanover businesses have also seen a rise in big-business competitors. The Gap dominates a large front of Main Street, Quiznos opened yesterday and the Dartmouth Bookstore sells Starbucks Coffee.
Corlan Johnson, the owner of Left Bank Books, said that running a small business in Hanover has been difficult.
"It's extremely frustrating that people don't notice the store," Johnson said. "If you want a used-book store in your town, you have to support it."
Although Johnson has a number of loyal customers, she said, the obscure location of Left Bank Books and a general decline of interest in reading have been detrimental to her bookstore business.
Johnson also pointed out that faculty members seldom frequent her store. In other college towns, she said, used-books store owners have a similar problem.
Dartmouth Bookstore owner John Schiffman '62 emphasized the importance of Barnes and Noble's large size and significant buying power as essential to the store's success. He said that, when he bought the store, he realized that teaming up with a large retailing company was the only way to save the bookstore.
"We can employ the buying power of Barnes and Noble; we can get trade books at the most advantageous price; we can sell books to the consumer at the most advantageous price," he said.
Schiffman said that this operating model, involving a retailing chain such as Barnes and Noble, is what an independent bookstore needs to survive.
Dartmouth Bookstore manager John Cusick said that while Barnes and Noble tries to run each store like an independent business, having a larger force behind the store offers certain advantages for its employees.
"All our top managers are from the previous, independent owner, but they are grateful because they have great health benefits and steady jobs now," Cusick said.
Despite the small used-books store's troubles, Johnson said that she thinks a new owner might be able to make it work, and that many people in the town would like to see an establishment like it stay in Hanover.
"A lot of people love the store," she said.