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Schuler Books goes downtown

Rizzo

By Rizzo
in Grand Rapids

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uncus Whistle-Stop

uncus

Posted
Posted

I won't be there today... but with a Schuler's downtown, I have a new first-choice for bookstore! Hooray!

I'm probably not their target (I only shop at Schuler's anyway....usually the 28th St. location, but prefer to go downtown during business lunch instead of 28th St. after work).

I don't mean to steal Schuler's fanfair, but i dont want people to forget about literary life bookstore There is another independent new book store in the city.

http://www.literarylifebookstore.com/

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jeang Whistle-Stop

jeang

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Awesome.. I loved that sandwich. Now to picture the expression on friends' faces when I suggest to them we go to a book store for lunch. ^^

Oh I love the food at Schuler. In fact, I think it's great; bookstore does equate good food for lunch. People just aren't willing to try these things. A bookstore I used to go to back in Austin was right next to the Cheesecake Factory, I dare not mention the bookstore, but I ate there.

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Veloise City

Veloise

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Had lunch there too! Might head back to grab some veggie chilli for dinner!

Closing presently shown at 6 pm. A little bird told me that they will not turn the lights off nor shoo you out the door, not make the dreaded "attention customers, go home so we can too" announcement.

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jeang Whistle-Stop

jeang

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Closing presently shown at 6 pm. A little bird told me that they will not turn the lights off nor shoo you out the door, not make the dreaded "attention customers, go home so we can too" announcement.

Sigh....I'm bummed. I work at the edge of GR right next to the Kentwood/GR border and I really wish I could spend more time at Schuler. I know DT will shut down after everyone goes home to work but what about those of us who live near DT and need a bookstore? Sigh......

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Veloise City

Veloise

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Sigh....I'm bummed. I work at the edge of GR right next to the Kentwood/GR border and I really wish I could spend more time at Schuler. I know DT will shut down after everyone goes home to work but what about those of us who live near DT and need a bookstore? Sigh......

Many businesses use the same closing process. When the clock reaches the posted door hours, those are locked, and they stop serving. It then takes anywhere from five minutes to an hour to close.

Go. See how long they let you stay. (Spend some money, too.)

[sometimes locked up at Olive Express after Sam wanted to go home]

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jeang Whistle-Stop

jeang

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It's all supply and demand. If there's enough demand for longer hours, and enough business in general, then I'm sure they could supply longer hours.

Yes, I get economy. That's why I'm bummed. It'll take a bit before they see that there is enough demand for longer hours and from what I've seen from downtown, it's dead. But a bookstore is definitely one more reason I would be downtown. Unfortunately, by the time I get out of work and get there, it's already 6 o'clock. I figure I can be a voice but a body, I can't be there except on weekends and even that's touch and go. Yep, I'd be there if it was open from 7-11.

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Parhelion Whistle-Stop

Parhelion

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I am so excited for my first visit to the downtown location!!! Also, cityslicker, loved the pictures; I am creating a "Grand Rapids" basket for my family and friends for Christmas, and plan to include the San Chez/Mezze book as a main feature of the present, thanks to your picture.

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Veloise City

Veloise

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I am so excited for my first visit to the downtown location!!! Also, cityslicker, loved the pictures; I am creating a "Grand Rapids" basket for my family and friends for Christmas, and plan to include the San Chez/Mezze book as a main feature of the present, thanks to your picture.

:cough:

That was moi's photo.

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cityslicker Whistle-Stop

cityslicker

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I am so excited for my first visit to the downtown location!!! Also, cityslicker, loved the pictures; I am creating a "Grand Rapids" basket for my family and friends for Christmas, and plan to include the San Chez/Mezze book as a main feature of the present, thanks to your picture.

Yeap---just read the thread...and no that was not my picture. Veloise did a great job of taking some killer shots from inside. Thank her :)

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Veloise City

Veloise

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Dropped in today on my way to USPS. All of the larger tables were full, along with most of the armchairs. Many singletons settling in with a treat and a cuppa.

Within a half hour the window tables were full. (Blame the blood drive at Fountain Street Church for some of this. No place to have coffee except down the street! I recognized many of the adults, and then the tables turned to fill up with the FSC youth group.)

Fireplace is up. Desserts looked great. Busy staff. There's a table of used books in the hallway out front (use the children's entrance).

Looks like about half of the periodicals have arrived. One rack has what looks like samples, with a Schuler's price sticker labeled FREE. Stuff like Volleyball World News. Animal Fair (lifestyle rag for animal lovers), GiftMaker (scrapbooking).

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Veloise City

Veloise

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Went down the other night for a sandwich and they were closed. They close at six on weekend evenings. Bummer for those that work later and want to go down there. Does anyone have any info on extending hours? Thx.

It's the first week, and they are still determining supply and demand. If you were to arrive, say, 5:45 and ask for food, they'd fix you up.

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bfehsenfeld Crossroads

bfehsenfeld

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Went down the other night for a sandwich and they were closed. They close at six on weekend evenings. Bummer for those that work later and want to go down there. Does anyone have any info on extending hours? Thx.

I would love to have the store open for some evening hours, and certainly understand the bummer feeling. We take this seriously but also need to be prudent.

A lot of bookstores have come and gone in downtown GR over the years. Our first goal is to make this store profitable enough so we can keep it open for the long haul. I'd like to see it going strong 10 years from now.

To be open in the evenings, we would have to add staffing, which of course adds cost. Obviously, to cover that we would have to do some business. If, as someone said earlier, the downtown is dead in the evenings, there might not be enough business to pay the expense of staying open. So we are starting out conservatively.

The way we have approached hours at our stores in the past is to watch the patterns that develop. If there are consistently a number of people in the store at closing time, then we adjust the schedule. That is how, at the 28th Street store, we went from closing at 6:00 on Sundays to closing at 9:00. We are very open to adjusting to what the 'market will bear". So we will be watching how things evolve.

Also, there may be a good opportunity to experiment with some evening hours during the holiday season. That's a short term commitment, and might give us some feel for how evening hours could work at other times of the year. I'd be curious to know which evenings seem most important to people.

As always, thanks for the interest and input.

Bill Fehsenfeld

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Yankee Fan Hamlet

Yankee Fan

Posted
Posted

Hi Bill,

First off, thank you for taking the chance on downtown. Just making the effort and stepping forward has differentiated you from those who only talk about giving it a shot and shows that you have the commitment necessary to make it successful. I truly wish you the best and I commit that I'll do my best to spread the word.

Secondly, I had a request. Schulers has always done a great job of hosting authors in their stores. Being that the downtown location will have a somewhat different clientale base with a larger portion of business folks providing the foot traffic, would it be possible to attract and host more authors that have written on business trends, professional development, and other business-centric topics? I think that you would find some great success in hosting lunch and learns (e.g we buy food from you and you provide a speaker/presenter for 30 minutes). This would be a great way to provide a unique touch to your new location.

Thanks, again for the effort. I look forward to being a long term patron of the downtown store.

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bfehsenfeld Crossroads

bfehsenfeld

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Hi Bill,

First off, thank you for taking the chance on downtown. Just making the effort and stepping forward has differentiated you from those who only talk about giving it a shot and shows that you have the commitment necessary to make it successful. I truly wish you the best and I commit that I'll do my best to spread the word.

Secondly, I had a request. Schulers has always done a great job of hosting authors in their stores. Being that the downtown location will have a somewhat different clientale base with a larger portion of business folks providing the foot traffic, would it be possible to attract and host more authors that have written on business trends, professional development, and other business-centric topics? I think that you would find some great success in hosting lunch and learns (e.g we buy food from you and you provide a speaker/presenter for 30 minutes). This would be a great way to provide a unique touch to your new location.

Thanks, again for the effort. I look forward to being a long term patron of the downtown store.

Interesting idea. I'll pass it along to our promotions people.

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