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The Last Bookstore Owner Continues To Expand Business

Jen Nowell |
November 27, 2012 | 12:30 a.m. PST

Staff Reporter

The Last Bookstore's large interior (Jay L. Clendenin/The Los Angeles Times).
The Last Bookstore's large interior (Jay L. Clendenin/The Los Angeles Times).
While most brick-and-mortar bookstores are folding to economic pressures and online competition, The Last Bookstore seems to be bucking the system, going from an online presence to a 10,000-square-foot location in the heart of downtown L.A. 

The Last Bookstore — whose name is an ironic nod to the fact that many bookstores are closing, including Borders, the country's second-largest chain — is continuing to expand. 

The bookstore, sitting at the corner of Fifth and Spring streets in downtown L.A., moved to this location in June 2011. Set inside the old Crocker National Bank, The Last Bookstore features high ceilings and marble columns with books lining every wall, comfortable couches and book sculptures scattered throughout. 

"The short answer to what we look for is 'classic or current,'" said owner Josh Spencer of The Last Bookstore's collection. "Any topic under the sun. As far as specialties, we have a lot of everything, but I'm confident we have L.A.'s largest secondhand collection of classics, fiction, counter-culture, and art and photography."

This summer it expanded its coverage by opening up the second floor, with books lining all 6,100 square feet of space. 

Every book on the second floor is $1 and most of the books have been donated to the store, Spencer said. He said the store splits the profits from the sale of the $1 books with Books For People, a local non-profit. Volunteers help with the second-floor collection.

Spencer, 37, said he has never counted how many customers enter his store, but he believes that about 500 walk in each day, with about 200 of them making the trip to the second floor. 

He said sales from the second-floor inventory are just breaking even and at this point that is mostly covering the rent. 

Kathy Hazen, executive director of Books For People, said employees at The Last Bookstore are skilled at assessing the value of donated books and selling them. 

"[We] share the mission of keeping books out of the landfills and moving them into the hands of others who might continue to find them useful," Hazen said. 

She said Books For People has sent hundreds of thousands of books to the bookstore over the past three years. The two have joined forces for warehouse and parking lot sales, online sales and now the $1 collection, she said. 

According to Hazen, these joint ventures have earned Books For People more than $150,000. The funds help cover the costs of tutoring homeless and young people living near Skid Row. 

Spencer opened his first bookstore in December 2009 — a 1,000-square-foot space at the corner of Fourth and Main in downtown — before moving to its current locale inside the former bank.

He said he knew that was a limited arrangement from the beginning, with plans for a restaurant to move into the space within a year and a half. 

The Last Bookstore initially got its start in 2005, when Spencer said he first started using the name to sell used books online. He had been selling books online since 1998. 

After graduating from college, Spencer said he had trouble finding a job and went into the online book-selling business "to get by."

His grandmother gave him a collection of cookbooks, which was the first thing he said he sold. Growing up, Spencer said he was an avid reader, which helped him cultivate a "collector's mindset."

Spencer said he decided to open the bookstore downtown, after people, who knew of his presence online, came to him and said the area needed a used bookstore. He said that despite the fact that bookstores are having to compete with Amazon and eBooks, which have the convenience factor, there's still an appeal among people who like to hold physical copies of their favorite books. 

It also doesn't hurt to be downtown, Spencer said. People who live on the streets or in hotels like to buy books, he said, and many of them don't have access to computers or the latest technologies.

Spencer said the occasional celebrity will even enter the store to browse. He hasn't personally run into any, but his employees will share with him later that Shia Labeouf or Tom Hanks came in to look around. 

But Spencer said "the verdict is still out. I can't say definitely if we [The Last Bookstore] will be here in a few years."

"It's tough," he said, of the book-selling business. "We're not a huge success story yet."

Mary Williams, president of the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association and events manager at Skylight Books in Los Angeles, agrees that it's tough for independent bookstores who are struggling to compete with Amazon's low prices. 

But Williams said she believes bookstores will always be around. There's a value in independent bookstores, she said, that isn't available online. 

"There's no feeling like browsing in a shop and finding a book that you didn't know you were looking for," Williams said. 

She said that she has seen several bookstores close, but some have opened, creating a lot of cause for hope. 

People want to see the money they spend stay within the city they live, Williams said. Independent bookstores are seen as a gathering place to meet friends or go on a first date, she said. 

It is a place to "feel at home while out in the community," Williams said. 

She said, of eBooks, that it's an interesting concept to have 100 books in your pocket. Skylight Books sells eBooks, but it is not a huge part of its business.

The bookstore will soon start selling eReaders, Williams said. The way people read and buy books is changing, and she said she doesn't understand why independent bookstores can't be a part of it. 

As for future plans, Spencer said The Last Bookstore is currently focusing on its inventory, trying to make it easier for people to find the books they are looking for. He said the store is also working to build on the events offered in-house, by figuring out what the community wants. Events include open mic nights, storytelling and author readings. 

Last September, the first-floor coffee shop opened, but it's currently in limbo, Spencer said. It's a sublease and the owner is trying to sell it, but has been unable to do so, and the shop hasn't served coffee for several months, he said. 

He said he is hoping to see Los Angeles-based Cafecito Organico set up shop in that space, but the plans are still being finalized. 

Spencer said he would like to see a print shop go in on the first-floor, but that idea has been put on hold until February. He said he is also considering expanding the second-floor and opening up the remaining 4,000 square feet to be used to possibly house a rare books collection.

Reach Staff Reporter Jen Nowell here



 

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