05 Dec Interview with Elliott Bay Book Co

I’m finding that I’ve mentioned a few times about being embarrassed about different posts or things I’m writing about, and my previous Elliott Bay Book Co (rumors) post is no exception. As a new blogger, I learned a new lesson: don’t post rumors, even on a blog. I finally “manned up” and called the owner of EBBC, Peter Aaron, who graciously agreed to meet with me.

We walked over to Caffe Umbria and ordered some delicious warm drinks and sat outside, in the midst of our historic neighborhood. After getting a few details out of the way (including what my motives were for my previous post), Peter said that he was happy to answer as many questions and dispel as many rumors as possible. He gave some background on the store; open since 1973, EBBC had a successful history from the start, up until about 1995. During those first 20 years or so, they operated as one of a few bookstores in the area (before Amazon and Borders came to town). Without the online competition, EBBC thrived and was a great destination for people from all over the country when visiting Seattle. From 1995 until 1998, however, the store began to steadily decline, losing 10-20% in sales profits per year. In 1998 and just 60 days from liquidating inventory and closing shop, Peter Aaron and Ron Sher stepped in and made the “emotional” decision to buy the bookstore.

Things were going OK for the bookstore for a few years, but around 2004, their situation began to decline again. With sales always hovering around the break even line, the bookstore could have continued for years. Possibly. Unfortunately, what we’ll call “the great Seattle snow disaster” struck and EBBC, like many other retail shops, lost their Holiday shopping sales. In an already precarious situation, the bookstore had to then face a harsh reality — it would take drastic measures if they had any chance of making it.

So, here we are to present day. December 2009, their lease up in 2 months, and three options to choose from:

1. Stay open and operating in Pioneer Square
2. Stay open and move to Capitol Hill
3. Close the bookstore

Contrary to rumors, Aaron has explored many possibilities for remaining open in the Pioneer Square neighborhood. Part of EBBC for the last 11 years, it is hard for him to image it located anywhere else but Pioneer Square. He has met with the Office of Economic Development (and will again this next week), he did go to the meeting with the former Mayor, he’s explored options with the City, he has worked to negotiate lease options with Jones + Jones (owners of the space), and he’s looked into an online presence. One by one, however, none of these options has panned out.

The Office of Economic Development was only interested in providing support if he could prove that the business had a history of success (which they don’t). So although this has a huge impact on the neighborhood, because of the numbers in their sales book, there will be no help from the city if they decide to stay. Makensey Real Estate (big P2 property management company) has worked tirelessly with Jones + Jones to try and come to a compromise, but the numbers for the two groups are just too far apart. And lastly, having an online presence is a huge undertaking, is something that the store doesn’t have the funding or warehouse space to try for, and there’s nothing that differentiates them from other online bookstores. What differentiates them is their history and the reputation of having books that are hard to find in the online stores.

Here are what he considers to be the main problems for operating the bookstore in Pioneer Square:

1. Parking. This is a huge factor, if not the main one. I walked around and conducted an informal survey of 25 different customers shopping in the Elliott Bay Bookstore at noon on a Saturday. Want to guess how many were actually from the neighborhood? Not one. One woman was from Chilliwack (Canada), and stops at the store every time she visits the City. Others were from Tacoma, Everett, Montana, California, etc. And they almost unanimously had the same response when I asked why they came to this bookstore. The reputation; it is a destination spot because they have friends that recommend it, or a mom who loves it, or they’ve come for years. Guess what else? They all drive to get here. Aaron has tried to work with numerous parking lot owners and the city to get dedicated parking spots for their store, but no one has cooperated. Not even the parking lot east of Occidental will work them. The city won’t even give them four small spots directly in front of the store. Which brings us to the second problem.
2. Sports. Although I’m a big fan of the sports in Seattle and it’s part of the reason why we moved down here, they cause major problems for retailers. Aaron estimated that football home games cost them anywhere from $20,000 to $50,000 in sales. This is because no one is willing to come down to this neighborhood to fight the crowds (not to mention the parking that’s extremely expensive, if you can even find any). As someone who has been in and around Pioneer Square at all times of the day, every day of the week, he said that game day is the only time when he feels uncomfortable in the neighborhood.
3. Safety. Not specifically the safety of his staff or of customers, but the reputation that P2 has in regards to violence, homeless, and drugs. I’ve written about this before, but the impact of this is far-reaching. The city needs to recognize that this is a real problem and needs to make some real changes, instead of making vague promises and creating fake 10-year homeless plans. Aaron said that “sequestering all of the homeless shelters and services in one neighborhood is not an answer.” And it’s not saying that they should close, but that they should be spread around the city (see post of map with shelter locations and history). People joke that of the new banners made for our neighborhood, a “homeless district” one should have also been created. And it’s a reality. And it’s hurting local businesses from operating and residents from moving in.
4. One Community Voice. Aaron said that there seem to be four different factions with differing opinions regarding what this neighborhood needs; sports, historic preservation, retail shops, and residents. Right now, these separate groups do not present one strong community voice for changes that this neighborhood needs. And although the residential and retail voices are probably the closest in desired outcome, there is no real organization for these groups to come together to present their case. This needs to happen if we are ever going to make the city hear what our needs are and to realize that they need to do something to help.

As Aaron has worked with banks to try to secure funding, they only seem interested in helping if it looks like the store is doing something to change its current situation; such as moving to a different neighborhood. If they decide to move to Capitol Hill, the new location will have 30 dedicated parking spots, with 100 more offered (with validation). As mentioned above, that’s huge. With the majority of people driving in to get to the shop, it doesn’t seem to matter if they’re in Pioneer Square or up on Capitol Hill — and at least they’ll get free parking up there.

When I asked Aaron what it was about Capitol Hill that would help them be successful where they weren’t in Pioneer Square, he said that “the reputation of Capitol Hill is that it’s been revitalized and is vibrant. There are incredible retail and restaurant destinations.” Not to mention the streetcar that is coming soon (one block from where the EBBC might relocate). And even though it is five years out, Aaron said that “it’s something that will bring in even more business.” Aaron also said that “the bookstore wouldn’t just be serving the Capitol Hill neighborhood, but also 1st Hill and the universities in the area.” And although there is a healthy daytime population in Pioneer Square, there just aren’t enough locals that shop there. Just as parking, safety, and sports is the perfect storm for EBBC to leave Pioneer Square, parking, retail, and a dense Capitol Hill residential population are the perfect storm for them to move there (the good type of storm, of course).

And although residents in Capitol Hill may shop at Amazon, or Barnes and Noble, it seems that people go to the bookstore because of what it is, and not necessarily where it’s located. And it breaks Aaron’s heart to say that, because to him, it feels that their location in Pioneer Square is such a big part of the store.

Aaron will be making a decision in a few weeks about whether they’ll stay, close, or move. The chances of them staying are slim; there is too much change that needs to happen in this neighborhood for them to stay. Change that, if it happens, will take a lot of time, and time is what Elliott Bay does not have.