When Tucson mother Emily McCrea goes to Bookmans every three months or so, she’s usually trolling for children’s books for either her school or her own kiddos.
“I prefer it over the corporate book stores for sure,” she said. “I also like the resale-yard sale stuff we’ve scored, some awesome vintage gifts and toys.”
With three entertainment exchanges in Tucson, as well as ones in Phoenix, Mesa and Flagstaff, Bookmans has got the state covered when it comes to used books and tunes. The store takes in items as trade for cash or store credit, and then resells them.
But like many music and bookstores competing with the streaming, downloading world, the Tucson-based company has been slowly recreating itself. While it’s always been a good place for retro, quirky stuff, it is now taking in and offering some new stuff, such as mechanical tools and musical instruments.
People are also reading…
Bookmans — which used to be Bookman’s but dropped the apostrophe about 10 years ago — also opened Bookmans Sports Exchange just a couple of years ago.
Its online presence is also growing, with an Amazon storefront selling a wide variety of items that come in as trade through the Tucson stores.
“You have to diversify in the modern climate,” said Sean Feeney, the company’s president. “It’s one of the reasons why we’re one of the last bookstores standing.”
Bookmans, which has been around 37 years, is not publicly traded so its financial information isn’t available. Feeney declined to discuss revenues, but did say the entertainment stores are “holding steady,” while the sports store is very popular.
“Sales at the bookstores are on par year after year, they’re solid,” he said. “And we’re up 20 percent year over year at the sporting goods store.”
Will Bookmans start doing more with sporting goods? Feeney said they are waiting at least another year or so before deciding.
What Feeney said they try to provide is not only a store, but a place where people can go to hang out. Most Bookmans’ enthusiasts who joined in an online conversation Friday agree it’s like an ongoing, huge rummage sale.
McCrea, the director of Downtown Community School, 614 S. Meyer Ave., said she often finds treasures among the rows and rows of shelves. Among her favorites: vintage dolls, new Melissa & Doug play sets, vintage glass vases and, she said, a set of “adorable kid chairs.”
Some improvements customers said they wish for include a clearer idea of what’s being accepted for trade, and also what’s currently available among the endless rows and rooms in the store.
“We are a human search engine,” said Sheila Kressler-Crowley, the company’s spokeswoman. Employees use the Internet to look up information such as titles and authors, but the only way to find out if something is in stock is to look on the shelves. Books are sorted alphabetically and by genre.
Feeney said the best way to know what Bookmans is taking in at any given time is to visit the store and walk around.
“It will give you an idea of what we’re looking for but, that said, we’re also interested in what’s unique and unexpected,” he said. Sometimes something unusual will come in and “we’ll take a chance on it.”
Then someone buys it, and a new trend begins. The musical instrument selection is a recent example.
“We’re now selling more guitars and less CDs,” Feeney said.
What’s hot right now is out-of-date technology. “What we look for are durable goods disguised as disposables,” he said.
For the most part, he said, anything goes — and items that are not taken for trade can be donated. Bookmans supports several local nonprofits and periodically donates materials to help open new libraries in developing nations.
Trade credit is good at any store, regardless of where you originally brought your stuff. “We always try to give the best value that we can,” he said.
Feeney said they decide what goes online and what is sold in stores largely based on where they think they are most likely to sell it.
“In other words, where the best and most likely demand for a particular item is going to be,” he said.
A book on trail hikes in upstate New York or a cold water diving suit, as a couple of recent examples, are not going to get a lot of attention in Arizona.
“We put them online,” he said, “and they were bought quickly.”
