hi all,

i have been reading about people opening bars, restaurants, cafes, offering painting services, plummbing, electricity etc etc.

has anyone opened a Used Book store, or know of anyone who has done it? Did it work?

nicks

There's one in Vejer I think.

Hi bil,

would you by anychanse know if it gets any clients, has it been around a long time? I am on the other side of the atlantic (central america), so its kind of hard to check it out.

Want i want to know, is if there is a need/intrest for used book stores in general among the expats comunity?

thanks

nick

There's a popular and successful (AFAIK) used bookshop that serves my area. Been in existence for 4 years, under the same ownership, so more successful than any of the expat bars!
It also sells greetings cards, magazines, some new books and, since moving to bigger premises, has an internet cafe. It works on the basis that you get half your money back when you return a book. Prices typically 2.50€ - 4.00€ per used paperback.

I live in France and in my nearby town in the South, there's an English girl at the weekly market with a good-quality second-hand bookstall, + decent greetings cards. She does about 5 different markets a week and seems to be earning her living. She buys books for 1 € and quite often I give her books in exchange for English birthday cards.

What does she charge for the books she sells?

thanks!

nick

They tend to be on the markets everywhere

You can buy a paperback for 4 euros or thereabouts, and when you've read it you can return it and they give you 2 euros off your next book, and so on and so on
You can also sell you're old books to them

Where I am they are usually 1 €, there is a dog refuge stall that does them 3 or 4 for a € as they are all donated to them.

Well, it apears that there is a market for second hand books. Question is, can one make a deasent living out of it, like making around 1300 euros a month, net. If the average book is sold for 3.50 euos, then i would have to sell at least 600 books a month... or about 23 books a day.

nicks

Double that if you're refunding half the money when a book is returned.
ooops, looks like you took that into account?! Unless by net you meant after overheads...

yep, i figure including rental, buying books etc, i would need to sell about 60 books a day. I dont think thats doaable, it would have a location with tremendous amount of people walking past, and i was thinking about the Torrevieja area. Hmmmm this is complicated

n

You will struggle to get 600 @ 3.50 a book a month, what about buying stock and pitches price.
You will also need licences for proper markets.

I would buy the books used in bulk, not new, so the licenses for the books is not a issue. i would need licenses for having a business. The books in bulk come out to about 1 euro each, incl shipping.

nick

I was going to say that you have to pay the Municipalité a fee for a market pitch here. I can find out how much, if you want, but this is France, not Spain. My bookseller charges about 3,50€ for a book, so makes a profit of 2,50€ when making an exchange. I'll leave it to you to calculate whether it's a feasible option in the long run, bearing in mind that it's not fine all year in the south and my bookseller missed four weeks running because of constant bad weather this Spring.

Hi DMU,

this would be in spain where the laws are difrente.

Also, i would have a actual shop/store, not using markets, because like you say, a few rainy days, and there are no sales, since no one goes to the market.

thanks for the feed back, releay apriciate it.

nicks