The Observation Deck

I was just at Liberty Books across the border, and they're having a 25% off everything in the store sale. They're looking pretty picked over so far, though I hope that's because they're trying to reduce their inventory by the end of the year for tax reasons, rather than because they're not doing well and going out of business. Several stores in Beachcliff have gone out of business, and I hope Liberty doesn't become the next one. It's great to have a bookstore so close to home, and isn't an impersonal megachain.

I heard they were going out of business....

Liberty Books is going out of business, as are, I understand, Chico's and Black & White in the Beachcliff Mall.

Mary Anne

speaking of bookstores....has anyone been to the new bookstore on madison? I believe they are open...it looked so before xmas.
I would think it would be the talk of the deck the way we were screaming for a bookstore the last couple years....

Considering Northeast Ohio has 4 times the amount of retail it needs, it isn't surprising. Luckily that black hole wasn't built in Lakewood with our tax dollars. On the bright side, the developer made his money and the people of RR get a great place to put a check cashing center and dollar store.

Chico's and White House/Black Market are closed. . .signs were down today (when I was at Liberty). Liberty expects to be gone by mid-January.

I heard that Liberty actually did a great business in RR but another store wasn't so financially viable. The RR store couldn't support both, so they opted to close both of them. Very sad, it was nice having a bookstore close by. Plus a great selection of periodicals!

That's unfortunate. It is a nice book store. Even my husband, who detests shopping of any kind, went there to get me a Christmas gift. As for the bookstore on Madison, where is it?

Does anyone else remember the nice bookstore that was located in the Lakewood Marc's Plaza?

that's too bad that Liberty's closing. I know a lot of people on the Observation Deck were clamoring for a bookstore in Lakewood. Hopefully a lot of us supported the place. I sure did my share of purchases there! But now seeing that a large bookstore couldn't make it right across our border, I'm wondering if Lakewood will ever get a serious bookstore, aside from the occasional small place selling used titles, or a small independent selling a select few new titles. The big 2 chains may never locate here, because they'd not want to take away customers from their Westlake stores. Though I'd hope that they wouldn't interpret the failure of Liberty as a sign that maybe this area can't support a large bookstore.

c. dawson wrote:that's too bad that Liberty's closing. I know a lot of people on the Observation Deck were clamoring for a bookstore in Lakewood.

It seems easy enough. We want a bookstore, we now have one. We have witnessed first hand what can be done with participation. Stop in, talk to the owner, if not buying offer hope. I think many of us know Coventry Books, a great small bookstore.

I still believe, that we can turn this city into a marvelous place one store at a time, if need be. But it starts with each one us supporting businesses that have chosen Lakewood as their home.

I heard tonight that India Garden is doing so well, they are opening a second restaurant. While speaking with the owner I asked if he would keep Lakewood open, he smiled and said, "you never hurt the foundation. Lakewood has been very good to us."

Last month I was talking with Matt Fish, Lakewoodite and owner of The Melt. I mentioned when he was going to franchise, and he smiled and mentioned his concerns of quality if he grows to fast. Mentioned never leaving Lakewood, even better he was expanding. Great news for those of us in the waiting line to get in.

Lines out the door on some nights at La Pita and bela dubby.

Maybe it is time to help grow a Lakewood bookstore?

FWIW

Where is the new bookstore?

Mike Deneen wrote:Where is the new bookstore?

I believe it is where Madison Trash used to be ....next to the Maids place maybe?

Is this the new Lakewood bookstore in question: http://tinyurl.com/2xzwnz
?

Don't know anything about it but that is what Google turned up.

although I will miss Liberty Books for the convenience it provided, I am not surprised it closed (though surprised how short its lifespan was).

I know a lot of people have commented on the LO deck on how nice it would be for lakewood to get a bookstore, but I wonder how well it would do....
To my knowledge, the average lifespan of a bookstore in Lakewood/RR is a few years at best: burroughs, little professor, a bunch of small bookstores on Madison and side streets, Turn of the Page, Booksellers, etc. All have come and gone....

I'd imagine the profit margins of bookstores is very slim overall, and most of the money is made in volume and on overpriced impulse items or non-book merchandise.

So it appears to me that Borders and BN at the Crocker complex and the 2 Half Price Books in RR/NO is all the west side seems to be able to support.

Plus the online market continues to erode the bricks & mortar stores, anyway. Frankly, I buy nearly all my books on amazon, with the only local purchases being books I am too impatient to wait for shipping for me to start reading them....

On a side note, as Steve pointed out earlier, I wonder what the fate of the stores would have been in the West End development had gone forth -- of course I am assuming that the WE would have attracted the same or similar stores as Beachcliff, but what difference would a few thousand feet have made in the fate of the retail tenants? And how does the fate of RR retailers apply to development plans in Lakewood that are in discussion now?

c. dawson wrote:that's too bad that Liberty's closing. I know a lot of people on the Observation Deck were clamoring for a bookstore in Lakewood. Hopefully a lot of us supported the place. I sure did my share of purchases there! But now seeing that a large bookstore couldn't make it right across our border, I'm wondering if Lakewood will ever get a serious bookstore, aside from the occasional small place selling used titles, or a small independent selling a select few new titles. The big 2 chains may never locate here, because they'd not want to take away customers from their Westlake stores. Though I'd hope that they wouldn't interpret the failure of Liberty as a sign that maybe this area can't support a large bookstore.

There are only a few "serious" bookstore chains operating now. There are the two "B"s of course, plus Joseph-Beth, and a regional chain called Books-A-Million. (You could also throw Half-Price Books in there, too, I guess) The independent bookstore (think "Friends" or "Ellen") ceased to exist 10 years ago. It wasn't just the big chains that killed them, amazon.com had a lot to do with it.

Liberty Books & News, which is indeed closing, was trying to buck the trend and we see where it got them. Opening an independent bookstore is about as fiduciarly responsible as going to the race track. No, wait. Some people DO win at the track.

There are no stand-alone big bookstores. Every BN, Borders, een Joseph-Beth is part of a development.

(Side note to Mr Guscott: Hard to predict what the west end bookstore would have done based on the fate of Liberty. That was, as I recall, supposed to be a Joseph-Beth. Liberty was a nice little store and I liked it a lot, but the J-B stores are far, far nicer)

In other words you can stop wondering. Lakewood, hope for something else.

Mary Anne Crampton wrote:Liberty Books is going out of business, as are, I understand, Chico's and Black & White in the Beachcliff Mall.

Mary Anne

Wow....thats a bummer, I didn't shop at Chicos, but WHBM is one of my favorite stores---now I'll have to schlep out to Crocker. I'm sure my hubby's checkbook will appreciate it though.......

I guess its really something when Ritchie RR can't support store like Chicos and WHBM