Tracy Books
An interesting store for used books..
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Tracy Books An interesting store for used books..
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In
my continuing search for the Hidden Treasures of Tracy, I located
Tracy Books, a local bookstore
specializing in used books. It turned out to truly be a Hidden Treasure
in downtown Tracy. Tracy Books was founded in 1997 by Jack Lynch as an extension of his hobby. Although the store had another owner for about a year, Kathey and David De Santis bought the company in July of 2003.
Kathey enjoys reading so it seemed natural to buy a bookstore that was for sale. She works as a kindergarten teacher at Freiler Elementary School while David continues to work nights at Hormel foods. Although both Kathey and Dave each have separate jobs, it is David’s hope that the business can grow enough to support the family without the need for a night job. There are many ways that new businesses are started or established businesses are acquired. These usually involve a lengthy analysis of the company financials along with sales projections. Kathey and David made the decision very spontaneously. They learned the store was for sale and the amount of money needed to buy it. They thought about it for a short time and became determined to make a go of it. Tracy Books became theirs and they entered the world of small business.
Buying an established business prevented many of the usual startup problems. They made very few changes to the business, but they had to change the trade-in policy. People can donate books to the store or they can receive a store credit for books. The store credit may be applied toward the purchase of other books. |
They
found it necessary to only allow the store credit to be applied to half of
the purchase price of the next book instead of the full value. David
reports that most customers accepted the new policy without a problem, but
that a few were upset by the change. One of the items that came with the store was Cleo the cat. Cleo has become a permanent fixture in the store and most of the customers know and play with her. She is prominently featured on the store web site.
Cleo is also featured as the author of the Tracy Books newsletter available in the store. Another newsletter is mailed to customers on an occasional basis. Featuring the newsletter as being written from the perspective of the store cat makes for some interesting reading. Book signings have become more common at Tracy Books as they recently featured a book signing by mystery writers Ann Parker, who wrote Silver Lies and Camille Minichino who wrote Hydrogen Murder. On the counter was a book about communicating with pets that was written by my personal friend, Kamran Alavi. I am looking forward to visiting the singing of the latest romance novel by Tracy’s own Susan Edwards.
Tracy Books is preparing gift baskets that can be purchased for the holidays. They are also carrying the Jimmy Dabble books and stuffed animals, along with Mr. Elf products. They are also displaying and selling Merle Berbig’s pencil drawings that are sold already framed and ready to hang on the wall. These can all make great gifts for the holiday season. |
Keeping the inventory organized was their biggest problem. They buy and
sell books in their storefront and also list many of their books on the
Internet through a network of used bookstores. They quickly learned it
was critically important for them to note the sale of each book and remove
it from any Internet listings. They developed a careful an effective way
of maintaining their inventory so the sales remain synchronized. David explained they list many of their books on a nationwide network and search software that allows them to list their used books so other used bookstores throughout the country can know what is in their inventory. This network creates a large electronic virtual bookstore so that customers can find the books they seek. I decided to test David’s ability to locate a book using his network. I asked him if he could located a book that I had read nearly thirty years ago and is now well out of print. Within a minute of starting his search for the book, he had located a copy in a bookstore in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The price would be fourteen dollars plus the cost of shipping. I went from wishing I could locate a copy of a rare book to knowing it ws on its way in less than three minutes. Stop by and visit with Kathey or Dave De Santis at Tracy Books and have a cup of coffee while you shop for your next book. The store is located next to Fabio’s in the small shopping center at Tenth Street a block west of Central. Tracy Books can be contacted by telephone at (209) 833-9101.
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