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(1 vote, average 5.00 out of 5)
Written by Peggy Schulz, Contributing writer
Jul 14, 2011
Out lesbian authors Martha Miller, CP Rowlands, Chris Paynter and Anne Laughlin read from their works at a July 9 reception at Outwords Books. – Photo: Joel Buchanan
While other gay bookstores around the country have gone the way of the dinosaur, Outwords Books, Gifts & Coffee, 2710 N. Murray Ave., Milwaukee, has managed to survive. That gives Wisconsin a distinction that not even San Francisco’s Castro district can boast. The Castro’s last gay bookstore, A Different Light, closed its doors in April.
On July 9, Outwords celebrated its 18th anniversary with an afternoon reception and author program featuring a quartet of prominent lesbian authors, including C.P. Rowlands, Anne Laughlin, Martha Miller and Chris Painter. Store owner Carl Szatmary attributes his store’s nearly two decades of survival to a combination of faithful customers and low overhead.
“We’re really depending on longtime regular customers who want … a store like this to survive,” he says. Customers keep coming back, he adds, because they get to know the people on staff and respect their recommendations.
Besides Szatmary, Outwords has only three employees. That means everyone on staff is well versed in all the genres of books carried by the store. And the staff is well known – and liked – by customers.
In Outwords’ case, small has proven to be a virtue.
Still, the growth of online book sales via Amazon and other sites has had an impact on Outwords’ sales. E-readers also have taken a share of the market.
But Outwords continues to benefit from customers who make “regular pilgrimages,” as Szatmary calls them, from Green Bay, Madison and other cities.
Outwords Books also has succeeded by meeting changing customer demands over the years.
“We opened up almost 18 years ago very much a traditional, small, independent book store. Not a whole lot else. As we’ve grown, people’s expectations have changed,” Szatmary says.
In addition to books and magazines, the store now carries greeting cards, CDs, DVDs, and a fairly wide selection of Pride items, including T-shirts. Coffee and other beverages are served at a small bar along the north wall of the store. Free wi-fi also is available.
Daniel Goldin, owner of Boswell Books, says he can relate to the challenges that Szatmary faces in trying to maintain a viable operation. Similar to Outwords, Boswell Books, 2559 N. Downer Ave., Milwaukee, is an independent, single location bookstore.
“I think we’ve kept very lean,” Goldin says. “We work as much as we can with the community. We’re very relationship-oriented.”
Goldin, who has worked in retail bookselling for 25 years, says it’s important to acknowledge that people today can buy books anywhere. So booksellers have to work hard to keep people coming back. Boswell Books has an active calendar of author readings and other events to attract customers to the store.
“You have to zig and zag, be willing to make changes, regroup and make mistakes,” Goldin says.
Like Goldin, Szatmary works hard to stay connected with his customers. In addition to author events, he produces a quarterly newsletter as well as a monthly e-mail alert called “OutFlash.” The store hosts two monthly book groups.
Szatmary says another key factor in his store’s survival has been the growth of LGBT authors and titles. A variety of publishers who started online have expanded into print books, and they’re now focused on gay and lesbian titles. “There’s a lot more variety in the titles available in 2011 even than five years ago,” Szatmary says.
Ironically, as more and more large LGBT stores have gone under nationwide, including some with multiple locations, some single stores like Outwords have survived. Szatmary says there was a failed effort some years ago to create a collaborative relationship among nation’s LGBT bookstores. But some of the largest stores rejected the idea.
“There was a lot of balking done by the folks at A Different Light and Lambda Rising, for example,” Szatmary says. “The thought was, ‘We’re doing well, we don’t need you,’ apparently.”
Both of those businesses are now shuttered.
