Avid book lover, ex-pathologist to second-hand bookstore owner, Dale Marshall shares the trials and tribulations of running a bookstore in a digital-focused era. This is her journey to building an outstanding brand.
Dale (00:26):
I came here about seven and a half years ago and bought the Marriott’s Book Store. It was already a going concern, a business. And I decided that I couldn’t stand to see the books all go because they couldn’t find another owner. And I said to my husband, “Do you think that we could buy the store?” And he said, “Yes, I think we could.”
Joel (00:48):
Brilliant. And tell me a bit of a history before that, sort of seven years ago. Why books? Have you always been an avid book lover?
Dale (00:56):
I have always been an avid reader, yes, from the time I was really small. My grandmother used to pass on her books to me, and my mum used to bring me home the Little Readers, the Girls Readers. And after that, I think I read my way through the whole of the Pine Rivers Library. And then, now I’ve come here, I’ve been able to spread out and read a lot of genres that I wouldn’t normally read.
Joel (01:22):
Take yourself back. Seven years ago, you must have been looking for businesses, was it, or was it just you happen to come across the bookstore? Do you have a entrepreneurial background or business background?
Dale (01:31):
I don’t have a business background. It was kind of throwing myself in at the deep end. We had looked around at Mary Ryan’s book stores, and we also had looked at newsagents, and this was fairly serendipitous. It just became available at the time that we were looking.
Joel (01:47):
That’s great. And what was there a turning point where you decided, I’m going to start to look for businesses or, tell me, that time where maybe you had a nine to five and then you decided I want to start looking for a business?
Dale (02:00):
I had been working in pathology for 22 years, and then I was working in a high school for two years. I had had a bout of cancer a few years before that. And so, I really wanted to do something, slow myself down. And it had always been in the background in my mind that I wanted to have a bookstore. And by that time I was 48 years old and I thought, “Well if I don’t do it now, I probably never will.” So, as I said, this came available, and we went for it.
Joel (02:32):
And it’s been seven years. No doubt, there’s been ups and downs.
Dale (02:37):
Yes.
Joel (02:38):
Take me through one of the downs. Tell me one of your biggest challenges in business today.
Dale (02:44):
Probably the biggest challenge would be doing the accounting. I’m not very good at that sort of thing and bookwork. And so, my husband actually does the bookwork for me. So, I just get to sit here and read and sell the books.
Joel (02:58):
Yeah. On the flip side of that, tell us a little bit about the positive side of the business. What are some of the biggest ups that you’ve had?
Dale (03:06):
When I first bought the store, and people thought that we were going to not have a bookstore in this area and then it was going to be closed down, people came up to me when I bought it, and we started setting things up, and just giving me a hug and saying, “Thank goodness that you’re going to still be here. Thank goodness somebody has bought the business.”
Joel (03:27):
Oh, that’s amazing.
Dale (03:28):
Yeah. That made me feel really good. Pretty special.
Joel (03:31):
And tell me a little about those people. What are your typical… It’s a secondhand bookstore, you’re operating in a currently, I guess, a market that a lot of things are going digital. Tell us about the types of readers that you do get in here, and what type of books do they buy or are interested in?
Dale (03:47):
Probably, the readership here in this area is maybe 45s and over. I still do get a lot of children in, and people coming in for children’s books, sometimes for the older classic children’s. So, it’s a bit of a nostalgia trip for the adults.
Joel (04:06):
I guess you get a range. I’ve seen that you’ve had business books, you’ve got nonfiction, fiction.
Dale (04:15):
I think we cover all the genres.
Joel (04:16):
Yeah.
Dale (04:17):
Yeah. I really aim to have something for everybody.
Joel (04:20):
That’s great. And your customer, you have some good ones. I’m sure you have some bad ones. Have there ever been any nightmare customers that you’ve ever had?
Dale (04:30):
One. He came in because we’re an exchange. If somebody brings a book in for exchange, they go through, select the books that they want to exchange for them, and I’d never put anything away before that. It’s a done deal once they walk out the door. This fellow came back a week later, and he’d changed his mind, and he wanted his books back. And I can’t remember what he bought in, and he was getting very obstropolous and fairly angry. What you just have to do in those sorts of situations is just remain calm, and talk to people gently, and then resolve the issues that way. Nothing comes about by escalating the situation.
Joel (05:15):
Yeah. And I guess in looking on those, have you ever had a sale that just got you super excited or made you go home and just feel like, ah, this is why I do what I do?
Dale (05:26):
Probably not monetary-wise, although I’ve had a couple of big sales where people have come in and bought multiple boxes of books, and that’s always exciting to know that I’m actually stocking the right sort of material for what people are looking for. But, I think, probably, the best sale is when people have been looking for a book for say, months and months or even years, and they come into the store and find that Holy Grail that they’ve been looking for forever. Just the excitement and the look on their face when they come to the counter, that’s what floats my boat. That’s what makes me really happy.
Joel (06:04):
It’s special. And from trying to get these customers in the door of being a business owner, tell me a little bit about your sort of your marketing. Is there a particular type of marketing that you do to try and get these customers in?
Dale (06:19):
We’ve tried a few different ways to market in the past seven years. What we do have at the moment is an ad on the radio, but I think what would be best is Facebook, and my daughter administers our Facebook account. I’m not very technical. That’s why I have a bookstore. But, we’ve tried different things.
Joel (06:45):
That’s good. And tell me, for someone who may be an avid book lover themselves, or someone who would love to start their own bookstore, or just, basically, do what their passion is, is there any advice you would give to that person who wants to sort of build their own outstanding branding, get into a passion sort of business?
Dale (07:06):
What I would probably give as advice would be to enjoy what you’re doing because it really comes across with the customers. And then, knowing your stock, what you have to sell. And then, also being a little bit different. Somebody actually said to me when I bought the bookstore, “Why are people going to come back to your store?” And they said, “You’re going to be the one that will make the difference.” And they said, “Are you going to be able to do that?” And I said, “Yes, I think I can.”
Joel (07:36):
I think there’s a lot of elements that you have described that are intriguing for people who are watching. And I want to get into a section where I ask you some more sort of personal questions maybe, call it Opening the Vault.
Dale (07:49):
Yep.
Joel (07:49):
Are you ready?
Dale (07:50):
Yep.
Joel (07:57):
Who is the number one person who inspired you to start your business?
Dale (08:02):
I think the number one person would be my sister. My sister had a hairdressing salon when she was in her early twenties. And I saw that, yes, she had her ups and downs, but she could overcome everything. And it was great that she could set her own hours. She could be her own boss. But, also Mrs. Marriott, who I bought the store from in the first place. She was getting on in age, and she had four stores running by then. So, that was pretty impressive. She was a good role model, I think.
Joel (08:38):
Is there a particular quote that you live by, like a mantra or motto that you have as a favorite?
Dale (08:44):
Probably, seize the day, or grab the bull by the horns. They all mean the same thing. Don’t procrastinate because if you think, “Well, maybe I’ll do it next week or the week after,” that never comes. So, if I see something that needs to do, be done, I tend to do it straight away before it goes out of my mind. And the same, if you see something that you want to do, go ahead and just do it.
Joel (09:15):
Now, if some random someone came along and said, “Here you go, Dale, $10,000 for you to put towards the growth of your business.” Tell me what will you think you would put that money towards?
Dale (09:31):
What I’ve always wanted to do was to go to England. There’s a little place called Hay-on-Wye, and the whole street is bookstores. And I would love to soak up that sort of atmosphere. I’d love to spend, probably, a day in each of the little bookstores, just get some ideas and, probably, lots of stock, and have to get a shipping container, and bring back a whole heap of stuff for my customers.
Joel (09:59):
You go back, take yourself back seven years, and you’re allowed to do it all over again. What do you think that you would try again?
Dale (10:08):
When we first started, there was no technology. There was about 75,000 books and I had no way of knowing what sort of stock I had, apart from plowing through the whole lot myself. We tried to start setting up a bit of a database. We bought something fairly cheap to start with, and within the first three months, it was, basically, at its limit. So, we invested in another one, which has been a lot better over the last seven years, but I would… It needs updating now. So, I would say I would spend the money to start with setting up that first database.
Joel (10:50):
Well, I really appreciate you giving me a better look into how your journey onto building this outstanding brand. You’ve done an amazing job. The bookstore is such a… It almost takes me back to when I was a child of when I used to go to the library and it just has an authentic feel about it. It’s not stale. It’s not this modern sort of apple feel. It’s like you want to indulge and sit down, and just read, and take yourself away. So, credit to you.
Joel (11:19):
We come to a section now where I call it the Make it Happen. It’s for the audience to sit down and really digest what we’ve talked about but to take away some actional points. And what I’ve taken from the conversation with you today is that, one, is just following your dreams. We can easily get caught up into a nine to five, but if it’s not really your calling or a true passion, sometimes, we may live life and it might be a ghost bus, pass so fast. So, follow your passions. And when you do, I like your saying, take the bull by its horns. Just do things and don’t procrastinate. So, really one actionable item is kind of combining the two of those into one and just saying quick, just do what you want to do and do it now.
Dale (12:14):
Life’s not a dress rehearsal.
Joel (12:16):
That’s it. Dale, thank you so much for giving the opportunity to talk to you and for you to share your story.
Joel (12:24):
This is a beautiful bookstore. It takes me back to when I used to go to school, run around in the library as a youngster, and just have that authentic feel. I can pretty much assure that anyone who does like books, I know that they would love to come here and just be taken away for a moment. And you’ve done an amazing job of sort of capturing that authenticity and providing an atmosphere of relaxation, and almost just a place for you to sort of get lost. And I guess for the audience who is wondering, “Well, where is this place,” or, “Where do I come to her, how do I contact you?” How do they do that?
Dale (13:01):
Okay. We’re at 11 Paisley Drive, Lawnton, and you can go to our website at lawntonbooks.com.au.
Joel (13:06):
Thank you for joining us in this episode. I hope you enjoyed it. Please like, subscribe, and share, and ensure that you keep your eyes peeled for more of these come.
