Bookstore Update

WHAT’S GOING ON?

So many things!

This is a long post, so buckle in…

Near the end of March, we were still on track to open in early April and we were excited and happy to have our space in The Russell. There were already some barriers to effectively running a bookstore in The Russell – the complex isn’t always seen as family-friendly; the freight elevator is notoriously unreliable (not very helpful for a bookstore); and organic foot traffic would be minimal – but we had plans in place to help counter those barriers. And the space was lovely! We really wanted to create a cozy space for book lovers to browse and to come together.

Michigan’s shutdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19 put us into a tailspin.

I knew my original concept – a combined bookstore and community center – was simply not something that could happen for at least 18 months. The Russell’s layout is not conducive to curbside pickup, which made folding that into our business plan untenable. I considered using the space as a storage and processing hub for our online store until there was a vaccine. That was just about doable, and meant we’d keep our space. But for it to work, we’d need to move all 75,000+ books we have in stock into the space. But the freight elevators might give out without warning…and even if they worked perfectly, the operator had been laid off for the shutdown. Hauling 75,000+ books (and the supplies for storing and shipping those books) up three flights of stairs? Even just thinking about it crushed me. And there was at least a 50% chance that’s how things would have to go. So it just wasn’t on. Since we couldn’t get all of the books into the space and start speed-listing items immediately, the cost of renting out the space at The Russell was just too high for us to carry. For all of these reasons, as soon as the scope of the pandemic became clear, I gave my 30-day notice to vacate.

We left The Russell on April 30th. The whole time we were packing up the furniture and books we’d already taken to the studio, I was trying to figure out a way forward. If I couldn’t come up with something, then by getting out of the lease quickly I would at least have the funds to return GoFundMe donors’ contributions once I got my deposit back.  I put up some Facebook ads for our online shop and started drafting an update for the GoFundMe.  I found a possible property on Craigslist, the property manager let me check it out (social distancing, of course), and we had a handshake (well, elbow bump) deal.

When I first decided I wanted to open a bookstore, the idea of a neighborhood store was a distant dream. Being in a strip mall didn’t appeal to me, but Detroit’s licensing procedure for standalone buildings is intense; so is the competition for buildings that are in any sort of halfway decent shape. I figured it would be years before I’d have the capital to lease such a space. The Russell, while lovely, was always something I thought of as a first step. The new space I’d found, in Detroit’s gorgeous North End, felt too good to be true. The property manager had to complete a number of renovations before he could rent the space out, so for months that elbow bump was all I had to go on. Every time I sat down to update the GFM, the only news I had was no real news. I just didn’t know what to say, and was frankly too busy to give it much serious thought.

We’d brought everything back to our home to save money on storage fees and were climbing over bookstore furniture and cases of books. Orders started coming in, too fast for me to fill them. At one point, we sold 20% of our online stock in two hours. The support was wonderful. It was also too much at once. Those two hours’ worth of orders took me a week to fulfill, and managing questions about USPS shipping slowdowns filled a great deal of my next several weeks. I was also pushing hard to wrap up the last of my freelance client work so I could fully focus on bookstore work.

A little over a week ago, I finally caught up on…well, everything. And I picked up the keys to the new space!

WHERE’S THE NEW SPACE?

Detroit Specials’ new home is at 8275 John R St. in Detroit’s North End. We’re just a short walk from the New Center area, and on the other side of Detroit Animal Care and Control from The Russell.

The space used to be a slam poetry joint called Peake’s Perspectives, and then spent a few years as underground music venue The Black Box. It’s served as a wood shop for the past couple of years, and in a few months it will be Detroit’s newest used bookstore.

In many ways, the location couldn’t be better for us.

The North End has some of the most engaged community groups in the city, and it’s the perfect space for a used bookstore. We aren’t far from the legendary KAN Bookstore: they’re about half a mile from us, on the other end of the North End. Our niches are different enough that between the two stores there’s sure to be something for everyone living close by…and easy access to a wide range of books is exactly how neighborhood bookstores not only encourage literacy, but foster a lifelong love of reading.

This space is twice as large as our previous one, for the same amount of rent. This means we can move all of our existing stock to the new space and still have room to breathe. The Russell was not accessible. I wanted everyone to be able to visit us, but hadn’t come up with a way to make that work. The new space is accessible, and our floor plan leaves ample space for wheelchair access. Our new bathroom will also be accessible once we’ve installed the guard rails.

This space already has a meeting room built in. Of course, meetings in enclosed spaces probably can’t happen until 2022…but when it’s safe do such things again, we’ll be ready! There are also lots of other great features that I’ll be going into as we complete the renovations. I’d filmed a bunch of footage about what I was doing at The Russell…footage I never got to share, because everything shut down just after I’d learned how to edit it. But I know now! And I’ll start posting updates to our YouTube channel later this week.

YOU DISAPPEARED FOR WEEKS. WHAT HAPPENED?

So. Many. Things.

Until I can afford to hire long-term staff, Detroit Specials is mostly just me (and sometimes my partner, Paul) (but he has a full-time job of his own, so…yeah). At first, I was simultaneously scrambling to move out of The Russell and grow the online store, and grieving the things we – not just us, but everyone – had already lost and the things it looked like we – again, all of us – were going to lose. Then hundreds of books sold online in two hours and getting those out the door filled up every minute for a full week. At the same time I was rushing to fulfill orders, I was also paralyzed with survivor’s guilt. Almost everyone I knew – almost everyone in the world – was facing unprecedented financial hardship and uncertainty. Almost everyone – in the WORLD – had been forced to pause. And yet somehow I had the incredible good fortune to be able to keep pushing forward.

I mean.

Let’s be honest, y’all: I’m kind of a f*ck-up.

Yeah, no; it’s cool. I know who I am. In my 51 years I have walked away from, squandered, or just plain flailed through the kinds of opportunities that many other people would jump at. Some of them were never a good fit, but maybe some of them were. I’ll never know. Laid end-to-end, the bridges I’ve burned could take you to the Moon and back. The part of me that’s a world-class defeatist looked around at the start of the pandemic, figured the bookstore was never really gonna happen anyhow, and made peace with that almost before I’d fully processed the first days of the shutdown.

The rest of me had this super long to-do list, and kept pushing forward.

The.
Entire.
World.
Paused.

I’m not the biggest mess I know, but my picture is definitely on the wall of the F*ck-Up Hall of Fame. No one deserves what’s happening to all of us in this moment. Everyone deserves to thrive. But still…how do I get this wonderful chance? How is it still possible, especially now?

I couldn’t process it. I still can’t. Not really.

For weeks I couldn’t write about the bookstore, because I couldn’t think about the bookstore, because every time I thought about the bookstore I’d break down. Because. I mean. What the hell, man? I’ve been doing a lot of work on myself, but still. I’m pretty sure I have a pile of karma coming my way, and this ain’t it.

I did try to write this update several times. I just couldn’t get it out. If people asked me directly, I’d immediately overshare because I wanted so much to tell you all. But for a long time the only news I had was, “Good news coming soon!” Each day, that felt a little more nebulous and a lot more tacky. And yet. Every few days, even in the middle of everything, someone else would send a message of support. Each day, things moved forward — even if only by a tiny bit.

And here we are.

So. I am very sorry for not updating everyone sooner. I wish I could promise I won’t disappear on you again, but like I said: I know who I am. I get stuck in my own head, and it can take weeks – or more – to find my way back out. So I can’t promise that. I will promise to keep working on communicating; and if I fall down on that, to always answer questions when people reach out. Most of all, I promise that I’ve truly taken all of your support to heart and that I will hold onto this immense gratitude I have for all of you; that I will keep pushing forward to bring you the best bookstore I can; and that, when we can do such things again, we’ll all get together for a truly epic bookstore party.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Paperwork. Renovations. Meetings. Paperwork. Inspections. Paperwork. More renovations, probably. Inspections again, probably. Moving. Meetings. More moving, because 75K+ books is gonna be at least two separate week-long moves.

Properly licensing a business in Detroit is a long process. It’s made even longer by the fact you can’t really start until you have a physical space. One of the best things about The Russell was, 95% of the inspections were already done; all I would have been responsible for was the final fire inspection. In our new space, I can’t even apply for my business license for at least another 6 to 8 weeks. There’s a lot of groundwork to cover first. So while most of the renovations will be done by August, we probably won’t be able to invite you in until September.

I also want to sit down with North End community leaders (well, Zoom with them) to talk about how Detroit Specials can give back to our neighbors. Maybe that will be free classes. Maybe it will be book giveaways, or adult literacy programs. I don’t know. Each community wants different things from local gathering places; and while I’m happy to also accommodate requests from our suburban friends where possible, the people who live right next to us come first. The first round of paperwork has to happen this week or everything gets pushed back even further and then I’ll be reaching out to community leaders next week.

Curbside pickup starts this week: orders placed by 7:00 PM will be ready for pickup at 8275 John R St. by the next day after 2:00 PM. GoFundMe donors who want to redeem their 125% credit in our online store can reach out to me on this website or at info@detroitspecials.net to claim their gift cards — just send me your full name, email address, and a screenshot of your receipt and I’ll get your gift card code to you within one business day. I know some donors’ situations may have changed. Donors who need to be refunded can send me a request to the same email address, with the same information (so I can confirm it’s you). Some refunds may have to wait until the end of July, when The Russell returns my deposit – but if you send a refund request I will honor it as quickly as I can, and I’ll let you know ASAP when you can expect it.

TALK IS CHEAP. WE WANT PICTURES!

Here you go! ^_^ The space is very much a work in progress. Here are some before and after pics of what’s already been done. The property manager has done an immense amount of work, including removing that tiresome drop ceiling and hand-sanding and painting all of the struts. He only has a few days’ worth of work left on the interior, and then we can really get going.

And just for fun, here’s a little raw footage I took of Aleph in The Russell: