Host: Steve Wax
Participants: Wendy Thomas Russell, Margo Sage-El, Lisa Uhrik, Vickie Titcombs (?) need 2 more
Notes:
- Indie bookstores are increasingly designing for a story, not just a book or category.
- — As are museums, libraries, galleries, and shops
- Lisa at Franklin Fixtures is encouraging and supporting more and more story thinking around the design of stores.
- Discussion: are storytelling sections taking over more and more of the category sections?
- The importance of staff selects, including handwritten shelf talkers
- Merchandising examples of stories that they tell: Anthropology, Urban Outfitters
- But it takes a lot of time and work to create stories.
- Telling the story behind the story is powerful. And tell a story others want to retell, not just enjoy.
- Important to have your staff walk the store every morning so they know how they have changed layout-wise
- Indie publishers should send their staff out on field trips to indie stores to better understand what is happening to their books when they leave the warehouse
Reimagining Bookstores 