urbanSTL

Jax wrote:If anyone has any pictures of the new store, please post them for those of us in far away lands.

I walked over this evening to take pics and just missed it as they had just shut off the lights. Will get the shots tomorrow.

Story on LBB from Tuesday on the Beacon:



http://www.stlbeacon.org/arts_life/book ... _to_expand

Posted at 1:41 p.m. Tues., Dec. 9 - The new Left Bank Books scheduled to open Wednesday at 10th and Olive streets downtown marks more than merely the company's first expansion beyond its well-known corner perch in the Central West End: It marks a bold attempt by its owners to carve out a future for Left Bank in a marketplace that they say is increasingly inhospitable to independent booksellers.



It marks an attempt to survive.



"Are we making it? No -- that's why we're trying this downtown thing," said Kris Kleindienst, a co-owner of the nearly 40-year-old Left Bank Books and one of its most outspoken advocates.

The new store, set to open Wednesday with an evening presentation by Marlon Brando biographer Stefan Kanfer, is being underwritten by downtown developer Craig Heller of LoftWorks, who will supply the 6,000-square-foot space rent free for three years, at which point Kleindienst hopes Left Bank will have the capital to buy him out.

-RBB

We should all be proactive in making sure this store is a success. I rarely read books however since they have announced they are opening the store, I have compiled a list of books to buy there and will take a lot of family and friends there.

I agree...Also haven't been a big reader during the last few years but intend step up my amount of reading. I'm going over to Left Banks in a few minutes to buy a Friend of Left Bank Books membership...Costs $35...lasts for a year...gives you a discount off books/cards/calendars you purchase there. I figure it will incentivize me to follow through on picking up my reading. And, it will give the new store a little financial shot in the arm. Some of you may want consider doing the same....Kind of a nice way to welcome them to the neighborhood.

I don't have time to read books anymore but I'd still like to support them. Will they be selling time? And if so, how much?

vollum wrote:I agree...Also haven't been a big reader during the last few years but intend step up my amount of reading. I'm going over to Left Banks in a few minutes to buy a Friend of Left Bank Books membership...Costs $30...lasts for a year...gives you a discount off books/cards/calendars you purchase there. I figure it will incentivize me to follow through on picking up my reading. And, it will give the new store a little financial shot in the arm. Some of you may want consider doing the same....Kind of a nice way to welcome them to the neighborhood.

An excellent idea!



I'm getting books for a few people on my shopping list. I'll make a point of telling the recipients that their gifts came from the downtown Left Bank too.

Well, I discovered they don't have membership forms at the new store yet. However, they are available on the store website. So, I'm going to pursue that route....I belive the website is left-bank.com ..If that isn't it, I'll have to resort to my friend google.

A membership is $35. I edited my original post to correct the cost...I still think it is a good idea and purchased one.

innov8ion wrote:I don't have time to read books anymore but I'd still like to support them. Will they be selling time? And if so, how much?

I am sure they have some Time Management Books in the business section.

CS- Why Amazon? Did you know Left Bank can order any book you want even if they don't stock it.



Shop local. Make a difference. Help build St Louis- while keeping your community and neighborhood healthy, diverse and vibrant... From BuildStLouis.org



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If I were in St. Louis, I would do some serious Christmas shopping at Left Bank Books downtown.

Went again this afternoon and the place was packed with a bus load of old people. It looked really vibrant but having worked in retail before, old people often means selling three postcards and putting them in three separate bags; net profit, zero



I got a couple books of local interest for gifts, that I come to find the big guys don't even carry.



shopgirl, I can agree in principle, but when we talk the higher prices of the books to begin with, plus what is almost a full 10% sales tax...it's really hard to "go local" for every purchase. Now, if somebody there helped steer me to a good book or helped me decide between a few, I wouldn't go run off to Amazon to buy it. Or if I needed one for a timely gift, or if something caught my eye, or if I spend 15 minutes browsing it in the store, or it's a local author or local interest book that Amazon/B&N don't carry..there are lots of reasons to buy at LB that don't involve feeling guilty for not "buying local".

Ummm...as an old person, I must protest . One could say that old people are more likely to read books than young people. I don't know. Just saying.

Brop - I am sure you and CS will be the first to complain when the city cuts services due to budget shortfalls. Sale tax is a necessary evil to keep our city running. It's not a guilt thing it is just smart to support local businesses. A locally owned business returns 45% of each dollar back to the City of St Louis. What does Amazon do?

Expat wrote:If I were in St. Louis, I would do some serious Christmas shopping at Left Bank Books downtown.

You still can, by ordering through their web site!



Link

shopgirl10 wrote:Brop - I am sure you and CS will be the first to complain when the city cuts services due to budget shortfalls. Sale tax is a necessary evil to keep our city running. It's not a guilt thing it is just smart to support local businesses. A locally owned business returns 45% of each dollar back to the City of St Louis. What does Amazon do?

I'm not sure you read what I posted. I said there are a lot of reasons to do business locally besides feeling some need or guilt to support local businesses. I spend a lot of money every day in the city, and spent more today at Left Bank. But I don't feel some sense of obligation to do so; I did it for one of the numerous reasons I mentioned: they offered something that even the big sellers do not. Plus, it was a timely and "impulse" purchase where LB has the advantage over an online retailer.



If I wanted to pay more for the books I bought today, for the sole purpose of supporting the city through sales tax, I'd have been better off buying it from Amazon and cutting the city a check for 45% of the cost, to support your uncited figure.



Fortunately, as I said, there are enough reasons to buy local without doing so out of some cause or crusade.



btw, I don't live in the City so I wouldn't join CS in bemoaning city cuts most likely. I don't get a whole lot for my earnings tax as is.

Photos!

IRTP2K- Thanks for posting those pictures! Obviously there's still a lot of work to do, but the place looks GREAT!

ThreeOneFour wrote:IRTP2K- Thanks for posting those pictures! Obviously there's still a lot of work to do, but the place looks GREAT!

The place does look great. The only thing other than the need for stocked shelves that stood out for me was that the building itself could use some uplights and it will make a HUGE difference when the Farm & Home Savings building gets done as that side of Locust looks really beaten up across from Left Bank. Also when the Indigo hotel is complete and Syndicate retail fills in this will be one incredible corner.

Went again this afternoon and the place was packed with a bus load of old people. It looked really vibrant but having worked in retail before, old people often means selling three postcards and putting them in three separate bags; net profit, zero

OK, I am completely responsible for that! That was one of my groups and they were completely there and downtown to SHOP! It was a group of "older" and I should add "rich" people that were on a downtown blitz shopping tour. I run a company in STL that does convention/group/tour management services. Anywho, they spent about 25 minutes in the store - loved it and heard great comments. They also spent around 500.00 in the store today.



They also went to UMA, Salt of the Earth on Locust, ate at Macy's and shopped Macy's (a lot of bags) shopped up and down Washington Avenue, spent 250.00 at The London Tea Room on Coffee/Teas and desserts (actually bought everything left in the place to eat) and shopped lastly at English Living. My company offers the downtown shopping blitz day trips from the suburbs every month downtown. This was the Holiday edition.



The group had 56 people in it.



Sooo, they do spend money and we bring them to the core of the city to spend it and see the revitalized downtown. They are all amazed.



Thanks!

Bravo, matguy70. What was their bill at the Hookah bar? ha.

matguy70 wrote:OK, I am completely responsible for that! That was one of my groups and they were completely there and downtown to SHOP! It was a group of "older" and I should add "rich" people that were on a downtown blitz shopping tour. I run a company in STL that does convention/group/tour management services. Anywho, they spent about 25 minutes in the store - loved it and heard great comments. They also spent around 500.00 in the store today.



They also went to UMA, Salt of the Earth on Locust, ate at Macy's and shopped Macy's (a lot of bags) shopped up and down Washington Avenue, spent 250.00 at The London Tea Room on Coffee/Teas and desserts (actually bought everything left in the place to eat) and shopped lastly at English Living. My company offers the downtown shopping blitz day trips from the suburbs every month downtown. This was the Holiday edition.



The group had 56 people in it.

That's great to hear! Hopefully they'll get some positive word-of-mouth out to their families and friends about the shopping and dining options downtown, and maybe they'll drum up more business for you in the process!

So where were the old people from?