How black booksellers are reinventing themselves: an uncertain economy and stepped-up competition from other retailers keep black independents on their toes.

The largest growth ever of blacks in the retail bookstore business came in the period between the late 1960s and through the '90s. But nowadays, an increasing number of black independent booksellers are finding themselves not only in the red, but also on "credit hold" or cash on delivery status with major publishers. Without either cash flow or a credit line, they have been unable to keep their stores stocked with new releases, popular mid-list and mainstay titles. As a result, many owners have had to make the hard decision to close.

In the late 1990s, about 300 black bookstores were operating. About half as many black bookstores are now in existence. The villains are "not enough customers and no capital to purchase new books or restock inventory," says Joi Afzal, who dosed The Hue-Man Experience Book Store, in Denver, in December 2003. The downturn in the economy, out-sourcing of jobs to foreign countries and unease about the War in Iraq has contributed to customers' concerns about their own financial future. The line item in the family budget for buying books has been greatly reduced.

Target Market News, which tracks African American consumer patterns, reports on its Web site that black book buyers bought $356 million in books in 2000, but then black customers' purchases trended down to $295 million in 2001 mad $303 million in 2002. With the decrease in sales, black bookstores are challenged to move existing inventory to gain resources to order new releases.

Michele Lewis, owner of the Afro-American Book Stop in New Orleans, says that her downtown store lost tourist trade after 9/11. Jim Rogers, with Zahar's Book Store in Los Angeles, and other black booksellers indicated that sales were down by 18 percent to 30 percent. "Our inability to improve the bottom line since 9/11 resulted in the closing of Detroit's Apple Book Center in November of 2002," says Sherry McGee, its owner.

Competing Against Giants

Mega-retailers, mall-order clubs and online buying are also wooing away African American buyers, independent black booksellers say. "The new threat is from the competition: Wal-Mart and Black Expressions Book Club." says Andre Kelton, owner of Ourstory Books & Gifts in Plainfield, New Jersey.

Terry Jones, owner of Afro-Awakening Books Etc. in Arlington, Texas, another bookstore casualty in December 2003, says, "Price clubs like Sam's, Costco and other chains located within a five-mile radius of my store greatly reduced our sales." All of these competitors offer discounts ranging from a low of 10 percent to a high of more than 40 percent off popular African American titles. "You can't compete with those discounts," says Jones.

Direct sales from the Internet have also displaced the independent bookstore from its previous middleman role. Donna Stokes-Lucas, owner of X-Pressions Bookstore and Gallery in Indianapolis, says, "The emergence of online booksellers, access to information on the Internet, made it quite convenient for customers" to shop online.

My own bookstore, Black Images Book Bazaar in Dallas, Texas, saw sales to multinational corporations drop 85 percent in 1997 as publishers began offering books directly online. We previously sold several Japanese-language book titles to one major corporation, for instance, mad other companies used to special order multiple copies of business and diversity books through stores like mine, but no longer.

From Communal Conscience to Commercial Marketplace

While black bookstores have historically played a role in raising consciousness about political issues, booksellers today see a change in the readership and the literature itself as part of the decline ha sales. W. Paul Coates, publisher of Black Classic Press, based in Baltimore, observes, "We no longer see an abundance of literature addressing class, political and economic struggle." He says popular literature published in this new century concentrates on relationships and self-indulgence.

The oldest operating black retailer in the nation is Marcus Book Stores, started by Drs. Julian and Raye Richardson in San Francisco in 1960 and Oakland in 1976. Now under the management of daughter Blanche Richardson, Marcus is in its 44th year in business. The bookstore was named after Marcus Garvey, the leader of the largest Black Nationalist Movement in U.S. history. Julian Richardson is the son of a Garveyite, and the couple has been very active in the Black Power and Black Arts Movements.

Blanche Richardson says that Marcus Books' "greatest challenge is raising consciousness so that black folks understand the politics and economics of their community and support black businesses such as ours. "Twists and turns in the national economy cannot affect our commitment to our people," she says.

Kelton says that when he opened Ourstory in 1992, "the modern-day consciousness movement was huge." He says, "Brothers were really trying to commit to some serious study in an effort to uplift themselves and their people." Now, he laments, "Commercial fiction rules the day."

Since the popular-fiction titles--once sold exclusively in black bookstores--are available where most books are sold, Kelton adds, "The necessity of coming to a black bookstore is now void. The consciousness-raising books are few and far between."

Niche Services

Black bookstores are known for hand-selling books. They can also help customers discover works by emerging authors, as well as favorites they have come to enjoy over the years. Black bookstores also continue to have a slight leading edge on selling self-published and small-press books.

Black booksellers hope consumers will miss services that only they can offer, such as special orders for books that are too specialized for the bigger stores. The chain bookstores rotate 300 or so black book titles onto their shelves in cycles. This short-term shelf life limits the time these books will be on sale.

"African American bookstores around the country have been like the black church, playing a valuable role in our self-development," says Stokes-Lucas.

Additional Revenue Streams

Despite the number of bookstore closings, a few black retailers are opening new ventures. Eden and Willa Reeves, who emigrated from Liberia, opened Imoya (pronounced Ee-moyyah) Treasures in Rahway, New Jersey in the fall of 2003. They carry sidelines such as shed butter, bath and body products, clothing, artifacts and jewelry.

Desiree Sanders, the established owner of Afrocentric Bookstore in Chicago, reinvented her store when she opened the spacious Afrocentric Bookstore II in the spring of 2003 on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., on Chicago's South Side. Sanders also sells candles, bath and body products, imported African furniture and home accessories.

Authors are even becoming bookstore owners: Nikki Turner (A Hustler's Wife) opened The Literary Boutique ha August 2003 on the southside of Richmond, Virginia; this spring Zane (Addicted, Nervous) is scheduled to open Zane's Endeavors Books and Gifts in the historic area of Fells Point in Baltimore, Maryland.

Meanwhile, booksellers like Faye Williams and Cassandra Burton of Sisterspace in Washington, D.C., expanded the store's customer base by going out to schools for book fairs, conferences, conventions and other events to meet new customers and let them know they are appreciated in a cash-challenged economy.

Emma Rodgers has been co-owner of Black Images Book Bazaar in Dallas, since 1977.