Finding the perfect space can be one of the biggest obstacles to starting a small retail business.
The challenge of securing an affordable brick-and-mortar location that's accessible with enough foot traffic can feel almost impossible and force a lot of entrepreneurs to start out online.
One clever solution: a store within a store, where you set up shop inside an existing store to take advantage of an established location and customer traffic. Think something like a Sephora inside a Target or Macy's.
It's been a winning idea for Dana Gordon and Jubilee Bookshop, which opened inside of Kupcakerie in East Point last November.
"Being able to partner with a business that's already successful and integrated into the community has been a huge safety net," Gordon said. "It allowed me to get my feet wet and learn about bookselling without worrying too much about overall business functions. I've been fortunate to have that aspect of bookselling postponed for a while."
Gordon moved to Atlanta's southside five years ago only to discover the area's only bookstores were tucked behind TSA security at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Gordon wanted to fill that gap with a bookstore of her own, so she reached out to Kupcakerie co-founder Henry Adeleye for advice on starting a business. Kupcakerie just passed five years on Main St. last month after starting as an online-only business in 2014.
“Going brick-and-mortar is a task, to say the least,” Adeleye said. “It can be a very expensive undertaking and you have to get the location right, because you'll be locked into a lease for a few years and will have thousands invested. … Nowadays you want to have both a brick-and-mortar as well as an online presence, but the benefits of a brick-and-mortar far outweigh the risks, if you can do it right.”
Gordon started out online in 2019 and then offered a lending library when libraries closed during the coronavirus pandemic. Adeleye later visited Daily Dose, a coffee shop in Reynoldstown that sells books. He suggested Gordon could try doing the same thing at Kupcakerie.
Gordon keeps the shelves stocked and customers can pay for the books at the same register they use to buy cupcakes. Being able to check out all at once makes the whole experience a little easier. The two businesses do a profit split at the end of each week.
"It's gone better than I expected," Gordon said. "There's a consistent audience. People buy everything: used, new, children's books, young adult, adult. It's definitely telling me there's demand for a full-service bookstore because literally every type of book sells."
While you can find books of all stripes at Jubilee, Gordon has a bias toward stories. She likes to source novels and memoirs, as well as books that represent the community, including ones from minority authors or with minority characters. Her day job is as a teacher in College Park, so she enjoys seeking out books that teach her something new or expose her to new cultures.
Her selections have been popular with readers so far. Part of the demand is driven by the Kupcakerie partnership. While social media (particularly the #Bookstagram community on Instagram) has helped spread the word, plenty of people become customers when they stumble on the shop during a cupcake run. Adeleye said he sees a lot of people picking up a book to go with their cupcake or coffee.
"We want to be a community-oriented space, and having a bookstore adds to the comfort that we hope to offer to the area,” Adeleye said. “We've also found that the need for a place to get good books is far greater than we anticipated, so being able to provide that outlet benefits us both.”
Next up for Gordon is opening up her own storefront, hopefully in Hapeville. But even when that does happen, she said she envisions the Kupcakerie bookshelves staying stocked.
"I don't see myself ever removing what we have in Kupcakerie," she said. "The fact that you're already going in for a cupcake and you can pick up a book is great. I love that it makes buying books easy."
Good Reads
I asked Gordon what's on her bookshelf and she said she's working her way through Isabel Allende's The Infinite Plan, a novel (of course!) that follows a man through five decades of life, from a Los Angeles childhood to the Vietnam War and afterward. She recently finished The Feather Thief by Kirk W. Johnson, a non-fiction tale about a man who steals prized feathers from a museum for fly fishing.
While you're buying a book...
Speaking of Kupcakerie, the shop has some new seasonal beverages to help you beat the Atlanta heat this summer. These include the Cookies and Dreams Frappe and Affogato. The Strawberry Shortie is back as flavor of the month.
Summer is the perfect time for slushies and Beer Girl in Hapeville always has its sangria and pineapple flavored concoctions ready to go. This week they're adding two new mystery flavors you have to try. They'll be available today from 3 to 7 p.m. Good Azz Food will be out front serving their regular menu as well.
In-person Yoga!
It's been nice to get out and try some things we haven't done in 15 months. I dined inside a restaurant for the first time since the pandemic began with my wife recently and actually got to work from a coffee shop last week, which was a nice change of pace from the dining room office.
If you're looking to get back out and do yoga in the studio, Sanskrit Moon has reopened its Hapeville location twice a week for classes on Wednesdays at 8:30 a.m. and Saturdays at 10 a.m. Chandra Fowler's team is also teaching in-person classes at /phys. ed/ three times a week with virtual options available as well. You can check out the class calendar here.