January 6, 2025 • 37 mins
In this episode, I chat with Matt Lupica, General Manager of Rosebud Book Barn, a family-run independent bookstore in Victoria, Australia. We explore the unique relationship between the bookstore and its community, the importance of customer feedback, and the innovative tools that help independent bookstores thrive in today's digital age.
We also discuss:
• Insights into Matt's unconventional journey into bookselling
• The role of community in shaping the offerings at The Book Barn
• Exploring the integration of art supplies to cater to local artists
• The significance of YourBookstore.io in connecting readers and bookstores
• Using circlepos.com to enhance operational efficiency and customer experience
• Personal reading habits that include customer recommendations
• The evolving landscape of independent bookstores in Australia
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Hi, my name is Mandy Jackson-Beverly and I'm a
bibliophile.
Welcome to the Bookshop Podcast.
Each week, I present interviewswith authors, independent
bookshop owners and booksellersfrom around the globe and
publishing professionals.
To help the show reach morepeople, please share episodes
with friends and family and onsocial media, and remember to
(00:33):
subscribe and leave a reviewwherever you listen to this
podcast.
You're listening to episode 280.
Episode 280.
The Book Barn is a family-ownedindependent business with two
locations in Melbourne,Australia.
(00:53):
They have been in the bookindustry for over 25 years.
The bookshop stocks brand newbooks, including latest releases
, bestsellers, beloved classicsand a huge range of discounted
titles, In addition to theirmassive range of books, classics
and a huge range of discountedtitles.
In addition to their massiverange of books, they also offer
a full range of artist materials, everything from kids' and
beginners' supplies all the wayup to professional quality
(01:15):
paints and artist's essentials.
They also sell vinyls, jigsawpuzzles, board games and
workshop products.
Today I'm speaking with theirgeneral manager, Matt Lepica.
Hi, Matt, and welcome to theshow.
It's lovely to have you here.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Thank you very much, mandy.
I've been listening to thepodcast.
I'm actually quite a big fan.
I really enjoy it, so I'm verychuffed to be on it.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
And I'm chuffed to hear another Australian accent
on the show.
I've had some wonderfulindependent bookshop booksellers
and owners from Australia onthe show, but one who stands out
is Jennifer Jackson.
She owns Paperbird in Fremantle, western Australia.
She's created a fantasticcommunity of readers and writers
and I want to give her a shoutout for all the Indigenous
(02:02):
writers she supports.
It's just fantastic.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
You know what?
I think I do remember that one,and I think she may have
brought up the term Remainders,which you were not super
familiar with.
I think that was her and I'mvery familiar with Remainders,
so I was listening along in thecar and I'm like I know what
that is.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Yes, jennifer had to explain the meaning of that word
to me, and you know what.
That's what I love aboutputting together this show.
I get to hear all thesedifferent lingo from all around
the world that is bookshoprelated and publishing related.
It's kind of fun because, letme tell you all the bookshop
owners from all over differentparts of the world, you all
speak a different language, notjust your everyday language, but
(02:47):
a book language, a languagerelated to books and publishing.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
We do, and I'm sort of I'm learning a bit of the US
bookselling terminology at themoment and there are, we mean
the same thing, but we're usingdifferent terms.
So, yeah, there's a little bitof that With Australian ones.
I can usually manage to getthrough it, yeah but never a
dull moment.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Now let's begin by learning about you and what drew
you to the bookselling industryand becoming the business store
manager at Rosebud Book Barn.
You mentioned you relocatedfrom Sydney and I'd love to hear
that story.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Yeah, look, I don't have the typical origin story
that a lot of booksellers have,where they were wandering the
shelves of a store and, you know, looking wistfully at the books
and someone gave them a job.
I don't have that story.
I was in the Defence Force andI was transitioning back into
civilian life and my partner mynow wife it's her family's
(03:45):
business, so the business wasvery well established before I
came along.
The stores were very wellestablished and I left the
Defence Force and I picked up arole.
We had three stores at the timeand I floated around amongst
all three of them, being a bitof a dog's body, doing all sorts
of different jobs, andeventually Rosebud needed a
(04:06):
full-time in-store manager.
The area had very much grownsince the store's inception and
our customers were sort ofdemanding that sort of better
quality bookstore.
They wanted new releases, abigger range, more sections, and
I got to take over as a managerrole and I was able to play a
small part in doing that andgiving them that bookstore that
(04:29):
they deserved.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
So yeah, it's fun hearing about family-run
independent bookshops, but isthere two or three book barns?
Speaker 2 (04:37):
At the moment we have two main stores.
So we have one in Rosebud,which is where I've
predominantly been.
That's been there for I thinkit's 21, 22 years now, and we
have one in the Dandenongs inBelgrave and that is about to
enter its 30th year.
So very well establishedlong-term businesses.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
And can you tell us more about the Rosebud community
?
You said the community memberswere not shy in letting you know
the books they'd like topurchase.
So how did your customers guidethe curation of the bookshop?
And do you have a touristindustry?
Speaker 2 (05:14):
We have both.
So the Mornington Peninsula isa traditional holiday
destination because we're onlyless than two hours outside of
Melbourne.
So it's that perfect sort ofgetaway for the school holidays,
long weekend type destinations,and some people have been doing
it for their whole lives comingdown to the peninsula.
So we have a huge regularcustomer base, and by regular we
(05:40):
only see them once or twice ayear, but they always make a bit
of a trip into the store.
You see the same familiespopping in, so that is a huge
part of our business.
However, the area has changed alot, especially just in the
time that I've been there, whereI suppose job roles have
changed a bit and people aren'tso tied to the inner city
(06:04):
suburbs.
They can actually move furtherout of Melbourne.
So we have a lot of youngfamilies there.
We have a lot of people thathave done the sea change to come
down to the peninsula and, yeah, they're probably the people
that guide that.
What are we going to put on theshelf?
What are the new releases thatwe want to stock?
They really do dictate whathappens in the store and I think
(06:26):
that's across the board in allbookstores.
I think you really listen toyour customers.
They will vote with theirwallets really and tell you what
they want and what they wantyou to stock.
We also have a massive artistcommunity on the Mornington
Peninsula.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Now, the artist community is something I'd like
to know a little bit more about.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Yeah, so we sell a full range of artist materials
as well, which is probably alittle different than most
bookstores.
That's something that very muchdeveloped from a few small
pieces and, you know, very basicart materials and, once again,
dictated by people coming in andasking for things.
Why don't you have thisListening to your customers
saying, if you have products A,b and C, you should have
(07:09):
products D.
So we would go out, we wouldresearch them, and that has
grown dramatically in the lastdecade, so that's a huge, huge
part of our store.
We also have a very big andproactive writers community on
the Mornington Peninsula as well, so that certainly assists us
in curating the store as well.
(07:31):
So having access to tap intothose you know, either
self-published or publishedauthors, it's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
I love the fact that you draw from the creative arts
community, with the visual artsand also the literary community.
Growing up as a child inLaunceston, tasmania, the little
heart-shaped island off thesouthern tip of mainland
Australia, we all grew up with ashop called Birchall's.
You would go there and get allyour book supplies and textbooks
(08:00):
and things like that andreading materials for school,
and then you'd run upstairs andget any art materials you needed
and just a few years agoBritchell's closed.
It was sad because it was oneof those stores that you always
thought was going to be there.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
I remember that happening.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Well, it was such a wonderful creative hub for the
younger, all the way through theolder creatives, it was just
fantastic.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Yeah, you'll have some people that will be coming
in and they'll almostexclusively buy art materials
from you and they'll answer thephone and you hear them talk to
someone and they'll say I'm inthe art store and you sort of go
, we're both, we're both.
Some people will be in thebookstore and the person the
aisle over is definitely in theart store.
(08:44):
So it does work really welltogether.
And, look, it certainly helpsthat we have so many artists on
the Mornington Peninsula too.
That is certainly somethingthat drives that in the store.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
And because you're on the coast, I'm guessing real
estate is expensive in Rosebud.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Yeah, it's dictated suburb to suburb.
So I think that obviously thefurther down the Mornington
Peninsula you get Port CSorrento very expensive.
It depends really where you are.
Look, it's probably on par.
I think regular MorningtonPeninsula is probably on par
(09:21):
with most of Melbourne, but it'salways dictated by what people
are able to borrow from banksand things like that.
So it is relevant to everythingelse.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
And you know what my husband always says is a
property is only worth whatsomeone's going to pay for it.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Absolutely, absolutely yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Okay, let's step inside your bookshop and tell me
, in your opinion, what makes agreat independent bookshop Not a
good one.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
A great independent bookshop- Look, it is the
customers, in the sense thatthey have to have an enjoyable
experience in your store.
That's the first thing that youhave to focus on.
It shouldn't be a chore comingin and shopping in your
bookstore.
It should be something thatpeople can get lost in the
aisles.
Yes, certainly people are justdropping in.
(10:14):
They might be stopping in toget something quickly on the way
to a kid's birthday party or tograb a last minute present or
something, but you want to makesure that you are giving them an
enjoyable experience, that itisn't like going to the
supermarket.
Also, I think it is importantand this really is simply my
(10:34):
opinion, but it's important thata store has its own identity
and an individual identity.
I don't think successful storesshould copy other bookstores
what they're doing.
I think you have to sort offorge your own identity.
There's nothing wrong withmarching to the beat of your own
drum.
There's no right or wrong wayto do this.
(10:54):
So I think those things aretied together.
Your customers having a goodtime in your store and enjoying
their experience will dictatethe type of store that you
become.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
I agree with everything you said and I'll
also add that I believe in myheart that it is the booksellers
who make the independentbookshop, because without them
and without their knowledge andtheir passion for reading,
customers kind of get lost.
And also it's like a friendshipbetween a bookseller and a
reader.
There's a bookshop downtown LosAngeles and it's called the
(11:28):
Last Bookstore.
It's been on every book lover'sInstagram page for sure who has
been and visited the store.
And I remember years ago I wentin there and I was just
browsing around and one of thebooksellers came up to me and
said you know, can I help youfind anything?
And I said you know, I'd reallylike a good dark vampire book,
but I want something, you know,that's not teen, I just want
(11:52):
something really rich and darkand deep.
And he said oh, you need tospeak to so-and-so, go up there
and he'll show you around and heknows exactly what you're going
to need.
So I did and I went up.
I was talking to this guy andhe was asking me all these
questions about what I read andhe said I think I have the
perfect book.
He handed me a copy of George RR Martin's Fever Dream.
(12:13):
Now, I didn't know that he hadwritten a vampire book, and this
was fantastic.
It had all the deep historythat I needed.
It was great, and so that to meis an example of the gift of a
good bookseller.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
I can't tell you how many times a bookseller has
recommended a book to me andit's become one of my favorite
books Absolutely, and I think,having those recommendations on
the shelves as well, that peoplecan, as they're browsing, can
pick something up and go.
Well, this person really enjoyedthis book and it sounds like
another type of book that I'veread.
So, once again, if they enjoythat, they get something out of
(12:51):
it.
When they return to the storethey'll look for those
recommendations and they mightactually seek out the person we
get a lot of that of, whorecommended this book and you'll
say, well, it wasn't me, it wasone of the staff members, and I
want to talk to them.
I want to ask them a question.
I want to.
You know you mentioned sci-fiand fantasy, that is, it's
(13:11):
certainly not my genre, but I dohave quite a few staff members.
It is what they're into andthey're very passionate about it
, and a conversation of arecommendation can go from
anywhere to 15 to 45 minutes of,you know, deep discussion about
the author.
So, which is fantastic, that'swhat you want and you're right,
that's what customers want whenthey come into the store.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Matt, you and I share a mutual friend, Enric Koch.
He turned me on toyourbookstoreio.
Let's talk about how thisplatform differs from other
online book purchasing sites.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Sure, yeah, look, it's a website that connects
book buyers so customersdirectly with independent
bookstores, and I think thedifference from other platforms
is it doesn't charge storesanything at all to list their
products on there at all, italso doesn't take a percentage
(14:07):
of the sale.
That's not what it's about.
What it is simply about istaking that customer who is
searching for a book, directingthem to their closest
independent bookseller, wherethey can either purchase it
directly from their website or,fingers crossed, they realize
just how close that indiebookstore is to them and they go
(14:29):
and drop in for a visit.
I think that's what sets itapart.
I'm lucky enough to have sortof been there from the concept
of this to actually seeing itgrow into a full service, and
now that we have so manybookstores that are involved
with it, we're starting to seepublishers get involved as well
(14:50):
and authors, which is fantastic.
So you mentioned Rick.
Rick is doing fantastic workdirectly with authors and it is
really all about thoseconnections, just simply
connecting someone that'slooking for the next book that
they want, the next good read ora fantastic children's picture
book, whatever they're lookingfor.
(15:10):
They can find that book withtheir local independent
bookseller and, you know, withthe author's help.
Now we're finding this is it'sworking back and forth.
They're finding new authors,the publishers are helping as
well.
It is just a fantastic serviceand, like I mentioned, it's
completely free to stores to beinvolved with, so absolutely
(15:31):
fantastic.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
So just to make sure I have it clear with
yourbookstoreio the customerpurchases the book directly from
the bookshop andyourbookstoreio will actually
list which bookshops near youhave that book in stock.
So you're missing thatmiddleman and you're purchasing
the book directly from theindependent bookshop.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Exactly.
You can see who's got it instock at what price.
Like you said, you could godirectly.
It will take you directly totheir website to purchase it
from them directly.
So they would be packaging thatbook up and sending it to you.
Or, like I said, the bestoutcome would be they realized
they're much closer to thatindie bookstore than they maybe
perhaps realized and they dropin for a visit.
(16:16):
So that's the idea.
It's all about thoseconnections and you know the
fact that it's a free serviceand no one is taking any
percentage of that sale.
That's just wonderful and I,you know, I think it's a real
asset to independent booksellers.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Currently, yourbookstoreio is set up in
Australia.
Are there other countries wherethis platform is available?
Speaker 2 (16:42):
So it's being pushed to the idea that we will have a
US version of it as well.
You know it's going to have tobe regional because you're going
to want to make sure that youare going to that closest
bookstore and finding out thatthe right info.
From a logistical point of view, I know that when a book is
(17:04):
published, it's quite common forthe US and UK and Australia and
New Zealand we all getdifferent editions of the book.
So we're dealing with the samebook, different cover, different
, so it's important to have itregional.
We want to make sure that thelocation is correct, but it's
certainly rapidly developing.
(17:24):
Like I said, fantastic serviceand a real asset.
And when you can actually seesomeone say I bought this book
because I looked it up there andI realised that Bookstore of
the Suburban Way had it in stock, that's when you can actually
see the practical side of thisworking.
So, yeah, really, really good.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
For anybody in Australia, I will put the link
to yourbookstoreio in the shownotes, and for any independent
booksellers and bookshop ownersout there, I will make sure to
put the link where you cancontact Rick Koch and he can
tell you more about this product.
It really is wonderful, andI've started putting some of the
links to books throughyourbookstoreio in the show
(18:07):
notes with each episode.
Now, matt, there's also anothersystem that Rick told me about,
called circlepawscom, for thebooksellers and bookshop owners
listening.
Can you tell us about thesystem, what it is, how it can
support booksellers and whatmakes it a standout point of
sale system?
Speaker 2 (18:24):
I am probably a little bit of a spokesperson
because I am one of the trainersfor CirclePaws, so it's my job
to train new stores as they usethe system.
So, look, it is a purpose-builtcloud-based inventory
management system and it'sdesigned specifically for
bookshops.
It allows them to easily selltheir products, both in-store
(18:48):
and online.
And you know, as booksellers weneed a lot of data for our
products.
We need to be able to you knowat our fingertips, be able to
see who the author is, we needto know what the cover looks
like, we need how many pages thebook has.
We need all of this informationand we need to be able to
provide that to potentialcustomers online, and that's
(19:09):
something that CirclePos doesincredibly well.
It allows us to take ourinventory that is in our stores
and get it online very, veryquickly.
I often get customers that willuse my website at our stores for
almost like a catalog, wherethey'll pop in the store and
they go.
I know you've got something instock and before I can ask what
(19:31):
they're looking for, theyalready have headed off to the
section.
They've already looked it up,they know I've got it on the
shelf.
So it works in more ways thanjust someone purchasing online.
So CirclePause manages to tieall of that in really, really
well.
I am quite passionate about it.
I was obviously using it beforeI was training and I'm quite
(19:53):
passionate about it.
I like the system.
It's purpose-built for what wedo.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
How has CirclePausecom helped you as a
business store manager?
Speaker 2 (20:04):
So, as I mentioned, we had CirclePause in our stores
before I was training and thebig change for me the immediate
one, was that I could havee-commerce sites for my stores
relatively quickly, almostinstantly.
It reflected what stock we hadin store to the internet, which
was fantastic.
Our website was actuallylaunched the week that Melbourne
(20:26):
entered its first COVIDlockdown, so that was huge for
me.
I could not have customers inthe store and these were regular
customers, the type ofcustomers that you see weekly a
couple of times a week, some ofthem and suddenly they couldn't
come in.
It was fantastic to have thisavailable to them.
They were able to see does thestore have what I want?
(20:49):
What is the price?
They could click and collectthe items and they could come
pick them up from the door.
It was huge to me.
I think the other improvementwas moving to that cloud-based
system, which meant that I'm nottied to the counter in the
store anymore.
For example, I don't do anyordering for the store within
the store anymore.
I would do that from my homeoffice.
(21:10):
I'm not tied to going into thestore to handle those sorts of
things and I can do this fromanywhere.
And look, I would be lying if Isaid my laptop doesn't come on
holiday with me.
It does.
It's hard to get, it's hard toget away from your business, so
it is one of those things, butit has really freed me up from
being so tied to the store.
(21:31):
I'm able to work from homeessentially for a lot of my role
, so it's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Is that a difficult system for booksellers to learn
and how easy was it to integrateinto your shop?
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Well, that's my job.
To say it's not difficult.
It isn't a difficult system.
It's quite intuitive to whatbooksellers do and it is
something that certainly isalways being developed and
improved as well and what we'reable to do is to provide
(22:03):
documentation for everythingthat we're doing.
We are able to not onlydocumentation, we're also able
to provide video for everything.
So we have a lot of resourcesthere for booksellers.
Plus stores that are new to theindustry or not new to the
industry.
They can get one-on-onetraining with us.
We also have a wonderfulsupport team are always
(22:27):
available to help out.
So I think the combination ofthose things it makes it a
little bit easier for storesthat are potentially moving from
a previous system.
Speaking from experience, thatis quite scary.
It is a very scary idea ofrelearning what you're doing in
your shop.
But I think the combination ofour support team, our training,
(22:52):
all of our resources, wecertainly try to make that as
easy as possible and I'vepersonally trained many stores,
all sorts of different storesand successfully got them to use
the most out of the system thatthey possibly can.
So, relatively easy, I think.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
Did you have the booksellers in both stores learn
how to use CirclePausecom?
Or is it specifically just foryou to use?
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Well, are you saying that as the manager of the store
?
Is that what you're saying?
Who's actually stocking theproducts?
Speaker 1 (23:29):
I would say in general, does everybody in the
bookshop know how to useCirclePausecom?
Does it track sales adequately?
Does it give you a printout atthe end of the day of which
books were sold and which onesyou have to reorder?
What does it do for you?
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Oh, of course, yeah, yeah.
So it's able to give you verydetailed sales reports.
It's actually a part ofCirclePause which I actually
love.
Actually, the way that we doour reordering is we're
essentially looking at a reportof what we've sold during a time
period and making a decision onthat right then, and there, do
(24:04):
we ever want to get this book inagain?
It doesn't have to run to zero.
It could be a book that's justsold flying off the shelves, but
you can preempt that runningdown to nothing and make sure
that you restock the shelf.
It's able to handle those sortsof requests really, really
easily.
That the whole platform isdesigned to make everything
(24:26):
smoothly run.
So from getting the stock in togetting it on the shelves, to
selling it to customers, toreordering it, it all works in a
really really nice process.
So, very, very easy to restock,yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
And are both of your stores integrated into the same
CirclePath system?
Speaker 2 (24:44):
Yeah, so our stores can see in real time our stock
levels between each other.
They can see some basic saleshistory as well, which is nice.
We move a lot of stock betweenstores, so it's really useful to
be able to see immediately howsomething's selling at the other
store, because some things sellbetter in one store than the
other.
So you can move things around.
(25:05):
We also are able to sharecustomers amongst our stores so
they can benefit from ourin-store loyalty program
regardless of what store they'rein, which is fantastic, being
that we are one of our storiesis in a holiday area we do
actually get a little bit ofcrossover of customers, so
that's nice.
They're able to do that, andthat also leads into our gift
(25:26):
cards.
They're obviously usable acrossall of our stores as well.
So little things like that.
There's certainly big pluses.
Um, the other thing that we'reable to do is we have what's
referred to as like a group site, so I can have a central
website which is available tothe public to search for a
product, see if our stores haveit, buy it from whichever store
(25:48):
they like, and that saves me inmy advertising costs.
I can essentially directcustomers to one site as opposed
to multiple sites.
It really benefits you in thatsense as well, because you're
sort of cutting down your costs.
It works really really well.
It doesn't require any extrasteps or anything from us either
(26:08):
, so yeah, and Matt.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
I do have one other question about CirclePausecom.
How does it compare with otherPOS systems price-wise?
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Well, the initial setup is incredibly affordable.
You're looking at, you know,$50.
Regardless of where you are tostart, that's your initial one.
There are no setup costswhatsoever.
That is the initial cost to getup and running and from there
we sort of operate a little biton a pay-as-you-need service in
(26:38):
regards to our training anddesign.
So obviously experiencedbooksellers they may not need as
much training or assistance asothers, but people new to the
industry they're certainly goingto benefit from a little bit
more one-on-one work with one ofour trainers.
The nice thing about all of ourtrainers was we're actually all
booksellers as well, so we'reable to give a little bit more
(27:02):
insight to the actual practicalrunnings inside the store as
well.
So little things like that.
I think cost-wise it'scomparable, but certainly the
initial setup being that there'sno fees to get up and running,
I think that's a big plus aswell.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
And for any bookshop owners listening around the
world.
Circlepause is being used inAustralia and just starting to
be used in the United States.
Hopefully there'll be othercountries, right.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Absolutely Yep, yep.
And we're already working withquite a few US stores, as we
spoke about earlier.
There's a lot of terminologythat's a little bit different,
so there's already whispers inthe development there of making
sure that everything lookscorrect to a US bookseller.
The words all make sense on thescreen, but we're working
(27:51):
closely with them now just tomake sure that the system suits
their needs and at the end ofthe day, we are all just selling
books, regardless of whatcountry we're in.
But there are some littledifferences probably with the
ordering system and things.
But you know, it's nice thatCirclePos is quite transparent
what they're doing and wherethey've always been very open to
(28:16):
working directly withbooksellers to get this system
to work the way that it shouldand the way that they want it to
work.
So, yeah, it's pretty excitingto be working with the US stores
now.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Well, if I ever get my dream of a brick and mortar
indie bookshop, I will certainlybe looking at circleposcom as
my point of sale system.
Okay, now let's talk aboutbooks.
What are you currently reading?
Speaker 2 (28:40):
So I'm reading the Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife
by Anna Johnston.
So it's Anna's first book.
She's an author from Melbourneand I make a point now of just
trying to read outside mycomfort zone.
I think you can get too used toreading the same authors in the
same genres, so I'm reallybeing dictated a lot by
(29:04):
recommendations.
A lot of customers will say Iread this book and it's
fantastic and I just put thebook aside.
I make a point of notresearching the book.
I do not read the blurb of thebook, I just start at page one
and I try to go in completelyblind and completely unaware of
what I'm going to read.
And you know, sometimes that'sgreat and sometimes that's bad.
(29:26):
And I've been very lucky withthis book.
It is absolutely fantastic.
I'm going to finish it reallyquickly because I'm enjoying it
that much.
It's a beautiful little quirkystory.
Yeah, it talks about aged careand it's just.
It's a wonderful story.
It's got a few moments thatwill definitely put a lump in
(29:46):
your throat as you're reading it.
So I'm really enjoying it.
It's going to be highlyrecommended to my customers, I
think, once I finish it.
So yeah, absolutely loving it.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
And would you say you read more fiction than
nonfiction, or the opposite?
Speaker 2 (30:00):
I sort of go through phases.
I tend to read a lot ofnonfiction and I am trying to
get away from that, because youcan almost get into the bit of a
stage where you're readingalmost like a textbook, and
that's why I'm trying to go.
I'm just going to pick thisbook up and someone said it was
good and let's just find out,and I think might draw the line
(30:24):
at fantasy, though I'm not sureI can do the jump into fantasy.
It doesn't really.
It doesn't ring true for me.
I know it's incredibly populargenre but for the most part I
will pretty much read anythingat this point that people will
suggest to me.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
Yeah, I'm a big proponent of reading out of your
comfort zone and that's one ofthe reasons I decided to do this
podcast was because I wanted tostretch my wings and start
reading in genres that I hadn'tread in before.
Reading more nonfiction,because I love fiction.
Now, tell me about your events.
Do you hold many in the stores?
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Yeah, yeah, we do so.
We do a lot of reader talks andbook launches and things like
that.
I always enjoy doing it becauseyou get to sort of, once again,
you get that sort of insight tothe book that perhaps you
wouldn't have got if you'd justread the blurb or read a review
of it.
You actually get to listen tothe author talk about how they
(31:19):
put the book together.
Sometimes and it actuallyhappens quite a few times they
bring their notes, which iswonderful.
They bring a big pile of notesand they go.
This is what I spent the lastfour or five years putting
together and it's a wonderfulinsight and that has certainly
opened up quite a few books tome that perhaps I just wouldn't
have read, I wouldn't havepicked up and wouldn't have
thought to read them.
(31:40):
So, yeah, I do enjoy doing theauthor events.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Yes, me too.
They're a lot of fun.
Okay, Now, before we wind upthis episode, could you give
listeners the Book Barn websiteplease?
Speaker 2 (31:53):
Yeah, so we have a few websites.
I think the best one for peopleto go to is simply
thebookbarncomau, and that willtake you to all of our stuff,
both of our stores, all of oursocial media, so that's a
fantastic place to start.
I think you were going to askme also about circle pause as
well, I assume absolutely, andalso your bookstoreio yeah, so
(32:16):
circlepausecom that's the placeto go for that.
we're always happy to have achat to booksellers who are
considering coming on board.
We do complete one-on-one demoswith people as well, so they
can sort of ask a few questionsand see how things work.
Like I mentioned before, it'sscary sometimes.
(32:37):
It's a big commitment.
You don't change your point ofsale in any business.
I don't think you don't do thatovernight.
I can tell you from myexperience.
It took us two years to movefrom our previous point of sale
system to CirclePos, because youhave to pick your timing and
you have to get everyone onboard and it takes a bit of work
(32:57):
and I wish I'd done it soonerbecause it's certainly not as
scary as it seems.
But yeah, we're always happy tospeak to people.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
Yeah, it sounds like a great system for anyone
actually thinking about openingup an independent bookstore too.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Absolutely, Look.
I think that the fact thatwe're able to put you in contact
with a bookseller like myselftoo New booksellers have a lot
of questions outside the pointof sale system.
You know, sometimes it's thingsthey've not thought about.
Sometimes it's things that lastminute queries they have about
(33:34):
it's opening day what do I doabout this?
And we have a lot of knowledgejust in our training team and
our support team that can helpout with those little things.
And after training and settingup so many stores, we have a lot
of experience.
There's not too many questionswe haven't been asked.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
Well, gosh, we have covered a lot in this episode,
matt, from the Rosebud Book Barnto yourbookstoreio, to
circlepawscom and to what you'rereading we have.
I feel like we've spoken a lotabout websites today, but I
think we managed to talk alittle bit about books too,
(34:12):
which was nice, yes, and I willdefinitely come and visit the
Rosebud Book Barn next time I'min Australia, because Victoria
is the state of my birth.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
I did hear you mention on one of the other
podcasts that you wereconsidering doing a little bit
of a bookstore tour.
I think that would be afantastic idea.
I think you could probably youcould probably get people on
board for that too.
I think you could sell that asa package deal, Right.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
I think it would be a lot of fun for me and for
everybody else, and for all ofthe booksellers too.
It'd be a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
Yeah, absolutely.
You would never run out ofstores too, it'd be a lot of fun
.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Yeah, absolutely.
You would never run out ofstores, you know?
One last question, I promiseit's my last one.
Does Australia still have manyradical bookshops?
I know there used to be quite afew, but I'm not seeing as many
as I used to online.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
There's a few.
Look to be completely honest, Ithink COVID might have injured
a lot of those stores.
They may have closed bricks andmortar and moved to more of an
online setup.
I'm quite envious of the USwhen I see the type of
bookstores that they can havethere, the sort of niche
(35:16):
specialist stores.
I think it's just the volume ofpopulation that the US has.
It's fantastic.
I got to see a little bit ofthat recently in some reports
back from the US and it wasfantastic.
Some of the stores just blew meaway that they could have such
a large store about such aunique topic.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
Yeah, and many of those small radical bookshops
are thriving, especially in theUK.
It's been great chatting withyou, matt.
Thanks for all the informationand I hope to speak with you
again soon.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
Thank you for having me on May.
I really appreciate it.
I'm a huge fan of the podcast.
That was a real thrill to comeon.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
You've been listening to my conversation with Matt
Lupica, the General Manager ofthe Book Barn in Victoria.
To help the show reach morepeople.
Please share episodes withfriends and family and on social
media, and remember tosubscribe and leave a review
wherever you listen to thispodcast.
To find out more about theBookshop Podcast, go to
(36:15):
thebookshoppodcastcom and makesure to subscribe and leave a
review wherever you listen tothe show.
You can also follow me at MandyJackson Beverly on X, Instagram
and Facebook and on YouTube atthe Bookshop Podcast.
If you have a favorite indiebookshop that you'd like to
suggest we have on the podcast,I'd love to hear from you via
(36:38):
the contact form atthebookshoppodcastcom.
The Bookshop Podcast is writtenand produced by me, Mandy
Jackson-Beverly, Theme musicprovided by Brian Beverly,
executive assistant to Mandy,Adrienne Otterhahn, and graphic
design by Frances Verala.
Thanks for listening and I'llsee you next time.
Thank you.
Hi, my name is Mandy Jackson-Beverly and I'm a
bibliophile.
Welcome to the Bookshop Podcast.
Each week, I present interviewswith authors, independent
bookshop owners and booksellersfrom around the globe and
publishing professionals.
To help the show reach morepeople, please share episodes
with friends and family and onsocial media, and remember to
(00:33):
subscribe and leave a reviewwherever you listen to this
podcast.
You're listening to episode 280.
Episode 280.
The Book Barn is a family-ownedindependent business with two
locations in Melbourne,Australia.
(00:53):
They have been in the bookindustry for over 25 years.
The bookshop stocks brand newbooks, including latest releases
, bestsellers, beloved classicsand a huge range of discounted
titles, In addition to theirmassive range of books, classics
and a huge range of discountedtitles.
In addition to their massiverange of books, they also offer
a full range of artist materials, everything from kids' and
beginners' supplies all the wayup to professional quality
(01:15):
paints and artist's essentials.
They also sell vinyls, jigsawpuzzles, board games and
workshop products.
Today I'm speaking with theirgeneral manager, Matt Lepica.
Hi, Matt, and welcome to theshow.
It's lovely to have you here.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Thank you very much, mandy.
I've been listening to thepodcast.
I'm actually quite a big fan.
I really enjoy it, so I'm verychuffed to be on it.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
And I'm chuffed to hear another Australian accent
on the show.
I've had some wonderfulindependent bookshop booksellers
and owners from Australia onthe show, but one who stands out
is Jennifer Jackson.
She owns Paperbird in Fremantle, western Australia.
She's created a fantasticcommunity of readers and writers
and I want to give her a shoutout for all the Indigenous
(02:02):
writers she supports.
It's just fantastic.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
You know what?
I think I do remember that one,and I think she may have
brought up the term Remainders,which you were not super
familiar with.
I think that was her and I'mvery familiar with Remainders,
so I was listening along in thecar and I'm like I know what
that is.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Yes, jennifer had to explain the meaning of that word
to me, and you know what.
That's what I love aboutputting together this show.
I get to hear all thesedifferent lingo from all around
the world that is bookshoprelated and publishing related.
It's kind of fun because, letme tell you all the bookshop
owners from all over differentparts of the world, you all
speak a different language, notjust your everyday language, but
(02:47):
a book language, a languagerelated to books and publishing.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
We do, and I'm sort of I'm learning a bit of the US
bookselling terminology at themoment and there are, we mean
the same thing, but we're usingdifferent terms.
So, yeah, there's a little bitof that With Australian ones.
I can usually manage to getthrough it, yeah but never a
dull moment.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Now let's begin by learning about you and what drew
you to the bookselling industryand becoming the business store
manager at Rosebud Book Barn.
You mentioned you relocatedfrom Sydney and I'd love to hear
that story.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Yeah, look, I don't have the typical origin story
that a lot of booksellers have,where they were wandering the
shelves of a store and, you know, looking wistfully at the books
and someone gave them a job.
I don't have that story.
I was in the Defence Force andI was transitioning back into
civilian life and my partner mynow wife it's her family's
(03:45):
business, so the business wasvery well established before I
came along.
The stores were very wellestablished and I left the
Defence Force and I picked up arole.
We had three stores at the timeand I floated around amongst
all three of them, being a bitof a dog's body, doing all sorts
of different jobs, andeventually Rosebud needed a
(04:06):
full-time in-store manager.
The area had very much grownsince the store's inception and
our customers were sort ofdemanding that sort of better
quality bookstore.
They wanted new releases, abigger range, more sections, and
I got to take over as a managerrole and I was able to play a
small part in doing that andgiving them that bookstore that
(04:29):
they deserved.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
So yeah, it's fun hearing about family-run
independent bookshops, but isthere two or three book barns?
Speaker 2 (04:37):
At the moment we have two main stores.
So we have one in Rosebud,which is where I've
predominantly been.
That's been there for I thinkit's 21, 22 years now, and we
have one in the Dandenongs inBelgrave and that is about to
enter its 30th year.
So very well establishedlong-term businesses.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
And can you tell us more about the Rosebud community
?
You said the community memberswere not shy in letting you know
the books they'd like topurchase.
So how did your customers guidethe curation of the bookshop?
And do you have a touristindustry?
Speaker 2 (05:14):
We have both.
So the Mornington Peninsula isa traditional holiday
destination because we're onlyless than two hours outside of
Melbourne.
So it's that perfect sort ofgetaway for the school holidays,
long weekend type destinations,and some people have been doing
it for their whole lives comingdown to the peninsula.
So we have a huge regularcustomer base, and by regular we
(05:40):
only see them once or twice ayear, but they always make a bit
of a trip into the store.
You see the same familiespopping in, so that is a huge
part of our business.
However, the area has changed alot, especially just in the
time that I've been there, whereI suppose job roles have
changed a bit and people aren'tso tied to the inner city
(06:04):
suburbs.
They can actually move furtherout of Melbourne.
So we have a lot of youngfamilies there.
We have a lot of people thathave done the sea change to come
down to the peninsula and, yeah, they're probably the people
that guide that.
What are we going to put on theshelf?
What are the new releases thatwe want to stock?
They really do dictate whathappens in the store and I think
(06:26):
that's across the board in allbookstores.
I think you really listen toyour customers.
They will vote with theirwallets really and tell you what
they want and what they wantyou to stock.
We also have a massive artistcommunity on the Mornington
Peninsula.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Now, the artist community is something I'd like
to know a little bit more about.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Yeah, so we sell a full range of artist materials
as well, which is probably alittle different than most
bookstores.
That's something that very muchdeveloped from a few small
pieces and, you know, very basicart materials and, once again,
dictated by people coming in andasking for things.
Why don't you have thisListening to your customers
saying, if you have products A,b and C, you should have
(07:09):
products D.
So we would go out, we wouldresearch them, and that has
grown dramatically in the lastdecade, so that's a huge, huge
part of our store.
We also have a very big andproactive writers community on
the Mornington Peninsula as well, so that certainly assists us
in curating the store as well.
(07:31):
So having access to tap intothose you know, either
self-published or publishedauthors, it's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
I love the fact that you draw from the creative arts
community, with the visual artsand also the literary community.
Growing up as a child inLaunceston, tasmania, the little
heart-shaped island off thesouthern tip of mainland
Australia, we all grew up with ashop called Birchall's.
You would go there and get allyour book supplies and textbooks
(08:00):
and things like that andreading materials for school,
and then you'd run upstairs andget any art materials you needed
and just a few years agoBritchell's closed.
It was sad because it was oneof those stores that you always
thought was going to be there.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
I remember that happening.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Well, it was such a wonderful creative hub for the
younger, all the way through theolder creatives, it was just
fantastic.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Yeah, you'll have some people that will be coming
in and they'll almostexclusively buy art materials
from you and they'll answer thephone and you hear them talk to
someone and they'll say I'm inthe art store and you sort of go
, we're both, we're both.
Some people will be in thebookstore and the person the
aisle over is definitely in theart store.
(08:44):
So it does work really welltogether.
And, look, it certainly helpsthat we have so many artists on
the Mornington Peninsula too.
That is certainly somethingthat drives that in the store.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
And because you're on the coast, I'm guessing real
estate is expensive in Rosebud.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Yeah, it's dictated suburb to suburb.
So I think that obviously thefurther down the Mornington
Peninsula you get Port CSorrento very expensive.
It depends really where you are.
Look, it's probably on par.
I think regular MorningtonPeninsula is probably on par
(09:21):
with most of Melbourne, but it'salways dictated by what people
are able to borrow from banksand things like that.
So it is relevant to everythingelse.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
And you know what my husband always says is a
property is only worth whatsomeone's going to pay for it.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Absolutely, absolutely yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Okay, let's step inside your bookshop and tell me
, in your opinion, what makes agreat independent bookshop Not a
good one.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
A great independent bookshop- Look, it is the
customers, in the sense thatthey have to have an enjoyable
experience in your store.
That's the first thing that youhave to focus on.
It shouldn't be a chore comingin and shopping in your
bookstore.
It should be something thatpeople can get lost in the
aisles.
Yes, certainly people are justdropping in.
(10:14):
They might be stopping in toget something quickly on the way
to a kid's birthday party or tograb a last minute present or
something, but you want to makesure that you are giving them an
enjoyable experience, that itisn't like going to the
supermarket.
Also, I think it is importantand this really is simply my
(10:34):
opinion, but it's important thata store has its own identity
and an individual identity.
I don't think successful storesshould copy other bookstores
what they're doing.
I think you have to sort offorge your own identity.
There's nothing wrong withmarching to the beat of your own
drum.
There's no right or wrong wayto do this.
(10:54):
So I think those things aretied together.
Your customers having a goodtime in your store and enjoying
their experience will dictatethe type of store that you
become.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
I agree with everything you said and I'll
also add that I believe in myheart that it is the booksellers
who make the independentbookshop, because without them
and without their knowledge andtheir passion for reading,
customers kind of get lost.
And also it's like a friendshipbetween a bookseller and a
reader.
There's a bookshop downtown LosAngeles and it's called the
(11:28):
Last Bookstore.
It's been on every book lover'sInstagram page for sure who has
been and visited the store.
And I remember years ago I wentin there and I was just
browsing around and one of thebooksellers came up to me and
said you know, can I help youfind anything?
And I said you know, I'd reallylike a good dark vampire book,
but I want something, you know,that's not teen, I just want
(11:52):
something really rich and darkand deep.
And he said oh, you need tospeak to so-and-so, go up there
and he'll show you around and heknows exactly what you're going
to need.
So I did and I went up.
I was talking to this guy andhe was asking me all these
questions about what I read andhe said I think I have the
perfect book.
He handed me a copy of George RR Martin's Fever Dream.
(12:13):
Now, I didn't know that he hadwritten a vampire book, and this
was fantastic.
It had all the deep historythat I needed.
It was great, and so that to meis an example of the gift of a
good bookseller.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
I can't tell you how many times a bookseller has
recommended a book to me andit's become one of my favorite
books Absolutely, and I think,having those recommendations on
the shelves as well, that peoplecan, as they're browsing, can
pick something up and go.
Well, this person really enjoyedthis book and it sounds like
another type of book that I'veread.
So, once again, if they enjoythat, they get something out of
(12:51):
it.
When they return to the storethey'll look for those
recommendations and they mightactually seek out the person we
get a lot of that of, whorecommended this book and you'll
say, well, it wasn't me, it wasone of the staff members, and I
want to talk to them.
I want to ask them a question.
I want to.
You know you mentioned sci-fiand fantasy, that is, it's
(13:11):
certainly not my genre, but I dohave quite a few staff members.
It is what they're into andthey're very passionate about it
, and a conversation of arecommendation can go from
anywhere to 15 to 45 minutes of,you know, deep discussion about
the author.
So, which is fantastic, that'swhat you want and you're right,
that's what customers want whenthey come into the store.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Matt, you and I share a mutual friend, Enric Koch.
He turned me on toyourbookstoreio.
Let's talk about how thisplatform differs from other
online book purchasing sites.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Sure, yeah, look, it's a website that connects
book buyers so customersdirectly with independent
bookstores, and I think thedifference from other platforms
is it doesn't charge storesanything at all to list their
products on there at all, italso doesn't take a percentage
(14:07):
of the sale.
That's not what it's about.
What it is simply about istaking that customer who is
searching for a book, directingthem to their closest
independent bookseller, wherethey can either purchase it
directly from their website or,fingers crossed, they realize
just how close that indiebookstore is to them and they go
(14:29):
and drop in for a visit.
I think that's what sets itapart.
I'm lucky enough to have sortof been there from the concept
of this to actually seeing itgrow into a full service, and
now that we have so manybookstores that are involved
with it, we're starting to seepublishers get involved as well
(14:50):
and authors, which is fantastic.
So you mentioned Rick.
Rick is doing fantastic workdirectly with authors and it is
really all about thoseconnections, just simply
connecting someone that'slooking for the next book that
they want, the next good read ora fantastic children's picture
book, whatever they're lookingfor.
(15:10):
They can find that book withtheir local independent
bookseller and, you know, withthe author's help.
Now we're finding this is it'sworking back and forth.
They're finding new authors,the publishers are helping as
well.
It is just a fantastic serviceand, like I mentioned, it's
completely free to stores to beinvolved with, so absolutely
(15:31):
fantastic.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
So just to make sure I have it clear with
yourbookstoreio the customerpurchases the book directly from
the bookshop andyourbookstoreio will actually
list which bookshops near youhave that book in stock.
So you're missing thatmiddleman and you're purchasing
the book directly from theindependent bookshop.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Exactly.
You can see who's got it instock at what price.
Like you said, you could godirectly.
It will take you directly totheir website to purchase it
from them directly.
So they would be packaging thatbook up and sending it to you.
Or, like I said, the bestoutcome would be they realized
they're much closer to thatindie bookstore than they maybe
perhaps realized and they dropin for a visit.
(16:16):
So that's the idea.
It's all about thoseconnections and you know the
fact that it's a free serviceand no one is taking any
percentage of that sale.
That's just wonderful and I,you know, I think it's a real
asset to independent booksellers.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Currently, yourbookstoreio is set up in
Australia.
Are there other countries wherethis platform is available?
Speaker 2 (16:42):
So it's being pushed to the idea that we will have a
US version of it as well.
You know it's going to have tobe regional because you're going
to want to make sure that youare going to that closest
bookstore and finding out thatthe right info.
From a logistical point of view, I know that when a book is
(17:04):
published, it's quite common forthe US and UK and Australia and
New Zealand we all getdifferent editions of the book.
So we're dealing with the samebook, different cover, different
, so it's important to have itregional.
We want to make sure that thelocation is correct, but it's
certainly rapidly developing.
(17:24):
Like I said, fantastic serviceand a real asset.
And when you can actually seesomeone say I bought this book
because I looked it up there andI realised that Bookstore of
the Suburban Way had it in stock, that's when you can actually
see the practical side of thisworking.
So, yeah, really, really good.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
For anybody in Australia, I will put the link
to yourbookstoreio in the shownotes, and for any independent
booksellers and bookshop ownersout there, I will make sure to
put the link where you cancontact Rick Koch and he can
tell you more about this product.
It really is wonderful, andI've started putting some of the
links to books throughyourbookstoreio in the show
(18:07):
notes with each episode.
Now, matt, there's also anothersystem that Rick told me about,
called circlepawscom, for thebooksellers and bookshop owners
listening.
Can you tell us about thesystem, what it is, how it can
support booksellers and whatmakes it a standout point of
sale system?
Speaker 2 (18:24):
I am probably a little bit of a spokesperson
because I am one of the trainersfor CirclePaws, so it's my job
to train new stores as they usethe system.
So, look, it is a purpose-builtcloud-based inventory
management system and it'sdesigned specifically for
bookshops.
It allows them to easily selltheir products, both in-store
(18:48):
and online.
And you know, as booksellers weneed a lot of data for our
products.
We need to be able to you knowat our fingertips, be able to
see who the author is, we needto know what the cover looks
like, we need how many pages thebook has.
We need all of this informationand we need to be able to
provide that to potentialcustomers online, and that's
(19:09):
something that CirclePos doesincredibly well.
It allows us to take ourinventory that is in our stores
and get it online very, veryquickly.
I often get customers that willuse my website at our stores for
almost like a catalog, wherethey'll pop in the store and
they go.
I know you've got something instock and before I can ask what
(19:31):
they're looking for, theyalready have headed off to the
section.
They've already looked it up,they know I've got it on the
shelf.
So it works in more ways thanjust someone purchasing online.
So CirclePause manages to tieall of that in really, really
well.
I am quite passionate about it.
I was obviously using it beforeI was training and I'm quite
(19:53):
passionate about it.
I like the system.
It's purpose-built for what wedo.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
How has CirclePausecom helped you as a
business store manager?
Speaker 2 (20:04):
So, as I mentioned, we had CirclePause in our stores
before I was training and thebig change for me the immediate
one, was that I could havee-commerce sites for my stores
relatively quickly, almostinstantly.
It reflected what stock we hadin store to the internet, which
was fantastic.
Our website was actuallylaunched the week that Melbourne
(20:26):
entered its first COVIDlockdown, so that was huge for
me.
I could not have customers inthe store and these were regular
customers, the type ofcustomers that you see weekly a
couple of times a week, some ofthem and suddenly they couldn't
come in.
It was fantastic to have thisavailable to them.
They were able to see does thestore have what I want?
(20:49):
What is the price?
They could click and collectthe items and they could come
pick them up from the door.
It was huge to me.
I think the other improvementwas moving to that cloud-based
system, which meant that I'm nottied to the counter in the
store anymore.
For example, I don't do anyordering for the store within
the store anymore.
I would do that from my homeoffice.
(21:10):
I'm not tied to going into thestore to handle those sorts of
things and I can do this fromanywhere.
And look, I would be lying if Isaid my laptop doesn't come on
holiday with me.
It does.
It's hard to get, it's hard toget away from your business, so
it is one of those things, butit has really freed me up from
being so tied to the store.
(21:31):
I'm able to work from homeessentially for a lot of my role
, so it's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Is that a difficult system for booksellers to learn
and how easy was it to integrateinto your shop?
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Well, that's my job.
To say it's not difficult.
It isn't a difficult system.
It's quite intuitive to whatbooksellers do and it is
something that certainly isalways being developed and
improved as well and what we'reable to do is to provide
(22:03):
documentation for everythingthat we're doing.
We are able to not onlydocumentation, we're also able
to provide video for everything.
So we have a lot of resourcesthere for booksellers.
Plus stores that are new to theindustry or not new to the
industry.
They can get one-on-onetraining with us.
We also have a wonderfulsupport team are always
(22:27):
available to help out.
So I think the combination ofthose things it makes it a
little bit easier for storesthat are potentially moving from
a previous system.
Speaking from experience, thatis quite scary.
It is a very scary idea ofrelearning what you're doing in
your shop.
But I think the combination ofour support team, our training,
(22:52):
all of our resources, wecertainly try to make that as
easy as possible and I'vepersonally trained many stores,
all sorts of different storesand successfully got them to use
the most out of the system thatthey possibly can.
So, relatively easy, I think.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
Did you have the booksellers in both stores learn
how to use CirclePausecom?
Or is it specifically just foryou to use?
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Well, are you saying that as the manager of the store
?
Is that what you're saying?
Who's actually stocking theproducts?
Speaker 1 (23:29):
I would say in general, does everybody in the
bookshop know how to useCirclePausecom?
Does it track sales adequately?
Does it give you a printout atthe end of the day of which
books were sold and which onesyou have to reorder?
What does it do for you?
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Oh, of course, yeah, yeah.
So it's able to give you verydetailed sales reports.
It's actually a part ofCirclePause which I actually
love.
Actually, the way that we doour reordering is we're
essentially looking at a reportof what we've sold during a time
period and making a decision onthat right then, and there, do
(24:04):
we ever want to get this book inagain?
It doesn't have to run to zero.
It could be a book that's justsold flying off the shelves, but
you can preempt that runningdown to nothing and make sure
that you restock the shelf.
It's able to handle those sortsof requests really, really
easily.
That the whole platform isdesigned to make everything
(24:26):
smoothly run.
So from getting the stock in togetting it on the shelves, to
selling it to customers, toreordering it, it all works in a
really really nice process.
So, very, very easy to restock,yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
And are both of your stores integrated into the same
CirclePath system?
Speaker 2 (24:44):
Yeah, so our stores can see in real time our stock
levels between each other.
They can see some basic saleshistory as well, which is nice.
We move a lot of stock betweenstores, so it's really useful to
be able to see immediately howsomething's selling at the other
store, because some things sellbetter in one store than the
other.
So you can move things around.
(25:05):
We also are able to sharecustomers amongst our stores so
they can benefit from ourin-store loyalty program
regardless of what store they'rein, which is fantastic, being
that we are one of our storiesis in a holiday area we do
actually get a little bit ofcrossover of customers, so
that's nice.
They're able to do that, andthat also leads into our gift
(25:26):
cards.
They're obviously usable acrossall of our stores as well.
So little things like that.
There's certainly big pluses.
Um, the other thing that we'reable to do is we have what's
referred to as like a group site, so I can have a central
website which is available tothe public to search for a
product, see if our stores haveit, buy it from whichever store
(25:48):
they like, and that saves me inmy advertising costs.
I can essentially directcustomers to one site as opposed
to multiple sites.
It really benefits you in thatsense as well, because you're
sort of cutting down your costs.
It works really really well.
It doesn't require any extrasteps or anything from us either
(26:08):
, so yeah, and Matt.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
I do have one other question about CirclePausecom.
How does it compare with otherPOS systems price-wise?
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Well, the initial setup is incredibly affordable.
You're looking at, you know,$50.
Regardless of where you are tostart, that's your initial one.
There are no setup costswhatsoever.
That is the initial cost to getup and running and from there
we sort of operate a little biton a pay-as-you-need service in
(26:38):
regards to our training anddesign.
So obviously experiencedbooksellers they may not need as
much training or assistance asothers, but people new to the
industry they're certainly goingto benefit from a little bit
more one-on-one work with one ofour trainers.
The nice thing about all of ourtrainers was we're actually all
booksellers as well, so we'reable to give a little bit more
(27:02):
insight to the actual practicalrunnings inside the store as
well.
So little things like that.
I think cost-wise it'scomparable, but certainly the
initial setup being that there'sno fees to get up and running,
I think that's a big plus aswell.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
And for any bookshop owners listening around the
world.
Circlepause is being used inAustralia and just starting to
be used in the United States.
Hopefully there'll be othercountries, right.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Absolutely Yep, yep.
And we're already working withquite a few US stores, as we
spoke about earlier.
There's a lot of terminologythat's a little bit different,
so there's already whispers inthe development there of making
sure that everything lookscorrect to a US bookseller.
The words all make sense on thescreen, but we're working
(27:51):
closely with them now just tomake sure that the system suits
their needs and at the end ofthe day, we are all just selling
books, regardless of whatcountry we're in.
But there are some littledifferences probably with the
ordering system and things.
But you know, it's nice thatCirclePos is quite transparent
what they're doing and wherethey've always been very open to
(28:16):
working directly withbooksellers to get this system
to work the way that it shouldand the way that they want it to
work.
So, yeah, it's pretty excitingto be working with the US stores
now.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Well, if I ever get my dream of a brick and mortar
indie bookshop, I will certainlybe looking at circleposcom as
my point of sale system.
Okay, now let's talk aboutbooks.
What are you currently reading?
Speaker 2 (28:40):
So I'm reading the Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife
by Anna Johnston.
So it's Anna's first book.
She's an author from Melbourneand I make a point now of just
trying to read outside mycomfort zone.
I think you can get too used toreading the same authors in the
same genres, so I'm reallybeing dictated a lot by
(29:04):
recommendations.
A lot of customers will say Iread this book and it's
fantastic and I just put thebook aside.
I make a point of notresearching the book.
I do not read the blurb of thebook, I just start at page one
and I try to go in completelyblind and completely unaware of
what I'm going to read.
And you know, sometimes that'sgreat and sometimes that's bad.
(29:26):
And I've been very lucky withthis book.
It is absolutely fantastic.
I'm going to finish it reallyquickly because I'm enjoying it
that much.
It's a beautiful little quirkystory.
Yeah, it talks about aged careand it's just.
It's a wonderful story.
It's got a few moments thatwill definitely put a lump in
(29:46):
your throat as you're reading it.
So I'm really enjoying it.
It's going to be highlyrecommended to my customers, I
think, once I finish it.
So yeah, absolutely loving it.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
And would you say you read more fiction than
nonfiction, or the opposite?
Speaker 2 (30:00):
I sort of go through phases.
I tend to read a lot ofnonfiction and I am trying to
get away from that, because youcan almost get into the bit of a
stage where you're readingalmost like a textbook, and
that's why I'm trying to go.
I'm just going to pick thisbook up and someone said it was
good and let's just find out,and I think might draw the line
(30:24):
at fantasy, though I'm not sureI can do the jump into fantasy.
It doesn't really.
It doesn't ring true for me.
I know it's incredibly populargenre but for the most part I
will pretty much read anythingat this point that people will
suggest to me.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
Yeah, I'm a big proponent of reading out of your
comfort zone and that's one ofthe reasons I decided to do this
podcast was because I wanted tostretch my wings and start
reading in genres that I hadn'tread in before.
Reading more nonfiction,because I love fiction.
Now, tell me about your events.
Do you hold many in the stores?
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Yeah, yeah, we do so.
We do a lot of reader talks andbook launches and things like
that.
I always enjoy doing it becauseyou get to sort of, once again,
you get that sort of insight tothe book that perhaps you
wouldn't have got if you'd justread the blurb or read a review
of it.
You actually get to listen tothe author talk about how they
(31:19):
put the book together.
Sometimes and it actuallyhappens quite a few times they
bring their notes, which iswonderful.
They bring a big pile of notesand they go.
This is what I spent the lastfour or five years putting
together and it's a wonderfulinsight and that has certainly
opened up quite a few books tome that perhaps I just wouldn't
have read, I wouldn't havepicked up and wouldn't have
thought to read them.
(31:40):
So, yeah, I do enjoy doing theauthor events.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Yes, me too.
They're a lot of fun.
Okay, Now, before we wind upthis episode, could you give
listeners the Book Barn websiteplease?
Speaker 2 (31:53):
Yeah, so we have a few websites.
I think the best one for peopleto go to is simply
thebookbarncomau, and that willtake you to all of our stuff,
both of our stores, all of oursocial media, so that's a
fantastic place to start.
I think you were going to askme also about circle pause as
well, I assume absolutely, andalso your bookstoreio yeah, so
(32:16):
circlepausecom that's the placeto go for that.
we're always happy to have achat to booksellers who are
considering coming on board.
We do complete one-on-one demoswith people as well, so they
can sort of ask a few questionsand see how things work.
Like I mentioned before, it'sscary sometimes.
(32:37):
It's a big commitment.
You don't change your point ofsale in any business.
I don't think you don't do thatovernight.
I can tell you from myexperience.
It took us two years to movefrom our previous point of sale
system to CirclePos, because youhave to pick your timing and
you have to get everyone onboard and it takes a bit of work
(32:57):
and I wish I'd done it soonerbecause it's certainly not as
scary as it seems.
But yeah, we're always happy tospeak to people.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
Yeah, it sounds like a great system for anyone
actually thinking about openingup an independent bookstore too.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Absolutely, Look.
I think that the fact thatwe're able to put you in contact
with a bookseller like myselftoo New booksellers have a lot
of questions outside the pointof sale system.
You know, sometimes it's thingsthey've not thought about.
Sometimes it's things that lastminute queries they have about
(33:34):
it's opening day what do I doabout this?
And we have a lot of knowledgejust in our training team and
our support team that can helpout with those little things.
And after training and settingup so many stores, we have a lot
of experience.
There's not too many questionswe haven't been asked.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
Well, gosh, we have covered a lot in this episode,
matt, from the Rosebud Book Barnto yourbookstoreio, to
circlepawscom and to what you'rereading we have.
I feel like we've spoken a lotabout websites today, but I
think we managed to talk alittle bit about books too,
(34:12):
which was nice, yes, and I willdefinitely come and visit the
Rosebud Book Barn next time I'min Australia, because Victoria
is the state of my birth.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
I did hear you mention on one of the other
podcasts that you wereconsidering doing a little bit
of a bookstore tour.
I think that would be afantastic idea.
I think you could probably youcould probably get people on
board for that too.
I think you could sell that asa package deal, Right.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
I think it would be a lot of fun for me and for
everybody else, and for all ofthe booksellers too.
It'd be a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
Yeah, absolutely.
You would never run out ofstores too, it'd be a lot of fun
.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Yeah, absolutely.
You would never run out ofstores, you know?
One last question, I promiseit's my last one.
Does Australia still have manyradical bookshops?
I know there used to be quite afew, but I'm not seeing as many
as I used to online.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
There's a few.
Look to be completely honest, Ithink COVID might have injured
a lot of those stores.
They may have closed bricks andmortar and moved to more of an
online setup.
I'm quite envious of the USwhen I see the type of
bookstores that they can havethere, the sort of niche
(35:16):
specialist stores.
I think it's just the volume ofpopulation that the US has.
It's fantastic.
I got to see a little bit ofthat recently in some reports
back from the US and it wasfantastic.
Some of the stores just blew meaway that they could have such
a large store about such aunique topic.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
Yeah, and many of those small radical bookshops
are thriving, especially in theUK.
It's been great chatting withyou, matt.
Thanks for all the informationand I hope to speak with you
again soon.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
Thank you for having me on May.
I really appreciate it.
I'm a huge fan of the podcast.
That was a real thrill to comeon.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
You've been listening to my conversation with Matt
Lupica, the General Manager ofthe Book Barn in Victoria.
To help the show reach morepeople.
Please share episodes withfriends and family and on social
media, and remember tosubscribe and leave a review
wherever you listen to thispodcast.
To find out more about theBookshop Podcast, go to
(36:15):
thebookshoppodcastcom and makesure to subscribe and leave a
review wherever you listen tothe show.
You can also follow me at MandyJackson Beverly on X, Instagram
and Facebook and on YouTube atthe Bookshop Podcast.
If you have a favorite indiebookshop that you'd like to
suggest we have on the podcast,I'd love to hear from you via
(36:38):
the contact form atthebookshoppodcastcom.
The Bookshop Podcast is writtenand produced by me, Mandy
Jackson-Beverly, Theme musicprovided by Brian Beverly,
executive assistant to Mandy,Adrienne Otterhahn, and graphic
design by Frances Verala.
Thanks for listening and I'llsee you next time.
Thank you.
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