friend of mine took over form zero books couple of years ago and quickly went out. art and architecture books are doing poorly and you can get books easily from the internet dealers. in my opinion barns noble + architecture could only work in few locations but not in sandusky in ohio where a barnes noble store already overstocked with architecture shelves (i've bought alvaro siza book in ashland,ohio once for 5 bucks). people in the profession usually know their books and their numbers are not enough to support arch book stores all over the map.
i don't think the idea would be success when architecture book stores are not doing well to begin with. general public are not interested in 'varified discussions in tectonics in a(r)ch+tecture' for example, and coffee table books are abundant in every garage sale.

i'm not sure if you are referring to b&n as a chain bookstore or as a big store. in anycase you can check prairie avenue bookshop in chicago. you can order online, too.

celikmetre as in celikbilek?

you can also buy books from archinect.

bill stout books is by far the best. if ever in san francisco, it is a must >> http://www.stoutbooks.com/

a design bookstore opened in phoenix several years ago called "volumes." it was a failed experiment. this may have been because it was located downtown (although it was right between will bruder's library and tod and billy's museum). it probably should have been in tempe or scottsdale if they wanted to sell any books, but in that case i doubt if they could've afforded the rent. there is actually a lot of good contemporary architecture in phx, why they couldn't support a design bookstore flabbergasts me. are there any phoenicians out there who can contradict my claims?

RE: abracadabra

12/05/04 17:06
celikmetre as in celikbilek?

yep, celik like in celikbilek:)

Stores just for architecture and design books are sometimes not as interesting as they could be, even for an architect. I prefer the stores which focus in an arch/des/art direction but don't put too firm a border around it. They find the things which someone with a jones for design might also find interesting, provocative, compelling, etc.

Hennessey + Ingalls in LA is my heaven.

if i could combine the strand with urban center (i think that's
the name...) i'd have the perfect art/architecture bookstore...

swamprat - i think the only way to be profitable in pretty much
any small bookstore venture is to make a web prescence...
i think if you started out web-based and only had to have inventory
you'd do far better...market to architecture schools...if you kept
your inventory on the site updated meticulously, with pictures,
i think you could do pretty well...prairie avenue has a pretty awful
website and i feel as though whenever i've looked at william stout
i've been unable to find anything as well...

i used to frequent cambridge architectural books...and that guy was
always complaining that he couldn't afford to stay in business...
eventually he couldn't...but i think he talked more people out of
buying books, or coming back, than he realized.

The guy who ran Cambridge Architectural Books was such a trip, and his conversations and ramblings were enjoyable. I remember one Saturday afternoon browsing in the shop, overhearing him first complaining about the work of Machado & Silvetti and then changing his tune just as Silvetti walked in the door. He seemed to me to be very intelligent, knowledgeable, and opinionated, but frustrated by the political climate that his big neighbor exuded.

He always had a great recommendation, and I was sorry to hear that he had folded the operation.

Hennessey + Ingalls

yep.

marc pittsley

i hear you...i bought almost all of my books there trying to
do my part to keep them in business...but the owner, paul,
used to always make a snide comment if i bought a eyewash
book...i think that may have dissuaded some people from
showing up...however, he was intimidatingly intelligent and
funny to talk to every now and again. i enjoyed listening to
him argue with various architects/profs that came through the
door. now i have to buy my el croquis from prairie avenue...

also what i respected about him was that you could tell he loved
good books and that he'd read quite a few of them
...didn't really care about making money...just wanted
people to see, appreciate and buy a good book...you could tell
that just by the fact that there was hardly room to stand in that
shop

as an architect with bookstore management experience and whose wife currently runs one, I'll add this:
bricks+mortar bookselling is a difficult business with much competition recently from the likes of amazon and other internet purveyors. the difference between independent niche stores and B+N/Borders is generally one of resources. Larger chain stores can actually (though often don't) take more risks because they are sustained by a larger web of corporate enterprise. If one Borders does poorly, it matters much less than that exclusive independent doing so. The other fact about this aspect of the business is that the margin on architecture books (as well as with art and design) is much MUCH lower than a novel or general bio book. This has a lot to do with the number of color reproductions, overall size, and relatively small market for these titles. This makes it very hard for a specialized architecture bookstore to stay in business. The ones that manage to do so (Prairie Ave, Hennesey+Ingalls, William Stout) do have a good clientelle, web presence, and catalogue distribution. Not insignificantly, they were all founded before the superstore-boom in the 90s. This allowed them to have a loyal customer base that sustained them through that and is now on the rise again.
Now, were the biggies (B+N/Borders) to ever decide to enter niche marketing, it'd get very interesting. Since these companies arecentralized, diversified and operate from a central warehouse system, it would matter much less for a Borders Architecture store whether they moved that obscure Hans Hollein volume. Though much loathed, the fact is that chain stores have the capacity (again, rarely used) to stock a wider range of titles with less bottom-line consequence. And while it would be interesting for them to do so, the likelyhood is pretty nil.

i like bill stout too! he does some publishing as well! and is a fellow university of idaho alum.

you are right stephanie. he does some decent publishing. the book on jim jennings is quite nice. he [and steven holl] are also responsibe for starting pamphlet architecture. there is a book out consolidating the first 10 pamphlets along with additional matter including letters and sketches between the two. i believe they were roomies in college.

i liked the book he put out a couple of years ago titled "poems for architects"

not familiar with that one. who were the poems written by? on a side note, his wife does some nice work too >> paulett taggart.

now i'm all off topic....
got any links/infor on paulett?

thx stephanie

here is paulett's site >> http://ptarc.com/

paulett is a great person. i worked for her a while back for a couple of years. her office is small. when i was there, it was myself and a couple of others. she does residential and small public projects. she also takes on a number of school renovations in sf. not much glory in the school work, but socially extremely important. if you've ever been in some of the worst public schools of sf, you know what i mean. i learned a lot from her. being in a small office, you have to do it all. the most important thing i learned from her is that it is just as important to interview your potential client. i know this sounds obvious, but i don't see it practiced much. i saw her, on a number of occasions, turn work away because she knew that it would not be a good fit. i have much respect for her.

apologies. try this >> http://ptarc.com/site/indexf.html