We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Andrew Labit a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Andrew, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?
The business was listed for sale on Facebook as of February 1st. I thought I arrived late when I walked in on March 1st. I asked the previous owners how the sale of the store was going. They said that they had a few nibbles, but nobody was serious. I stopped. Paused. I threw it at them. “Well, what do you want for it?” From there it was a lot of coordinating with utilities, municipal entities, and paperwork. The sellers were probably the easiest part of the whole thing.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
We’re a used bookstore in Slidell, Louisiana! We sell primarily used books and have an inventory of around 22,000. We’ve been servicing the local community since 1991, and as the third owner of the store, I plan on keeping it going! Andrew’s Book Sack does a 2 for 1 trade in policy, and we work with a lot of local librarians, authors, and more!
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
I had a nest egg from leaving the military. I was in the Navy for just over 7 years, and saved up a decent bit of cash during that time. I never thought my emergency funds would be used to buy a bookstore though!
We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.
We have a very active social media presence on Facebook and Instagram. We’re branching out and doing some Tiktok, but Facebook has shown us the most growth. We also cross promote with local authors, especially when we do book signings.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bookshop.org/shop/Andrewsbooksack
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrewsbooksack/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marylousbooks
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@andrewsbooksack
