We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jeremy Spencer. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jeremy below.
Hi Jeremy, thanks for joining us today. What’s been the best thing you’ve ever seen (or done yourself) to show a customer that you appreciate them?
I try to give back to our customers and the community in general. I enjoy offering free writing workshops and creative writing events. We also love to provide Poetry events and live music in our bookstore for patrons to enjoy. Free of charge of course.
Jeremy, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I began as a writer in 2017. I wrote a Post-Apocalyptic trilogy about a pandemic that comes to the world and kills 90% of the population. Obviously, this was a full two years before we all had our lives changed forever by Covid-19. The first book in this series (New Kings of Tomorrow) became a bestselling novel. From the success of this book I wanted to pivot to opening my own bookstore, which I did. The Tome Bookstore is half bookstore, half cafe.
We were in Mount Washington but we have moved locations just this month, we will have more information for our patrons in the coming weeks.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
A lesson in business I had to learn was, you have to just go for it and learn. You can take as many business classes and speak to as many entrepreneurs as you’d like, but in the end, there is no replacement for experience. You must make some mistakes in order to figure out your own niche, your comfort zone, and what works best for your business.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
With my first bookstore iteration we were doing Books/Coffee/Baked Goods. We learned that our business model didn’t work for us, long-term. So, we have switched that business model to Books/Some Boutique Clothing and Vintage items. This pivot fits the vision we have for our business going forward. It’s much more sustainable, and enjoyable for us.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ScarletRoseRetail.com
- Instagram: @thetomebookstore
- Facebook: Facebook.com/thetomebookstore