We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kelly Nusz. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kelly below.

Kelly, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Parents can play a significant role in affecting how our lives and careers turn out – and so we think it’s important to look back and have conversations about what our parents did that affected us positive (or negatively) so that we can learn from the billions of experiences in each generation. What’s something you feel your parents did right that impacted you positively.

My mom was a teacher and my dad was a business owner – I have been both. I taught ESL for several years and have a Master’s in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. I was good at it but I didn’t love it, I hardly liked it. I always fantasized about owning my own business but never really thought I would do it. Seeing my dad struggle with his business was tough and when I decided to start mine, I asked for his advice. He said, “Get used to paying everyone else except yourself.” He was right. But I also learned a lot of other things like seeing a dream grow and come to life. Having his example in my life helped me see that it was possible, but also not to have rose-colored glasses about what it would be like.

My dad owned a funeral home and for part of childhood, we also lived in the funeral home. We worked there too. My brothers and I had to clean up after funerals – dusting, vacuuming, and moving flowers. As a teenager I worked for my dad more frequently. I did a lot of the same, cleaning and maintenance, but I also learned how to speak to mourning families – a specific brand of customer service. Seeing everything that went on behind the scenes and then watching as it all came together was a big experience that stayed with me.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’ve worked for small businesses almost my entire life. I worked for my dad’s funeral home when I was kid. My first job when I moved out on my own was in a local restaurant and then I managed a local coffee shop for almost 10 years. I’ve worked for two friends that opened their own business and now I am the owner and operator of Foxing Books, an independent bookstore in Louisville, KY.

Being a writer since I was a child and a book lover since my teens, I always imagined a life surrounded by books. I even used an assignment in college to design and plan my own comic book store that was also a safe space for women. Reading was not always easy for me, and I’m still a very slow reader – I’m not a “reading challenge” kind of person. I want to help others find the book that grabs them and encourages them to become a reader.

The idea of Foxing Books began in 2019 when my family inherited an old rundown school building that was in need of a lot of maintenance, cleaning, and rehabilitation–in short, a money pit. Initially I wanted to sell it. I didn’t want the responsibility or the upkeep. We have two young daughters, both under the age of 10, and were deep in the throws of parenting. Once we took a moment to really evaluate not only our relationship to the building, but also the neighborhood that surrounded it, we realized that if we sold the property it might become luxury apartments or commercial space that would otherwise not benefit the nearby residents. I had a change of heart. In what little spare time we had, we began to clean the space and the building began to reveal some of its beauty. I began to dream about a bookstore going into this old school building.
Louisville, KY is home to over 600,000 residents and until just a few years ago, had one local bookstore. Foxing Books resides in the South End of the city, nestled among several neighborhoods represented by 35,000 of those Louisville residents. We are the only full service bookstore in this area of town and one of the few bookstores that are West of I-65 – a major interstate that has historically divided the city by race and means.

With our Foxing Books book truck we are able to travel to various neighborhoods that do not have access to a bookstore in their neighborhood. We believe that books are for all and everyone deserves access to books. We offer new, used, and discounted books in order to meet each shopper at their price point. Together with other local businesses, we are building a literary community that promotes literacy and creativity. We carry products from local businesses like West Lou Coffee, Brummel & Bivvy Candles, and merchandise from I LOVE BOOKS. We are currently running a promotion with Louisville Cream, a local ice cream shop, to promote reading at every age.

I am most proud of my two daughters and showing them that a lot of work and patience and setbacks and resilience can pay off in the end. Seeing my idea all the way through has been a process. I am a person who has a lot of ideas and excitement around those ideas, and then also a lot of burnout. In 2020 I finished writing and editing my first novel, it was something that took years and taught me that I can embrace the slow process of building something. Seeing the book truck come to life and then the storefront, is what I am most proud of with my business.

Foxing Books has the goal of building a literary community around books and reading. We believe that books are for all and stock a selection of books in different languages and have a collection that every reader can see themselves in. Librarians often talk about books as windows (stories that are different from your own experiences, a way to peek into someone else’s life) and mirrors (stories that reflect your own, ones that you can see yourself in). Having a collection of both these types of stories are important to our brand.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

The Foxing Books book truck was launched in September of 2022–three years after we took possession of the school building and my original idea of a bookstore blossomed. Time had made me resilient, but I still lacked the help needed to start making money to invest in the brick-and-mortar storefront. I convinced my friend Bentley to become my marketing manager and help build a website, tackle online marketing, and start a newsletter to grow our customer base and gain support. Turns out, I got my first business break in the form of Bentley who was amazing at all of those things.

Business picked up. News of the booktruck spread and by April 1, 2023 we were running behind getting the next newsletter out. We had a big month planned with Independent Bookstore Day and a new Book Club Trivia event. Bentley had contacted the author of our book club pick who had agreed to be a part of the event. I texted with him that morning to get his approval on the newsletter, and he was going to send it out later that day. The weekend brought more good fortune when Foxing Books was asked to be featured on the local news. I was thrilled. I texted Bentley and sent him a clip on the feature so he could send it out in an email blast to our followers. On Tuesday, April 4, I received news that there had been an accident and Bentley had passed away on April 1st.

It’s difficult to describe how devastated I felt, but I can admit that I seriously considered quitting. I had no idea how to do anything having just lost my friend and only partner in the business. With time, I came to the decision to keep going. I had to dig deep and use the joy that Bentley brought to everyone to help propel me and the business forward.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

In one word: collaboration. I came up in the restaurant industry where everything was about competition and doing better than the competition and how we could beat the competition. But when I started working at my friend’s ice cream shop in 2019, I noticed that things had shifted. Other restaurants and brands were reaching out to them to see how they could collaborate. Each collaborator would hype the other’s brand and the other participants would benefit. In 2021 I began to working for another friend’s brewery whose entire business model was based on collaboration. Their budget was too small to invest in a large brewing system so they collaborate with other local brewers to create a large batch of beer to share. Again, both parties benefit.

I discovered very quickly with the book truck that it made so much more sense to collaborate with another small business. Event fees can take a big cut out of your profit. By collaborating with another small business, we both benefited, and again, we both got to hype one another’s business. Now, with the brick and mortar location, we carry a lot of other local small business products and we are currently running a promotion with a local ice cream shop to encourage reading at every age.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.foxingbooks.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foxingbookstore/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FoxingBooks

Image Credits
Kelly Nusz/Foxing Books