The Bookstore Dream Is Real (and the Margins Are Terrible) | Kristen Iskandrian of Thank You Books

The Bookstore Dream Is Real (and the Margins Are Terrible) | Kristen Iskandrian of Thank You Books

What does it really take to open a bookstore, survive a pandemic in your first year, and then expand twice in six years? In this episode of The Localist, Carrie Rollwagen sits down with Kristen Iskandrian, co-owner of Thank You Books in Birmingham's Crestwood neighborhood. Thank You Books opened in December 2019, just months before COVID closed everything down. Six years later, they are expanding for the second time and doubling their footprint. Kristen talks about why retail leases matter more than most people realize, how Thank You Books learned what worked by listening to their customers, and why the book business is one of the hardest small businesses to run. They get into sideline items, signed first edition subscriptions, why bookstore margins are so thin, how to host author events that actually pull a crowd, and what it really means to build community around a store. Carrie spent years in bookselling before The Localist. She was co-founder of Church Street Coffee and Books and managed Jonathan Benton Bookseller. This conversation goes deep into the business, the dream and the reality of running an independent bookstore. Watch the full episode on YouTube [https://youtu.be/3CsZkXB7NOM?si=WrjNWwZ5WudgvGw9] ____________________________________________________________________________________ Mentioned in This Episode * https://thankyoubookshop.comThank You Books [https://thankyoubookshop.com] * Shop Thank You Books merch at MAKE Birmingham [https://www.thankyoubookshop.com/merch] * https://thankyoubookshop.com/signed-first-editions-club/signed-first-editions-clubThank You Books First Edition Subscription [https://thankyoubookshop.com/signed-first-editions-club/signed-first-editions-club] * Thank You Books on Libro.fm [https://libro.fm/thankyoubookshop] * Thank You Books on Bookshop.org [https://bookshop.org/shop/thankyoubookshop] * MAKE Birmingham (local goods sold at Thank You Books) [https://www.makebhm.com] * Hannah Mills (local maker featured at Thank You Books) [https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannahemills/] * Crestwood Pharmacy [https://www.instagram.com/crestwoodpharmacy] * Red Bike Coffee [https://www.redbikecoffee.com] * Urban Suburban (Crestwood) [https://www.facebook.com/UrbanSuburbanAntiques/] * Total Joint (Jimmy from Crestwood) [https://totaljointbham.com/] * Church Street Coffee and Books (Carrie's old shop [https://www.churchstreetshop.com/]) * Parnassus Books (Nashville) [https://www.parnassusbooks.net] * Ingram (book distributor) [https://www.ingramcontent.com] * Paz & Associates Bookselling Bootcamp [https://www.pazbookbiz.com] * Co.Starters small business class (Birmingham) [https://createbirmingham.org/programs/co-starters/] * Alabama Booksmith [https://www.alabamabooksmith.com] * Little Professor Book Center [https://www.littleprofessorhomewood.com] * Bookmarked Birmingham [https://www.bookmarkedpaperie.com/] * American Booksellers Association [https://www.bookweb.org] * Indie Bookstore Day [https://www.indiebookstoreday.com] * Winter Institute [https://www.bookweb.org/wi] * Birmingham Mountain Radio [https://birminghammountainradio.com] * Square Books (Oxford) [https://www.squarebooks.com] * Bookshop.org [https://bookshop.org] * Libro.fm [https://libro.fm] _______________________________________________________________________________ Thanks to Our Sponsor, Infomedia The Localist is sponsored by Infomedia, a Birmingham-based web and digital marketing company that helps small businesses get big results online. Contact Infomedia: https://infomedia.com/contact [https://infomedia.com/contact] ________________________________________________________________________________ Join Us at Localist Lab Localist Lab is our free live marketing event series for small business owners, held on the third Thursday of most months at Saturn in Avondale. Each session features practical strategies you can use right away, plus free tacos and coffee. See upcoming events and register https://infomedia.com/events [https://infomedia.com/events] ________________________________________________________________________________ Subscribe to Carrie's Newsletter Get more small business insights, resources and behind-the-scenes updates from Carrie delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for the newsletter: https://gmail.us20.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=9c59a060684d71f12f6e495fc&id=98cd3122b9 [https://gmail.us20.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=9c59a060684d71f12f6e495fc&id=98cd3122b9]

A Practical Guide to Part-Time Help: From Virtual Assistants to AI Tools

What if a few hours of part-time help would change your week? This episode is a live recording from Localist Lab, the free monthly marketing event series for small business owners in Birmingham. Carrie Rollwagen takes the speaker seat this time to walk a live audience through how she hired a virtual assistant, what she actually has her VA do, and where AI tools fit into the mix. Carrie covers what a virtual assistant is, how to find one, how to budget for one, and what to do before they start. She shares the documents she made for her VA, the tools they use together, and the kinds of work she does and does not hand off. She also walks through how she uses AI for tasks like building decks, transcribing meetings, organizing her desktop, and turning one podcast into a dozen reels. If you are a small business owner who keeps thinking you cannot afford help, this episode is a clear and honest look at what part-time help actually looks like in practice. Watch on YouTube [https://youtu.be/XdIGUQvX2MM?si=21s6tVpyqhIKZ-YJ] ____________________________________________________________________________________ Mentioned in This Episode * Virtual Savvy [https://www.thevirtualsavvy.com] * Time Tailored [https://www.timetailored.com] * OnePass (password manager) [https://1password.com] * LastPass (password manager) [https://www.lastpass.com] * Calendly [https://calendly.com] * Otter.ai (voice memo transcription) [https://otter.ai] * Carrie's Turn One Post into Ten talk [https://carrierollwagen.com] * Ohm Jiu Jitsu (Russell Marbut) [https://ohmjiujitsu.com] * Alabama Twisters [https://alabamatwisters.com] _______________________________________________________________________________ Thanks to Our Sponsor, Infomedia The Localist is sponsored by Infomedia, a Birmingham-based web and digital marketing company that helps small businesses get big results online. Contact Infomedia: https://infomedia.com/contact [https://infomedia.com/contact] ________________________________________________________________________________ Join Us at Localist Lab Localist Lab is our free live marketing event series for small business owners, held on the third Thursday of most months at Saturn in Avondale. Each session features practical strategies you can use right away, plus free tacos and coffee. See upcoming events and register https://infomedia.com/events [https://infomedia.com/events] ________________________________________________________________________________ Subscribe to Carrie's Newsletter Get more small business insights, resources and behind-the-scenes updates from Carrie delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for the newsletter: https://gmail.us20.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=9c59a060684d71f12f6e495fc&id=98cd3122b9 [https://gmail.us20.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=9c59a060684d71f12f6e495fc&id=98cd3122b9]

Growing a Business Without Losing What Makes It Special | Golden Age Wine

Growing a Business Without Losing What Makes It Special | Golden Age Wine In this episode of The Localist, Carrie Rollwagen sits down with Brandon Loper and Trent Stewart, co-owners of Golden Age Wine in Birmingham. Last time Brandon and Trent were on the podcast, it was during the pandemic. A lot has changed since then. They still have their original Mountain Brook location, but they also have Golden Age Wine Garden downtown, a national wine club and their own importing company called Vins de Lieu. Brandon and Trent talk about why they chose to scale through importing instead of opening more locations, how they think about pop-ups with local chefs, what makes Birmingham's small business community so supportive, why they hire for hospitality first and wine knowledge second, and how they keep both shops feeling personal even as the business grows. If you own a small business and you have ever wondered what it looks like to grow without losing what makes you special, this conversation is full of honest answers. Watch the Full Episode on YouTube [https://youtu.be/sfs6iLvVtS0] ____________________________________________________________________________________ Mentioned in This Episode * Golden Age Wine website [https://www.goldenagewine.com] * Golden Age Wine Club signup [https://www.goldenagewine.com/pages/wine-club] * Brandon and Trent's first Localist episode (2021) [https://carrierollwagen.com/podcast-episodes/lobbying-lawmakers-and-drinking-in-the-streets-with-golden-age-wine/] * Paramount (Brian) [https://www.paramountbham.com] * Bandit Patisserie [https://www.banditpatisserie.com] * Chez Fonfon [https://www.fonfonbham.com] * Salud [https://www.saludbham.com/] * David Baker Architects [https://www.dbarchitect.com] * June Coffee [https://www.junecoffee.com] * Erin Merhar (pizza pop-up [http://instagram.com/erinmerhar]) * Harper Snell (Golden Age photography and marketing) [https://www.instagram.com/harpersalillas] * Rob Culpepper (photographer) [https://robculpepper.com/] _______________________________________________________________________________ Thanks to Our Sponsor, Infomedia The Localist is sponsored by Infomedia, a Birmingham-based web and digital marketing company that helps small businesses get big results online. Contact Infomedia: https://infomedia.com/contact [https://infomedia.com/contact] ________________________________________________________________________________ Join Us at Localist Lab Localist Lab is our free live marketing event series for small business owners, held on the third Thursday of most months at Saturn in Avondale. Each session features practical strategies you can use right away, plus free tacos and coffee. See upcoming events and register https://infomedia.com/events [https://infomedia.com/events] ________________________________________________________________________________ Subscribe to Carrie's Newsletter Get more small business insights, resources and behind-the-scenes updates from Carrie delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for the newsletter: https://gmail.us20.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=9c59a060684d71f12f6e495fc&id=98cd3122b9 [https://gmail.us20.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=9c59a060684d71f12f6e495fc&id=98cd3122b9]

Is Your Website Losing You Customers without Your Knowing It? | Pam Darden of Infomedia

Your website traffic might be down. But that doesn't mean your business is. In this episode of The Localist, Carrie Rollwagen sits down with Pam Darden, VP of Accounts and Revenue at Infomedia, to answer real audience questions about small business websites in the age of AI. Pam has worked with small business clients for over 10 years. She knows what actually works, and what is quietly costing you customers. They cover why you still need a website even if traffic has dropped, how AI is pulling information about your business from places you never thought to check, what to put on your site so AI includes you in the conversation, how to track sales when analytics no longer tell the full story, and whether vibe coding is ever a good idea for a small business. If you have a website and are not sure if it is working, this episode will show you exactly where to look. 🎥 Watch the Full Episode on YouTube [https://youtu.be/L07YGmuT8I4] Mentioned in This Episode * Infomedia [https://infomedia.com] * Infomedia contact page [https://infomedia.com/contact] * Pam's SEO for the AI Era talk at Localist Lab [https://carrierollwagen.com/podcast-episodes/seo-for-the-ai-era-how-small-businesses-get-found-now-pam-darden-infomedia/] * Laine White influencer marketing episode of The Localist [https://carrierollwagen.com/podcast-episodes/local-influencer-marketing-small-business-guide-laine-white/] * Hattie O'Hara episode of The Localist [https://carrierollwagen.com/podcast-episodes/how-influencer-hattie-ohara-built-the-one-week-in-birmingham-brand/] * Google Business Profile [https://business.google.com] * HubSpot (CRM example) [https://www.hubspot.com] * Salesforce (CRM example) [https://www.salesforce.com] * Tempo Websites [https://tempowebsites.com/] Thanks to Our Sponsor, Infomedia The Localist is sponsored by Infomedia, a Birmingham-based web strategy company that helps small businesses get big results online. Contact Infomedia [https://tempowebsites.com/] Join Us at Localist Lab Localist Lab is our free live marketing event series for small business owners, held on the third Thursday of most months at Saturn in Avondale. Each session features practical strategies you can use right away, plus free tacos and coffee. See upcoming events and register [https://infomedia.com/events] Subscribe to Carrie's Newsletter Get more small business insights, resources, and behind-the-scenes updates from Carrie delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for the newsletter [https://gmail.us20.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=9c59a060684d71f12f6e495fc&id=98cd3122b9]

Building a Third Place through Tea Service | Cierra Lober of Cha House

What if the reason you opened a business had nothing to do with profit? In this episode of The Localist, Carrie Rollwagen sits down with Cierra Lober, founder of Cha House, a community hub centered around a tea house in Avondale, Birmingham. Cierra did not set out to open a tea shop. She set out to build a community center, and she chose tea as the method — specifically the traditional Chinese practice of Gong Fu Cha, where small pots of loose-leaf tea are steeped again and again, slowing you down and making you present with the people around you. Cierra talks about why she started Cha House, how five years of pop-up events led her to a brick-and-mortar space next to Beloved Community Church in Avondale, what it felt like to have four strangers volunteer to work for free because they wanted the space to survive, how she manages a seven-day-a-week event calendar, what she has learned about training staff for a community-first business, and what it actually takes to build a real third place in Birmingham. Whether you are running a traditional business, a mission-driven business or just someone who wonders what it would look like to build something around community first, this episode is warm, honest and full of ideas. 🎥 Watch the Full Episode on YouTube [https://youtu.be/wzUBSELAxE8] ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Mentioned in This Episode * Cha House Birmingham: https://www.chahousebham.comhttps://www.chahousebham.com [https://www.chahousebham.com] * Cha House event request form: https://www.chahousebham.com/eventshttps://www.chahousebham.com/events [https://www.chahousebham.com/events] * Burdock Book Collective (shares space with Cha House): https://www.instagram.com/burdockbookcollectivehttps://www.instagram.com/burdockbookcollective [https://www.instagram.com/burdockbookcollective] * Being Tea Chicago (Cierra's tea teachers): https://www.beingtea.com [https://www.beingtea.com/] * The Craft Room episode of The Localist: https://carrierollwagen.com/podcast-episodes/how-the-craft-room-turns-creativity-into-community-blakely-oconnor/https://carrierollwagen.com/podcast-episodes/how-the-craft-room-turns-creativity-into-community-blakely-oconnor/ [https://carrierollwagen.com/podcast-episodes/how-the-craft-room-turns-creativity-into-community-blakely-oconnor/] * Beloved Community Church Avondale (Cha House landlord):http://www.belovedcommunitychurch.org/ [https://www.belovedcommunitybirmingham.org] * Alabama Arise (nonprofit that held private event at Cha House: https://alarise.org/ * Autism Spectrum Society of Birmingham (monthly meetup at Cha House): https://autism-alabama.org/ [https://autism-alabama.org/] ______________________________________________________________________________________________ 📢 Thanks to Our Sponsor, Infomedia The Localist is sponsored by Infomedia, a Birmingham-based web and digital marketing company that helps small businesses get big results online. Contact Infomedia: https://infomedia.com/contact [https://infomedia.com/contact] ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Join Us at Localist Lab Localist Lab is our free live marketing event series for small business owners, held on the third Thursday of most months at Saturn in Avondale. Each session features practical strategies you can use right away, plus free tacos and coffee. See upcoming events and register [https://infomedia.com/events]