Shopkeeping — Peter Miller
About the Book
- Author
- Peter Miller
- Rating
- 4.0
- Categories
- Non-fiction, Small Business, Business, Design
Peter Miller has run an architecture and design bookshop in Seattle for more than forty years. These short essays pass on the unwritten craft of keeping a small shop: the shopkeeper's heart, the counter, inventory, how to speak to customers, why discounting is a sad sign, and why good shops are the measure of a town.
My take
Described as a love letter to the small shop - which I believe fits the bill perfectly. Peter goes into such intricate details at such great depth that you are immediately transported into the style of shop that he is talking about - one that is slowly disappearing but at the same time being reborn as you wander down new and old streets alike, with people taking charge of the mission much like Peter.
For myself, reading these pages, I was transported to the wondering of the style shop that I crave, an uncharacteristic blend of local grocer, butcher, cafe and bookshop and designing in my mind: can such a shop exist? And if so, when the time comes to take the leap and create it, how would I lay out such a place, guided by the words on the pages I was reading?
Quotes
Shops are the measure of a town. In your mind, you keep careful track of your best and favorite shops. You judge a city by them. When you are in the city and when you think of the city, it is the shops that best organize your plans. You judge your civilization by them.
You are the strongest and weakest part of the business. You have only to look at a retail space that has closed. You are the breath; your spirit has created what would otherwise not be there. It is your optimism, your belief, that created the shop and that keeps it alive. Should you lose that, then the business is done.
Should you lose heart, your staff will know it. They cannot be that heart. They can support and sustain it, but they cannot be it. And your customers will know, and they will slowly lose their attachment.
The shop does not need to be perfect—but it must at least appear to be ready, a small, specific distinction.
It will be a miracle if your shop succeeds. But you cannot have the miracle unless you open. And then you have the chance.
When the customers start to look forward to the posts, … then you are on the right trail. You have, in a way, two clients. You have the people who will read the post. … And you, you are also a client—the post must interest you, it must involve you. It is a great deal like cooking.
Inventory has three masters. It must please the owner, represent the product, and attract the customer. Every shop is defined by its inventory. Every shop is curated. The physical shop is the theater, the inventory is the play, and the interaction is the drama.
When I was about ten years old, riding in the back seat, my mom driving, we passed a shop that had a sign, Forty Percent Off, and she said, ah, how sad. … She said, they are nice people but their business is not working and they are closing. … They were simply going away.
In the very end, make it a place that you want to go. That is your best strength. It is all a lemonade stand. Signage, counter, product, price, presentation, construction, and heart.