Boswell Book Co, the Little “Indie” that Could

Customers lined up outside Boswell Book Co., standing six feet apart on turquoise lines spray-painted onto the pavement near the storefront. Others sat in nearby benches as they sipped from coffee cups with either a Starbucks or Stonecreek logo slapped along the side. 

The scene has such as sense of normalcy that a person could momentarily forget the pandemic if it weren’t for the masks or the waiting for the sign on the entrance to be switch from “Sorry, we are at full capacity” to “Come in.”  

Independent bookseller Boswell Book Co. adapted to the challenges of the COVID-19 by switching to a hybrid of a virtual and in-person presence to compete with large corporations. 

After closing on March 16, 2020 due to the pandemic, Boswell opened for curbside pick-up and delivery in early April 2020 with grants from the City of Milwaukee.  

The store opened for in-person browsing in September 2020 in accordance with city health guidelines. Plexiglass barriers lined cash registers and the help desk, and dots on the floor guide the small batches of customers through the store. 

Boswell Book Co. was designated an essential business due to the mental health benefits of book and puzzle use. 

“Interest in books is sort of a niche of a niche of a niche, you know, like, it’s not going to be forever,” said Daniel Goldin, owner of Boswell. “But the book community is pretty supportive, and we’ve been really grateful.” 

Goldin, 59, bought the property from Schwartz Bookshops, a Milwaukee chain that was selling a handful of their storefronts. Named after Scottish biographer James Boswell, the store opened in April 2009. 

Unable to draw new customers into the store, Goldin had to rethink the way Boswell did business. Author events and book clubs moved online, curbside delivery became the main source of customer interaction, and Goldin drove out as far as Germantown to bring books to customers. 

“A percentage of our business that is online like just about every other bookstore skyrocketed [at the beginning of the pandemic],” Goldin said. “I mean it was just like, such that we couldn’t even keep up with it for a while. It’s in control now. When Amazon stopped shipping books for a while, we were shipping all over the country.”

Amazon opened in 1995, and the number of independent booksellers fell 40% over the next 5 years, according to American Booksellers Association. 

While online sales from Amazon hurt all brick-and-mortar stores, box chains like Barnes and Nobel have closed at high rates than independent booksellers, according to United States Census Bureau. Between 2009 and 2018 independent bookstores there was a 49% percent growth in sellers from 1,651 in 2009 to 2,470 in 2018, stated Ryan Raffaeli, a Harvard Business School professor, in a study.  

Independent bookstores have been left to service the market left by closing bookstore chains, according to Raffaeli. 

Boswell received orders from customers in Greenfield despite a Barnes and Noble being located there, Goldin said. 

In 2019, 1,887 independent booksellers ran 2,524 commercial outlets, according to the United States Census Bureau. Census data indicates that the number of books distributers has decline while the number of franchise locations has increased over the past decade.  

Boswell saw an increase in online orders due to Wisconsin’s stay at home orders.  

One person filled online orders before the pandemic, but the number grew to four during the early months of quarantine to keep up with the increase of demand, said Madi Hall, a Boswell employee. 

Hall, 26, worked at Boswell for two years before the store shutdown in March 2020 due to the pandemic. Considered an essential worker, Hall returned that April to help fill online orders.  

“One guy called and said, ‘Give me four books, three puzzles and a magazine. I don’t care what they are—I just want to support you’,” Hall told me. “A lot of people have been kind like that since we reopened.” 

Spikes in sales occurred in April, at the beginning of lockdown, and November, the beginning of the holiday season, according to Goldin. However, total holiday sales went down because there was no in-store shopping. 

“Paperbacks are struggling paperback reprints,” Goldin said. “They just don’t get media attention because they’re their last year’s book. Nobody wants to write an old story.” 

Boswell’s second-hand bookselling business has suffered, too, because it is too expensive for the company to buy a book that might not sell, Goldin added. 

Overall book sales have gone down nationally, but most bookstores have expanded their merchandise to include puzzles, magazines and other novelty items to boost sales.  

Puzzles were a hot-ticket item in April and May of 2020, Hall said. Boswell sold 4 times their annual amount of jigsaw puzzles during lockdown, according to Goldin. 

Stores like Boswell host community events to draw in new customers.  

Patrons would come in to listen to speakers and buy their books when events were still in person, Goldin. Since going virtual, more people attend events having previously read the books, which has led to a decline in book sales. 

Located on Downer Ave in Milwaukee, Boswell is near the center of a commercial hub, bookended between two cafes and close to restaurants like BelAir Cantina and Café Hollander. The location makes the store attractive to newcomers and returning customers.

“I would rather shop here [at an independent bookstore] instead of at a Barnes and Noble,” Jenna Van Hoogstraten said. 

Van Hoogstraten, 20, walked into Boswell Book Co. for the first time after exploring the area with friends on a warm Saturday. The tucked away bookshelves and comfortable atmosphere that chain stores lacked drew Van Hoogstraten and her friends to the store, she said. 

“I love hearing about when people like a book,” Goldin said. “I want to know when they don’t like it and to encourage those good conversations. That’s how you build the community: one person at a time.”