For the longest time, home had been wherever Cathy Klein wanted it to be when Books A Go Go still operated as a pop-up bookstore. Now, Books A Go Go has made a home for itself in downtown Ravenna, as it will celebrate its one-year anniversary on Saturday beginning at 11 a.m.
“It is both exciting and stressful keeping a business open,” Klein told The Weekly Villager. “It is a lot of work which I knew going into it so that part to still be here is rewarding after all of the effort that I have put into the business to keep it going.”
On Saturday, Klein will have an open house with refreshments, discounts and giveaways to commemorate the official one-year anniversary since the pop-up bookstore became a permanent fixture in the City of Ravenna.
According to Klein, once she realized a month ago that she was approaching the one-year anniversary since Books A Go Go planted roots in Ravenna, she thought it was appropriate to make it a special day.
“I know I still have a long road ahead because for small businesses, it takes three to five years to make a profitable business,” she added. “We will forge ahead and keep the positive road forward to build an even better bookstore.”
Klein acknowledged she knew it was a risk to open a permanent location for her bookstore, having had success moving throughout Portage, Mahoning and Trumbull County for the last several years but understood that it was now or never. She felt that if she was not prepared to set down a permanent location for the business now, then when would the time ever be,
“I wanted to do it while I had the means because I had worked so hard as a pop-up and saved money to be able to start this venture,” she noted. “It was more manageable with how hard I worked over the last three years prior to being even here to financially be able to open here.”
She said that the challenges of turning her mobile bookstore into a small business included the obstacle of reaching her customers in a modern world where the love of hardback books had faded, as people often read books digitally or listen to audio books.
Klein said that she has noticed interest from the younger generation in reading hard back books instead of going on the internet to do so and has found a loyal customer base in members of book clubs.
She currently has three book clubs that frequently meet at Books A Go Go.
“I get a great attendance for my regular book club, I have a silent book club, it is smaller, but it still gets people regularly and a cookbook club that is growing each time,” Klein added.
The cookbook club is the newest one, as it meets quarterly because the participants purchase the cookbook from Books A Go Go and cook from it over the next month, so when the club meets, they have a potluck to share the different recipes they learned from the cookbook.
“I think we all got isolated during COVID of course and life is more back to normal, but they are wanting these things together, so it has been great realizing what really brings people into the store and honing in on that,” she said. “I am trying to do more and more of that as I grow.”
Klein said that Books A Go Go has found success in selling crafts from local vendors, such as crochet book covers, and has invited guest speakers over the last year to increase daily attendance.
She added that she has found great support from several of the small businesses around the City of Ravenna, as they have banded together in their shared ambition of being successful local businesses.
“I have gotten to know a lot of the small business owners here over my year here,” she noted. “We have traded phone numbers and if not, we stop in and we check on each other and we text each other.”
One of her reasons for choosing Ravenna to open her bookstore was because of its historical significance.
“Ravena is one of the cities that has a unique downtown,” she said. “Although we are in the county seat and we are a city, it has that small-town feel to it and a lot of people are wanting to go back to having the experience of shopping small.”
