Today we’d like to introduce you to Jean Elizabeth Buckner
Hi Jean Elizabeth, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Backstory:
I always had a dream of opening a bookstore but never imagined it would ever be possible considering I grew up in the 90s and 2000s when indy bookstores were closing left and right due to the prominence of big box retailers and the emergence of Amazon. But as I grew up and went to college (majoring in business marketing because, real life) I couldn’t get the dream out of my head.
So it was while I was in college that I started looking into the reasons why indy bookstores were failing. Once I realized that it wasn’t due to community interest or loyalty, but instead very low profit margins, I started wondering what a complementary product or service could be that could subsidize revenue while being a natural extension of the business we wanted to create.
Books and wine have always gone together, so that seemed to make intuitive sense to me. Also, as a reader who very rarely drank coffee, I was looking for more places outside of coffee shops that I could feel comfortable sitting and reading (i’ve been known to read books at the dog park, restaurants, and even while in line at the grocery store).
I wanted a place I could wind down after work with a book that wasn’t limited to the length of a meal or coffee. And with that, a bookstore wine bar concept was born. However, it would be another 5 or 6 years until I actually started to consider doing this for real.
It was actually my now husband, Logan, (then just my boyfriend at the time) who encouraged me to go for it. So i spent 4 years working on the business plan while I kept working at my corporate job. After we felt comfortable with the financials, we took the leap (I left my job Oct 2021).
Early Days:
Our early days were scrappy. There’s no other way to describe it. Very few businesses also straddled these same two (operationally very different) industries that we were playing in, so there was no roadmap or best practices to follow. No tools or resources to leverage.
We planned as much as we could, but we were ultimately learning as we went. And it was fun. It was fast-paced and energetic and a wonderful creative outlet. The community received us with such open arms (there was a line around the block for our entire opening day!) and we couldn’t have been happier.
That being said, there were one thousand and one challenges that popped up each day ranging from tools lacking the necessary functionality to huge obstacles with our building’s use permit and occupancy limits. While we’ve ironed out most of those kinks, but we’ll always experience this from time to time. That is, sadly, the cost of doing something few people have done before.
But now that we’re over two years in, we’ve expanded our product offerings including more coffee options (such as cappuccinos and lattes), loose-leaf teas, a highly curated used and antique book collection, poetry, short stories, and classics sections, and a larger more involved non-fiction section. We’ve also leaned in to events to help connect with the community. We often have book-themed trivia nights, live music, author signings, midnight release parties, poetry nights, and other community engagements on our calendar each week!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
– Finding a property zoned for alcohol sales was a huge issue
– Dealing with massive amounts of red tape within the local government (mostly relating the “Change of use” request)
– Finding insurance companies willing to represent a hybrid business (alcohol insurers won’t cover retail businesses and vice versa)
– Not having other companies to model our business after or other business owners to talk to about their experience
– Not having the tools necessary to run a hybrid business model (for example, there are POS systems for bookstore and POS systems for bars, but none that provide full functionality for both. You’re always having to hack one system to fit the other industry)
– Not knowing what you don’t know. This is huge and a sort of catch all. There are no resources out there that say “if you want to open a food/bar/retail enterprise, you need to go through these steps”. The sheer volume of research and “fake it until you make it” is astounding
– We are a low-medium margin business, so I don’t have the money or financial backing to hire full-time staffers. I have one full-time staff member I hired at the year 1.5 mark, but other than that, I’m completely hands-on every day. I work behind the bar, do our landscaping, marketing, bookkeeping, managing, event planning, book buying, wine buying, etc. etc.).
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Vintage Bookstore and Wine Bar?
“Whether you’re looking for a spot to cultivate a killer book club or just a place to enjoy quality time with a friend (real or fictional), Vintage is here for you! As a local, family-owned business in an increasingly franchise-oriented city, we are dedicated to bringing you a community as unique and wonderful as you are.
Equal parts independent bookstore and friendly neighborhood wine bar, Vintage will help you discover extraordinary worlds, enjoy great wine, and build new friendships.”
Our Name:
Our name plays on the homonym, “vintage,” which refers to the year grapes are harvested for wine production and something of lasting interest and importance (such as our books). Items described as “vintage” are perceived as unique and personal with the understanding that they’ve seen a lot of life. We believe our store is exactly that. We offer a welcoming space rooted in community that is as unique as our wonderful neighbors. Welcome to Austin’s living room.
Business Basics:
We are an independent bookstore that also operates as a small on-premise wine bar.
What makes us unique:
Most things! Our hybrid concept in and of itself is different, but the largest differentiator I think is that we’re a community gathering place. We’re more than a retail establishment or a restaurant where you’re only allowed to stay as long as it takes for you to finish your transaction.
We encourage people to linger and make connections with other members of our community. A customer once said, “There is never a shortage of things to talk about when you’re surrounded by books,” and we couldn’t agree more.
We also are on a mission to raise awareness of texas wine, so we have a featured Texas winery every month
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
1. Seeing the dedication local Austinites have for supporting independent businesses like ours. I’m truly blown away by the unwavering support we’ve felt from every corner of our amazing city. Watching our town come together to turn our small shop into a place of community and connection has been such a joy to witness and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for the future! From the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone who shops small and supports independent businesses.
2. The fact that reading is cool now! It’s been a joy to see communities of people come together over their shared love of reading. Booktok and Bookstagram didn’t exist in a meaningful capacity 10 years ago. And look where we are now. It’s such a wholesome and heartwarming thing to witness.
3. Lovestories. Because in the words of the wonderful Katherine Center, “When we read love stories, we get to see kindness in action. And human compassion. And connection made visible. And people choosing to be the best versions of themselves in the face of it all… It’s not just something Hallmark made up to sell Valentine’s cards. It’s not a construct of the patriarchy. It’s a deeply embedded, essential component of the human experience”
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.vintagebooksandwine.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vintagebooksandwine/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Vintagebooksandwine
