It's very encouraging that we're still afloat, and this is a testimony to the conscientiousness and consciousness of the British consumer, for as Shivaun noted, "Many people are very supportive of independent bookshops as they recognise it as a courageous thing to do." Nevertheless, while it's been a milestone in one way, it's also a marker on what could be a very long road to becoming even remotely solvent. After all, there's always the spectre of sobering reality looming in the distance, especially when I read the posting about our bookshop celebrating our first year including the comment "Woolfson & Tay's celebration comes just a week after four well-known independent bookshops have closed and Waterstone's announced major changes in its marketing policy." (SE1 article)
This made me ponder as to the challenges faced by indie bookshops everywhere, just like ours. I have come to the conclusion that, putting it very simply, the sums have to add up. We may love what we do but we have to keep being innovative and offering more than just a retail experience, and at a margin that sustains the business side of things. Why? Because selling books is hard work. The margins simply aren't there. The costs are steep, even if you discount the initial investment that goes into fitting out a shop; there's the repeating monthly stuff - rent and service charges, council fees, cleaning costs, staff and overtime wage bills, utility charges, and these for us represent on average about 80% of monthly sales - and all these before we have even considered the purchasing costs for reordering or new stock.
Looking over our daily sales figures, I can see that the worst day for us ever in terms of sales - books + gifts + cafe - was £126.80. That's earning an average of £15.85 per hour while open. Based on an estimated average gross margin of 50%, the profit for the day would be £63.40. It doesn't take a mathematician to figure out that with that sort of takings, one would be hard pressed to break even.
And that I reckon is the reason why so many indie bookshops close down.