Page 4 - AIT0720_Buchhaendlerin

M rs Kunz, you have worked as an interior desi- part, we try to achieve this with the open offers in the
so called Allesraum, our space for everything.
gner for a long time and dared to change the
metier. In 2016, you founded the Buchstäbchen book-
store for children and familys in Stuttgart. Which r As a consequence of newly published books and
were the reasons justifying it? gift articles, the store and the window require a
Isn’t life too short for just one profession? After I had design update again and again. Are you still in your
worked as an interior designer for 15 years and, toget- element here as an interior designer?
her with my partners Dennis Mueller and Matthias Sie- I see myself not as an interior designer. I am a designer
gert, had successfully established the VON M office in and can express myself on very many levels of design
Stuttgart, the time for a major change had come. In at Buchstäbchen. In one year, we receive several thou-
2009, I became a mother and the challenges were of sands of new books which, sometimes more, someti-
course increasing to accommodate both the job and mes less, reflect the current trends in design. Thanks to
the family. That was why I set out on the search for a the close cooperation with illustrators, I try to trans-
positive field of activity which would be able to com- pose the content of the books onto the design of our
bine the issue of family as well as my interest in good rooms, be it through exhibitions, window designs or
design. I refocussed on the passion for children’s books other activities.
which had already always been an important part of
my life. Thus, the idea for Buchstäbchen was eventually r Which are your criteria for composing your range
born and the project for it implemented in due course. of books? It is striking most of them are of high gra-
phic quality and extremely beautifully illustrated…
r The classic book trade is undergoing a structural We mainly select our books intuitively. With an inde-
change. More and more bookstores are disappe- pendent bookstore, I am not forced to take on pre-as-
aring. What encouraged you to open your own book sembled ranges. You may rest assured that every book
store nevertheless? found here is here because at least one of the em-
I spent my first working years at Hugo Boss AG in the ployees likes it very much. I am very proud of my team
sector shop construction, realized shop projects world- which is very much a happy mixture of professionals. Schmökern mit den Töchtern • Browsing with the daughters
wide for the company and developed new store con- From the pedagogue to the book manufacturer and
cepts. From this time, I took with me how important communication designer all the way to a librarian of
the experience is when shopping. Certainly, more and many years, every one of us contributes her own
more stationary bookstores are closing, and the online aspects to the assortment.
trade is increasing in books as well. At the same time,
however, an increasing number of impressive statio- r As the founder, were you able to drawn on finan-
nary store concepts are created, and their success pro- cial funding programmes? And, during the past four „Bücher sind gemeinsame
ves them right. Of course, there were cautionary voices. years, has your store also developed economically Reisen ins Glück!“
But I was sure of one thing: If any book division should the way you want?
manage to be still sold in stores in a “classic” way, then In the beginning, I was able to profit from a start-up Myriam Kunz
it would be the one of children’s books. With our book- grant, but I have to say that, without a considerable
store, we have created a place where the love between contribution of my own capital resources, it would
a child and a book is allowed to develop. And, not in- have been impossible to realize this project. The book
frequently, adults also leave the store with a smile on trade per se is a very modest business. Nobody in the
their faces. value chain of a book can really consider himself or
herself an economic winner. Neither the authors, the il-
r Buchstäbchen is more than a children’s and family lustrators, the publishers and wholesalers nor the Service- und kundenorientiert! • Service- and customer-oriented!
bookstore. Numerous offers and events continue to booksellers live the high life. It is all the more impor-
give large and small customers a reason to drop in. tant that the customers fully understand that by pur-
Please tell us about it! chasing in a local bookstore, they are also ensuring its
Due to moving our store at the beginning of 2019, we continued existence.
are now located at the pulse of the district life in Stutt-
gart-West: in a lively square with a weekly market, re- r Buchstäbchen was awarded the Deutscher Buch-
staurants, galleries, a school and a church. The book- handlungspreis in 2018 and 2019. What do these
store and our new “Allesraum” event room make a va- awards mean to you and benefit you?
luable contribution to the local cultural life. Our pro- These awards mean a great deal to us and we feel very
gramme published three times a year has meanwhile honoured. In 2019, we were even awarded “Beste
grown to 32 pages. Already after a very short time, in Buchhandlung”. Yet what this really meant only be-
addition to our event classics – the popular story time, came clear to me when I really felt the concentrated
the reading club and exhibitions of picture books – competence and the commitment of the fantastic col-
amazing new happenings such as a children’s theatre, leagues at the award-giving. To be selected from among
a colourful workshop programme, a meeting of highly all these already very long and very successful active
sensitive people and ceramics courses held in our store bookstores as a newcomer existing for just three years
have been added. The Allesraum can be booked for in the “Beste Buchhandlung” category is a fantastic
children’s birthdays and other events. Our cultural acknowledgement of our daily work as a team. And will
events are for us as a company not eligible for subsidy no doubt be more than useful for attracting new custo-
which is why we have to cross-finance these. At least in mers in the future…

AIT 7/8.2020 • 045