Meet the Owner: Jack McKeown of Books & Books

Welcome to the first installment of Patch's weekly feature, called Meet the Owners. In this feature, Patch will highlight business owners from Westhampton, Hampton Bays and Quogue. We are kicking off the series with  owner Jack McKeown. 

Question: How did you get started?

Jack McKeown: I was a publisher for almost 30 years so my background brought me into contact with book sellers. When I sold my interest in the company before I moved out here full time, Denise, my partner, and I started thinking about opportunities to open a book store. When two spaces opened that we could thought we could structurally combine that seemed to be the right time. We signed the lease in 2010 and opened the doors July 4th weekend in the summer of 2010.

What is your biggest challenge as a business owner?

Jack McKeown: People would say that the rise of digital publishing and e-books is the biggest challenge, but I take issue with that. The larger trends are positive — the aging of the population. Most book buyers are 45 and older and as baby boomers start to retire, they will have more discretionary time to read. I would say the biggest challenge is staffing to meet demand. Since closed, we have seen a business increase of 40 percent from last year and as a business owner, I would have never anticipated that kind of growth. It is a good problem, but requires a bit of a balancing act. 

What do you enjoy most about your job?

Jack McKeown: Your project changes every week when you run a book store. 20 percent of our inventory is new books that are arriving that month. You constantly have to familiarize yourself with new titles, subjects and topics and be able to hand sell them to your customers. That constantly requires that you be attentive to book reviews and always think about what will sell and what will appeal to your customer base. It is a challenge, we enjoy very much.

What are the trends in your business or what is your most popular item?

Jack McKeown: The most popular book surprise this summer is Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn. It is a story of a marriage gone terribly wrong with a real psychological twist at the end. It is very interesting. We have been selling it hand over fist and sold more copies than 50 Shades of Gray. This book just came out over nowhere.

What advice do you have for someone starting a business? Or what is the best piece of business advice that you have ever received?

Jack McKeown: You have to do your homework. I also have a real estate development background and there are tools that real estate developers have that can help you analyze business trends in a geographic area. Find out what those tools are. It pays off dramatically. A no-brainer second piece of advise is to have a small working capital. Many people underestimate the cash flow they will have in their first few months of business. You need to be able to leverage some of your own real estate or line of credit to have additional working capital available to grow your business. 

Do you have any future plans for your business?

Jack McKeown: We have a couple big ideas in the works, but are not ready to talk about them yet. 

What makes your business unique?

Jack McKeown: We challenged all of our staff to adopt three or four books that they would read in advance and hand-sell. That was a fun challenge that everyone jumped on.  We asked them to write down what they liked about the book and what makes it special. Their answers can be very subjective or a personal reaction. Their answers were then placed on index cards and signed by them and put in front of the books. 

What do you like the least about your business or what would you change if you could?

Jack McKeown: The hours. I am doing 12 to 14 hours day 6 days a week, but all the small business owners go through this and we all joke about it. It comes with the territory and it is part of being highly-seasonal. It is a badge of honor, if you get through it.

What do you plan to do in retirement?

Jack McKeown: We are putting an addition on our home in Remsenburg. We are building a first floor master suite. We don’t think there is a better place on the East Coast of the United States to spend our retirement than the Hamptons. 

If there is a business owner that you would like to see Patch interview, e-mail Erica.Jackson@Patch.com or shout out the business name in the comment section below.