The History of Got Books, Inc.
Got Books, Inc employs nearly 100 people and is headquartered in a 69,000 square foot building in Wilmington MA.
The First Year
Got Books was launched in 2000 as a part-time project for company Founder and President Bob Ticehurst. While working full time as an accountant for Scudder Kemper Investments in Boston, Bob also served as a military recruiter and fire fighter. Through a connection he made in the Marines, he purchased deeply discounted new books and resold them for a profit.
The success of sales of books directly to consumers led Bob to sell books at higher profits on internet auction sites Amazon and Ebay. Bob’s bookselling, which started out as a hobby, was now realizing more income than he was earning as an accountant.
In November of 2000, at the age of 22, Bob resigned from Scudder and moved the operation into his parents’ basement.
According to Bob, “When I decided to resign, I called my mother first. She told me ‘Bob, you can do anything you put your mind to’. When I called Dad he said ‘Are you an idiot? You have a great job, worked your way up, get a secure paycheck and you want to sell books out of our basement?’”
In early 2000. Amazon.com launched their “Marketplace” program. This groundbreaking program allowed third party sellers to list products for sale on the main product page of any item, offering these companies as alternative source for the customer. Got Books was accepted as one of the first sellers on the Marketplace platform and sales increased significantly.
The Marketplace spurred rapid growth and Bob moved his basement operation to its first warehouse location – a 600 square foot apartment/office in Arlington, MA – and hired his first employee.
The Third Year
By August of 2003, Bob’s success prompted the Boston Globe to write an article comparing online book sales to that of the traditional used bookstore. The feature ran on the front page of the Living Arts section on Thursday August 21, 2003 and the response that followed the article was remarkable. Endless calls from community members and nonprofit groups wanting Bob’s help to sell their books flooded the office.
Northeastern University was one of the calls. They had approximately 50,000 books for which they had no use. Bob loaded his SUV with ten boxes of books at a time, brought the books back to his office in Arlington, and listed them for sale online. The profits were split with Northeastern.
Two important lessons were learned from the Northeastern partnership.
- The University wanted to get rid of the books quickly to free up the space they were consuming
- There were other organizations who either had books, or could get them, who could benefit from a revenue sharing program like the one with Northeastern.
The result of the Northeastern partnership was the creation of the Got Books unique business model: collect unwanted books, sort and repurpose them out to the community at ‘resale’ prices, and share the proceeds with the organization who collected the books.
In 2003 – Bob purchased a 2,500 square foot house with a 1,200 square foot basement and moved the growing Got Books operations including warehouse, storage, shipping and processing to Billerica.
With larger inventories and more books for sale growth surged and very quickly the house proved insufficient as a company headquarters.
2003 – 2006
In the summer of 2004, a warehouse at 29 Cook Street in Billerica, MA was leased. The Company’s initial requirement of 3,000 square feet more than doubled in a few months to over 6,600 square feet. Each expansion brought additional revenue growth and ten people were hired to handle the influx of business.
In June of 2005, the unparalleled increase in business required the company to expand its facilities again. Got Books more than tripled its space and moved to a 19,200 square feet warehouse at 35 Concord Street in North Reading, MA. The implementation of a technologically advanced shipping and order management software system soon followed. This system streamlined the book selling process and also cut labor costs dramatically.
Labor costs were down and revenues continued to increase. Though less man-power was needed because of the new software system, Bob didn’t reduce headcount, but used staffers to further expand the business. A new free book pick up service was launched to homes and businesses. Anyone who had books they didn’t want could call and have them picked up. This exclusive service is still in place today and results in thousands of in-home pick ups each year. By the end of 2005 The Company had a fleet of vans servicing the greater Boston and Southern New Hampshire area fueling further sales expansion.
Got Books was incorporated in 2006. Growth once again necessitated more warehouse space. The 35 Concord Street location was expanded to 38,400 square feet. More space meant more books and a need for more workers and now Got Books employed forty staff members. More vehicles were also required and the fleet now consisted of one van, four 16’ trucks and three 26’ trucks.
In June of 2006, Got Books launched a new book recycling program for municipalities. Book donation containers about the size of a parking space were placed at public locations such as a DPW building or recycling center to encourage residents to drop off unneeded books. When the containers were filled Got Books picked them up. This symbiotic relationship was beneficial to both Got Books, who received the collected items, and the towns, who saved money on trash removal costs, reduced waste in their communities, and in some cases received payment for the books.
The success of the municipal book collection program launched the Got Books fundraising program. Schools, religious organizations, charities and other non-profit organizations use the Got Books collection containers as a fundraiser. Books collected in the containers are weighed and the container host receives payment based on the weight of the contents.
2007 – 2010
The fundraising container program became wildly popular among local groups looking for an easy alternative to traditional fundraising. The Company used a local mini-storage company to fabricate custom donation containers with deposit slots and colorful purple and yellow ‘Got Books’ signs and the trademark containers started popping up all over local towns. Over 100 groups and towns had placed a Got Books container by 2007.
MassRecycle awarded Got Books the 2007 Recycling Business Green Binnie Award for providing “outstanding book collection and processing services to both commercial and residential generators of recyclable material.” Before Got Books, most people didn’t know what to do with their unwanted books. As a book re-use company Got Books finds the best possible use for books either through resale or through one of The Company’s several philanthropic programs including “Books for Troops” and “Books for Teachers”.
With tens of thousands of books in its warehouse, Got Books launched a completely new venture – direct sales of books to the public. Part of the Concord Street warehouse was used to host the ‘Charity Book Sale’ each Friday and Saturday.
More than tens of thousands of books were made available at $1.00 each. 50% of all book sale profits were donated to a local nonprofit group. Each month a different nonprofit group benefited from the book sales. Some of the beneficiaries included: RARA (Retarded Adult Rehabilitation Association), North Reading Citizens Scholarship Foundation, Arlington Babe Ruth Baseball, Local Heroes and more. The sales were wildly successful with individuals and book resellers lining up outside as early as 7:00AM on sale days to be the first inside when doors opened at 9:00AM. These sales set the stage for the launch of the Used Book Superstore.
In 2008, Got Books was buzzing with ever-expanding name recognition and the number of donation containers on the ground was growing exponentially. Online sales were strong and the Charity Book Sale was consistently popular. Got Books initiated new community outreach programs to find more uses for books.
The Books for Troops and Books for Teachers programs were born. Got Books sent packages of free books to local service members overseas and offered ways for teachers to get free and discounted books for their classrooms. Over 25,000 books per year are sent to local people serving overseas via the Books for Troops program.
Continued growth required additional space. In June 2008, Got Books moved to Lawrence, MA to a 59,000 square foot warehouse and office space with additional room for sorting books and a separate space for the Charity Book Sale.
Based on the success of the charity booksale, the first Used Book Superstore was opened in Burlington, MA in August 2008. The store housed over 100,000 books priced at $2.99 or less in 13,000 square feet. It was the largest used bookstore in New England.
On its first day, a line of people formed that stretched all the way to the street. They waited in line for over one hour to check out. Thousands of people flooded the store on opening weekend and made it clear that Got Books’ new concept – Used Book Superstores was a success. Within weeks, the Burlington store was featured on WCVB’s ‘Chronicle’ and as the Boston Globe’s Shopping Tip of the Day.
The uncertain retail economy and the uniqueness of the Got Books business model favored testing various retail models from stand-alone stores, to strip mall locations to in-mall locations. Short term leases with prenegotiated long term options were negotiated to allow the company to easily maximize the strategies that worked most efficiently.
In November 2008 the Danvers MA store opened to the same level of excitement and reception as Burlington. The Saugus, MA store at the Square One Mall store joined the growing chain in April 2009.
The company continued at a rapid growth rate and soon outgrew the Lawrence location. A new 69,000 foot warehouse was secured at 255 Andover Street in Wilmington, MA. The Wilmington location provided the company with much needed office space in addition to the warehouse and was leased at the same cost as the Lawrence location. However, the new warehouse did not offer a space for the Charity Book Sale. The final Charity Book Sale was held on October 31, 2009.
January 2010 saw the opening of the first New Hampshire Used Book Superstore in Nashua, the Salem NH store opened in February 2010.
By the Fall of 2010 The Company’s successes and growth continued. Highlights:
- Nearly 500 drop-off donation containers placed throughout New England
- Five Used Book Superstores
- Nearly 100 employees
- Over $1 Million raised for Non-profit organizations
- Nearly 20 million books saved from landfills
Got Books And Used Book Superstores Today and in the Future
Employment
With nearly 100 employees, Got Books is a “preferred” workplace. The Company maintains a positive, can-do work place where people enjoy working and are rewarded for their success. The Company provides a higher pay rate than most warehouses, Health and Dental Insurance, 401k with matching dollar for dollar employer contributions, growth opportunities for employees and paid vacation. See short
The explosive growth of Got Books over the past two years has prompted developing the Company’s executive staff. Positioning the Company for future growth and expansion both inside and beyond New England is the primary goal for the senior staff.
Retail Stores
The success of the Used Book Superstores despite a soft retail economy, has validated the Got Books business model. Unlike traditional used book stores, the Used Book Superstore physical plant is well lit, organized, and provides comfortable areas for browsing. Stores receive new shipments of books, CDs, and DVDs each day.
New retail locations are continually reviewed for market size and probability of success.
In addition the Used Book Superstores is expanding their products to include greeting cards, magazines, and toys available at discounted prices. These additions will make the Used Book Superstores a one-stop shopping destination.
Franchising opportunities are under consideration.
Operations
Got Books headquarters utilizes state of the art warehouse work flow and sophisticated book processing system to accommodate the millions of books processed each year.