Do You Want a Latte with That Book?
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Do you want a latte with that book? Apr 04, 2012 By Omar Heymans TALLINN - A modern bookstore in Estonia has a cafe attached to it, offers customers WiFi, loyalty programs and sells music, games, entertainment - and books. Two players dominate the book market, with a few independent shops struggling to survive in between. There are also a few publishers running their own bookshops. Estonia’s retail book market is mainly divided between two chains: Apollo, owned by Finnish Sanoma Corporation and Rahva Raamat, established in 2006 by Estonian ownership. Sanoma, who also ownes Lehepunkt and R-Kiosk and the brand name Rautakirja, has recently announced that their kiosk operations in Finland, Lithuania and Estonia as well as press distribution operations in Estonia and Lithuania have been sold to a Norwegian company, including the Rautakirja brand name. But Apollo, the Estonian book store operations, will not be affected, the company said in a press release in the beginning of March. A store manager at one of Apollo’s Tallinn stores refers to their central press department for all questions. “Company policy,” she says. However, she happily introduces her store: Different sections for books, games, music and entertainment comprises the new concept for all of Apollo’s bookstores. “The cafe is a separate business,” she says. But there are no dividing walls so it appears to be a part of the bookshop. Eighteen to 20 staff members work in the shop, most of them part-time. “High school education is a minimum,” the manager says, “but most people have more, or they are studying.” She herself started 4 years back as a salesperson and then, within a short time, advanced to become the manager. “At the entrance, we exhibit special books, be it campaigns, new releases or seasonal books. We keep changing it all the time, in order to keep the customers interested,” she says. Retail store Rahva Raamat opts for the more traditional bookstore approach. “We try to be a traditional book store, but modern,” said Marketing Director of Rahva Raamat, Anu Vagenstein to The Baltic Times. She mentions small details like fish hanging over the counter, the desk made out of books in Parnu and the wooden log-desk in the Kuressaare store. Whatever the effect of such details, in Rahva Raamat you really feel you are in a book store. Consciously made exhibitions, soft carpets, high shelves and a good atmosphere. And customers everywhere. “We have music and games also, but books are the main [item]. Our customers are all types of people, and many are women. In Estonia women often buy books for the whole family,” Vagenstein says while showing the various sections of the bookstore. Cooking books. Children’s books. Travel books. A section of Russian books, comprising one-eighth of the store. Fiction. Academic books. “Tartu has a better selection of academic books; as it is a university city,” she notes. Rahva Raamat’s Internet store is currently presented in Estonian and Russian. It will soon be in English also. Rahva Raamat’s Viru Center bookstore in Tallinn is Estonia’s largest, spread over two floors and contains 35,000 different items. The chain has 7 shops in Estonia and employs 120 people. “We are also a wholesaler,” Marketing Director Vagenstein says. “We serve the supermarket chains Selver, Rimi and Prisma, and public libraries.” Oldest still-running bookstore A few hundred meters up the road from Tallinn’s Viru Center, in Parnu mnt. 10, an inviting corner- bookshop is nothing less than Estonia’s oldest still-running bookstore, established in 1912. The store is now owned by Rahva Raamat and is one of their three Tallinn stores. It is the only one offering old books, starting at 1 euro. As well as being a traditional bookstore with all types of new books, it also has a section of second-hand books. “Estonians like laptops. They also like reading,” says Vagenstein. “Estonia has only had e-books since the end of 2010. Right now e-books represent 1 percent of our turnover. Their price is about 30 percent less than paper-books and presently there are about 1,000 e-books available in the Estonian language,” she says. “Still, many people prefer paper-books. They like the smell of paper.” An e-reader can be purchased for 80-300 euros. One may also use iPad, laptop or stationary computers to download e- books. As per today, VAT for e-books is 20 percent, while it’s 9 percent for paper-books. According to Vagenstein, Rahva Raamat has a bit more than 50 percent of the market share in Estonia, “although there are no exact figures.” In addition to our main competitor Apollo, there are a few independent stores. “It is not easy for small bookstores. Estonia is a small country and there is no place for more chains. It is quite enough with two of us,” she says. The sign at Liivalaia 28 is not to be mistaken; it reads: ‘Bookshop.’ But here there are no customers. Boris Pulatov has specialized in technical and medical books in Russian and Estonian, and has divided his store into two equally large sections. “Rahva Raamat and Apollo have divided the market between them. The last 3 years after the crisis have been terrible,” Boris says. He is now looking for an investor for his family-run business, but thinks he will have to close down soon. The 1,500-2,000 euro monthly expenditure has to be met by an equally high income. “The smaller stores must be smart in order to survive, or they will have to close,” explains Vegenstein. Six years ago Pulatov moved his store from Ravala pst to a less central location in Liivalaia. Boris also has an Internet store, but it is only in Russian. “Twenty years ago business was ok,” says Pulatov, who bought out the government bookstore after the country gained independence, and has run it since. “Our books are very specialized books. Most customers have been to other bookstores first and when they come here, they ask specifically for a certain book. The last years have been very difficult,” says Boris. What is a special offer for a book in Estonia? Anu Vegenstein hesitates to answer. “Even a 10 percent discount is sometimes already a good price. Margins for books in Estonia are not so high,” she says. Rahva Raamat offers their loyalty customers 5 percent off on all purchases, and 10 percent during the birthday week of the customer. “There is little regulation for the book market in Estonia,” adviser for literature at the Ministry of Culture, Asta Trummel said to The Baltic Times. “Pricing is strictly between the publisher and the bookseller and there is no state intervention.” Following regaining independence in 1991, a staggering 23 million copies of 1,654 titles were printed in Estonia. Twenty years later the numbers were about 4.4 million copies and about 3,700 titles. Almost half of the books published in Estonia are translations, according to the Estonian Publishers’ Association..