New Independent Book Store in Plano

[Sara Reyes]

There is an article in the Dallas Morning News this morning about Legacy Books, the bookstore that Terri Tanner is opening in Plano where Kathy Baker will serve as the romance buyer.
 
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/041008dnbusbooks.38803a3.html
 

Plano's Shops at Legacy complex will soon have one of the largest independent bookstores built in the U.S. in years.

The 24,000-square-foot bookseller plans to open in late summer near the northeast corner of the Dallas North Tollway and Legacy Drive, occupying a three-level store in the newest section of the Shops at Legacy.

"All you hear about is independent bookstores going under," said Teri Tanner, managing partner of Legacy Books. "Well, we are opening one."

Ms. Tanner – a Tyler native whose retail experience includes both big nationwide book chains – was working with Borders a few years ago when it considered a location at the Shops at Legacy.

Borders ultimately decided not to do the deal, but Ms. Tanner couldn't get the site out of her mind.

"This is a great niche location in Plano," she said. "The demographics are great, and this is a place where people like to hang out."

On any day of the week, thousands stop by to catch a movie at the Angelika Film Center, eat at the more than two dozen restaurants or shop in one of the center's specialty stores.

But developer Fehmi Karahan still wanted a bookstore in his 6-year-old project.

"Since the beginning, we've had a strong desire to do a bookstore," Mr. Karahan said. "But we just weren't able to do a deal."

These are tough times for book retailers.

After years of competition from low-cost Internet sellers, discounters including Wal-Mart and Costco are now hammering book merchants.

Borders has lost $300 million in the last two years and is considering a sale.

Barnes & Noble's net profit was down about 10 percent in the last year, and the company has warned investors that its profit could fall about 10 cents per share this year.

Still, Ms. Tanner said her Legacy store will sell entertainment as much as it will peddle books.

"Sure, you can get it cheaper on the Internet," she said. "But what's lacking is the interactive experience."

Mr. Karahan is hoping that the bookstore will be as much of a customer draw for his shopping center as the Angelika theater.

"What they have done on the south side of the project, the bookstore will do on the north side," he said.

Legacy Books plans to offer the expected magazines, books and coffee bar, plus an area for cooking demonstrations and a separate Wi-Fi bar.

The store, now under construction, will be done in a modern style designed by Dallas architect Morrison Seifert Murphy, which also did the new One Arts Plaza tower in downtown's Arts District.

The interior plans show an open space with floating staircases, bright-colored fixtures and large windows.

"It's an inviting interior space that happens to be a bookstore," said architect Pat Murphy.

Ms. Tanner said she's patterning the store after independent booksellers in other U.S. cities.

She's spent hours visiting Seattle's Elliott Bay Book Co., Denver's Tattered Cover, BookPeople in Austin and other one-of-a-kind stores.

"We're planning on having 100,000 titles," she said.

Avin Mark Domnitz, chief executive of the American Booksellers Association, said while other independents are opening around the country, Legacy Books is the largest in memory.

"I cannot tell you how thrilled we are that an independent of such scope is opening," Mr. Domnitz said by e-mail. "Also the fact that they are opening in Texas makes us even more excited.

"Texas has a long and rich history of grand independents," he said.