A Bookshop of My Own: The Diary of Opening a Used Bookstore

Opening a used bookstore: Stef completes business registration, develops SKU and pricing systems, redoes her P&L, and explains why growing up in small business gives her confidence—plus a magical evening with Kate DiCamillo and Ann Patchett. In this episode, it's paperwork time. EIN, Seller's Permit, city registration—all done and I'm thrilled to actually have my ducks in a row this time. But...

Opening a used bookstore: Stef makes it official with an LLC, launches a landing page, and announces The Phoenix Used Bookshop to her neighbors—who immediately start donating books. Plus: a Costco revelation, a serendipitous book encounter, and the Strawberry Parable. In this episode, things are getting real. The LLC is formed. The landing page is up. I make the announcement to my neighbors, and s...

Opening a used bookstore: Its March 2025 and we have finally hit 2,000 books through steady estate sale work, come along as Stef navigates Mill Valley's unpredictable rental market, and reveals the intentional meaning behind The Phoenix Used Bookshop. In this episode, a month has passed since the pivot, and the work is paying off. The book count has climbed from 500 to 2,000—not from one big score...

Opening a used bookstore in Mill Valley: After a failed acquisition attempt, Stef maps Marin County's book deserts, launches her book-scouting operation, and commits fully to building 'The Phoenix Used Bookshop' from the ground up. In this episode, the silence says everything. After submitting a low offer to the sellers—no response. Not even a "thank you, we'll get back to you." Nothing. And hones...

In this episode, everything comes to a head. While venting my frustrations to the sellers’ agents, they unexpectedly add the owners to the email chain—whether intentionally or by accident, I still don’t know. What follows is a full-blown fallout. The owners are furious, I’m mortified, and it becomes painfully clear that their agents aren’t helping anyone navigate this deal with any professionalism...

In this episode, the back-and-forth over the bookstore sale gets even messier. I push the commercial agents to fix misleading disclosures—changes they now have to make for any future buyer, not just me—and request a revised P&L because removing online sales means the entire expense structure has to shift. Then comes the confusion around back stock: the sellers plan to leave books but take some...

In this episode, I finally sit down face-to-face with the owners of the used bookstore I’ve been trying to buy. I walk in hopeful-I walk out disillusioned. The owner tries to convince me I can turn the business around—even though it’s in the red—but the “levers” he suggests are either already in place or too small to matter. Privately, I talk through the real levers: pricing, store flow, organizat...

In this episode, things finally move: after weeks of silence, the business owners get back to me with answers to my long list of questions. I get real insight straight from the source—everything from which genres sell best to how their hours actually impact foot traffic. But then comes the gut punch. What I’m calling “The Hidden Dealbreaker.” After all this time, I learn the business is not being...

In this episode, something shifts. Whether or not I get the bookstore I’ve been pursuing, I realize I’m doing this—I’m going to open a used bookshop. The morning starts with uncertainty, so I pull a tarot card to help ground myself in intuition. I get The Wheel of Fortune, and the message couldn’t be clearer: what’s meant for me will find me. By the afternoon, I’ve made up my mind to reach out dir...

In this episode, I’m still waiting — and waiting — to hear back about my offer to buy the used bookstore. What begins as cautious optimism turns into frustration as the commercial agent goes completely MIA. I talk about the endless email maze, a little numerology (because sometimes you need signs when logic fails), and my growing decision to reach out directly to the owners after weeks of silence....

In this episode, I step back from the chaos of logistics to look inward — developing my why for opening a used bookstore. I make lists of what I’m good at versus what I actually enjoy, what brings me joy, and what I truly need. Through that process, I talk about Self-Determination Theory and how understanding autonomy, competence, and relatedness helps me find motivation on hard days. There’s also...

In this episode, I dive into the part of the story no one glamorizes — the logistical nightmare of trying to buy an existing used bookstore. Referrals, agents, lawyers, endless emails — it all turned into a quagmire that left me questioning whether the deal was even meant to happen. But somewhere in the waiting, I found something unexpected: gratitude. The slow timing gave me space to shore up my...

In this first full episode, I share the story behind A Bookshop of My Own — how I grew up surrounded by small business life, why bookstores have always felt like home, and why they matter so deeply to all kinds of people. This is the backstory of how it all started: the moment I decided to write an offer letter to buy an existing used bookstore, what that process looked like, and why it set me on...

Before the shelves are built, before the grand opening, there’s a story: I thought I was going to buy an existing used bookstore...that didn’t work out. So instead, I decided to open one of my own. This preview episode introduces A Bookshop of My Own, a diary-style podcast documenting the messy, hopeful, behind-the-scenes journey of starting a used bookstore from scratch.