A Bookshop of My Own: The Diary of Opening a Used Bookstore
Episodes
The Network Effect
04 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Opening a used bookstore: Stef records in real time, early June 2026. She's learning her Wed-Sunday rhythm, launching provenance bookmarks, starting b...
The Baby Steps and Big Steps
29 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Opening a used bookstore: The Larkspur success proves the power of focused selection. But storage costs are mounting, next-location hunting is urgent,...
The Recap & Relief
21 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Opening a used bookstore: One week after opening—community reception is incredible, but regret lingers about not opening an all-ages store. S...
The First Day (Vol. 1 & 2)
14 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Volume 1 — Before Opening: The anticipation is real. Will kids like it? How will people respond? How will they interact with the engagement pieces I...
The Little Things (Vol 1 & 2)
07 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Opening a used bookstore: Two weeks until opening—shelves collapse, live SKU-ing happens (beeps included!), boundaries get set, sparkle events and b...
The Work in Progress (Vol. 1 & 2)
30 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Opening a used bookstore: Late April 2026—Three weeks to go. Stef creates pricing systems, curates shelves with intentionality, pushes the opening t...
The Fun Part
23 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Opening a used bookstore: April 2026—Books are on shelves. The space feels real. Stef shifts focus to kids and teens, remembers pop-up skills from a...
Chapter 3: The Starting Point
16 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Opening a used bookstore: March 2026—Chapter 3 begins. Stef finds a space. It's not what she imagined, but she's making it work. The Phoenix will op...
The Name of the Game (Part 1 & 2)
03 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Opening a used bookstore: March 2026—Lease negotiations fall apart. The landlord walks. Stef faces her third rejection. Volume 1 captures the collap...
The Lease Interlude
26 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this mini-episode I discover commercial leases can be a whole lot more complicated than I realized. If you haven't contributed a review for the pod...
The Real Pain Points
19 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Opening a used bookstore: Stef changes how she looks at the business—thinking like a VC-funded startup, expanding search criteria—and finds a spac...
The One Year Check-In
12 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Opening a used bookstore: One year in—Stef travels to Philadelphia, visits The Last Word bookshop, connects with the owner (25 years in the busine...
The Reframe
12 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
November 2025—A 4-minute mini episode. The landlord decides. The David and Goliath story resolves. And with holiday pressure mounting to get books o...
The David & Goliath Thing
05 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Opening a used bookstore: November 2025—Stef meets with the landlord and then gets hit with breaking news: there's another bidder. Cue the David and...
The Weeds
26 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Opening a used bookstore: November 2025—Stef breaks down the nuts and bolts of pursuing a commercial space: the Letter of Intent (LOI) with tiered r...
The Social Impact
19 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Opening a used bookstore: October 2025—Stef experiments with a tiered rent LOI (Letters of Intent) to align landlords with her mission, battles frus...
The Little Red Wagons
12 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Opening a used bookstore: September 2025—Stef navigates rental heartbreak, battles online listing systems, rides the wave of trending Little Free ...
The Pivot Point
05 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Opening a used bookstore: Late August 2025—Stef grapples with online listing technology frustrations, watches more local businesses close, analyzes ...
The Summer Slowdown
29 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Opening a used bookstore: Three months later, we are in the summer of 2025 and Stef hits 7,000-8,000 books, watches local bookstores shut down their u...
The Messy Middle (Vol. 1-2)
22 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Opening a used bookstore: Stef hits 4,000+ books but enters the messy middle—slow progress, tedious work, and a feeling of inefficiency. She gets he...
The Final Piece
15 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Opening a used bookstore: Stef locks in a crucial book source with rock-bottom 'cost of goods', navigates a home drowning in 3,000+ books, discusses t...
The Margins
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Opening a used bookstore: Stef completes business registration, develops SKU and pricing systems, redoes her P&L, and explains why growing up in s...
The Strawberry Parable
01 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
The Phoenix Rises
18 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Chapter 2: The Opportunity Map
11 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Opening a used bookstore in Mill Valley: After a failed acquisition attempt, Stef maps Marin County's book deserts, launches her book-scouting operati...
The Turning Point
04 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, everything comes to a head. While venting my frustrations to the sellers’ agents, they unexpectedly add the owners to the email cha...
The Misery of The Deal
27 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, the back-and-forth over the bookstore sale gets even messier. I push the commercial agents to fix misleading disclosures—changes th...
The Things You Cannot Change…
20 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 disillu...
The Gut Punch
13 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
The Wheel of Fortune
06 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 bo...
The Struggle is Real...
30 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
The Intentions
23 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
The Quagmire and the Pause
16 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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. Referra...
The Story Begins...
09 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 alw...
Episode 0: The Story Behind A Bookshop of My Own
26 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 wor...