HYDE PARK — The outlook for the Seminary Cooperative Bookstores is again looking brighter again after more than 25 years of declining sales.
In the annual letter to shareholders of the cooperative last week, Executive Director Jeff Deutsch said sales are up 10 percent so far this year compared to last year.
That’s good news for the bookstore that saw a 5 percent increase in sales last year after making a plea to members to buy more books if the cooperative is to survive.
“While we continue to struggle with our bottom line, and to lose money overall, we are on the right track, as we are losing significantly less than we have in prior years,” Deutsch said in the letter. “We are resolute in growing, not cutting, our way out of the deficit.”
In an email Thursday, Deutsch said its still not clear how large the operating deficit will be this year or what level of growth it will need to get back in the black.
Sales had declined every year since 1990 for the cooperative which runs the Seminary Cooperative Bookstore, 5751 S. Woodlawn Ave., and 57th Street Books, 1301 E. 57th St.
The store continues to make major changes to try to turn around its fortunes.
Last year it converted approximately 50,000 of its more than 61,000 shareholders to members in a new program offering discounts and freeing the governing members to more easily hold votes.
The bookstores have also expanded the number of author events and revamped their website to attract more customers.
It is also launching in June a new podcast that will make available many of the author talks and other public discussions hosted at the bookstores.
Deutsch said there are few other big moves planned with the overall structure of the bookstores this year, but its board is still considering dissolving and reincorporating in Illinois because the cooperative incorporated in Washington, D.C., before Illinois had a strong legal system for business cooperatives.
The full letter is available on the cooperative’s web site.
