Women in Business Clockwise from left: Sunni Won The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah Margot Farris Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan Linda McLoughlin Figel Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler Patty Gibson The Girls by Emma Cline
{PAGES} A BOOKSTORE
O
wned by Margot Farris, Linda McLoughlin Figel, Patty Gibson and Sunni Won, {pages} a bookstore carries books across all genres including children, fiction, nonfiction, cookbooks, coffee table books and surf books. Open since 2010, {pages} employs more than a dozen South Bay residents—many of whom are students in local schools who then return to work at the store during summers and holidays while they are in college.
Tell us something unique about your business.
“We pride ourselves on our curated inventory, knowledgeable staff and excellent customer service. If {pages} doesn’t have what you want on the shelves, we can usually get it for you in a day or two. Mass merchandisers and online retailers may be more competitive on price, but we will work harder for your business and are committed to being the best independent bookstore we can be. Local independent
150
SOUTHBAY,SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016
bookstores enhance communities; we hope we have done that for ours.”
filling out shelf-talkers and making recommendations to us.”
How does social media play into your business’ marketing strategy?
How do you give back to your community?
“Margins are extremely thin in the book business, so we have a very limited marketing and advertising budget. Social media is an excellent way for us to get the word out about {pages} and promote our author events and book clubs in the most cost-efficient way, and our customers can help spread the word!”
What would you like potential clients to know about you?
“We offer complimentary gift wrap and a weekly children’s story time (Mondays at 10:30). We offer free author talks, book signings and book clubs to our customers and members of the community who want to expand their horizons. We will go out of our way to pair readers with just the right book. We encourage customers to share their views of books by
“We give back generously to local schools through our Scrip program and book fair business, which donates a percentage of all of our sales to the schools with which we partner. We also support local charities’ fundraising efforts. In 2015 we donated more than $30,000 to the community and provided a $5 {pages} gift card welcoming every incoming kindergartner through the Manhattan Beach Education Foundation.”
FAST FACT Margot, Linda, Patty and Sunni have nine children, five dogs and thousands of books in their homes—among the four of them.
S P E C I A L A DV E RT I S I N G S E C T I O N
PHOTOGRAPHED BY GRAHAM & GRAHAM PHOTOGRAPHY
904 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach 310-318-0900 pagesabookstore.com