Amid the COVID-19 chaos, businesses are scrambling to reinvent themselves in a fast-changing landscape and Vero Book Center – a local icon for nearly 45 years – is no exception.
When non-essential stores were required to close in March, owner Chad Leonard’s first move was to put in place a drive-up service to meet the needs of devoted bibliophiles.
“We wanted to do it for our customers,” said Leonard. “They wanted books and puzzles … and we sold a ton of puzzles.”
But despite the desire for puzzles, the store was “only doing about 20 percent of our normal business,” Leonard added. “In the end, we had to ask, ‘Is it worth the risk of being exposed to the virus and bringing it home to our families and spreading it to customers?’”
The answer ultimately was no, and the drive-through service was discontinued.
The store, while closed, is not dead in the water. Instead Leonard and the Vero Book Center team are taking care of what typically are summer duties, things they normally do during the slower months: returning books to publishers, cleaning, organizing and planning for the upcoming season.
“Fortunately, we own the building, so we don’t have a lease. I think we’re healthy enough where we can get through it,” said Leonard. “It’s looking more and more like it’s going to be the beginning of summer before we can reopen, but at least the store will look amazing.”
One of Vero Book Center’s claims to fame has been a longstanding list of highly acclaimed authors who have visited the store over the years. Among the more notable are Steve Allen, Julie Andrews, Carl Hiaasen, Emeril Lagasse, Debbie Macomber, Nicholas Sparks, Stuart Woods and even former presidents Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush.
Harlan Coben was scheduled to visit on March 23 to promote his most recent book, “The Boy from the Woods,” and the store was selling plenty of his books ahead of what would have been one of the store’s biggest events this spring.
The Coben event was canceled but when COVID-19 is in the rearview mirror, Leonard said he expects to schedule a strong slate of author events to lure back his loyal customers.
At the same time, he is concerned people will get into the habit of buying books online. That paired with the fact the store was forced to close during the middle of the season and won’t be reopening for weeks is a worry.
“Will we lose business when we come back? Very possibly. I just don’t know. We’ll do the best we can. I look forward to being open again. We’ll be lining things up as soon as we can. It’s just the ‘when’ that I don’t know.”
