Bookstore Development
Deepen and Strengthen Your Practices with PBS
PBS is expanding! In addition to our bookstore role-based courses, we're adding tools for staff development and courses that are deep-dives into growing your business, taught by industry experts.
Basic Bookselling Store Subscription for Staff Training
Training new staff members in basic bookstore skills such as handselling, customer service, display building, and writing shelf-talkers, takes valuable time - and that doesn't include the background work of explaining how the bookstore industry works, introducing key terms, and gaining insight from owners and staff with decades of experience.
We have a great tool for you! With a Store Subscription to our Basic Bookselling for Independent Study course, your entire staff can access all nine classes for an entire year. The subscription includes handouts, and a document with the homework assignments for you adapt into training assignments.
This program is only $350/year, with discounts available from NAIBA, SIBA, MIBA, GLIBA, MPIBA, CALIBA, and PNBA.
These nine videos introduce booksellers to:
- The Independent Bookstore industry, including the ABA, Regional Trade Associations, BINC, Edelweiss, Ipage, Bookshop.org, Libro.fm, and more
- Daily life in bookstores, including different jobs and roles
- Why and how stores choose the books that they stock, and how these connect to a store's mission statement and/or customer base
- The traits, skills, and practices that make a frontline bookseller successful, including understanding where to find information on books, customer service skills, and how effective hand-selling works
- How a store's layout, inventory displays can drive and increase sales
- How bookstores operate financially, including margins, COGS, turns and sidelines
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Storyselling 2026
The 2026 Course begins Wednesday, October 21
Learn to tell the story of your store with instructors Lisa Uhrik and Kit Little, specialists in branding, marketing, and understanding that bookstores are providing experiences, not only selling products. There are three sessions:
- Clarity: Knowing Your Store
- Curiosity: Knowing Your Customers
- Creativity: Unforgettable Together
Find Out More About the Course
Registration is $275 with discounts available for members of NAIBA, SIBA, GLIBA, MPIBA, PNBA, and CALIBA. Find out what support your Regional Trade Association offers on our website.
Classes are on Wednesdays @ 12:30 pm ET / 11:30 am CT / 10:30 am MT / 9:30 am PT on October 21, October 28, and November 04. Each class is 90 minutes.
Registration is limited to 20 students, and to stores that are already open, with no more than one employee from each store.
Profitability Course 2027
The 2027 Course Begins January 04
Registration Opens Monday November 16, 2026
This Profitability Master Class offers students the opportunity to analyze their business from three perspectives: decreasing expenses, improving margin, and increasing income. Designed as part instruction and part workshop, students will learn best practices from both instructors and other attendees and then have time to start implementing those changes through coworking sessions with subject matter experts. It prioritizes sustainable incremental changes over large and/or expensive changes to the business model. The class is geared toward owners and managers of stores with at least twelve months of sales data.
Each meeting is 90 minutes and contains a mix of instruction and independent work time (aka study hall) to allow students to put what they learn to immediate action.
Requirements:
The Profitability Master Class is designed for brick-and-mortar, pop-up, mobile, and hybrid bookstore models; it is not appropriate for online-only stores or resellers. Students must:
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Be a decision-maker in their store (generally, an owner or manager)
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Have access to at least twelve months of sales and expense data
Classes will be Mondays at 3:30 pm ET / 2:30 pm CT / 1:30 pm MT / 12:30 pm PT The cost will be $425, with discount codes available from most Regionals.
Registration will open Monday, November 16 at 1:00 pm ET / 12:00 pm CT / 11:00 am MT / 10:00 am PT.
Schedule:
Class 01 / January 4: Intro and Goal Setting
Class 02 / January 11: Meet the Experts
No class January 18 for MLK Day
Class 03 / January 25: Decreasing Expenses
Class 04 / February 1: Improving Margin
Class 05 / February 8: Increasing Income
No class February 15 for Winter Institute
Class 06 / February 22: Deep Dive: Ordering Best Practices
Class 07 / March 1: Deep Dive: Returns and Alternatives
Class 08 / March 8: Deep Dive: Recurring Income Streams
Class 09 / March 15: Deep Dive: Budgeting, Debt, and Financial Strategies
Class 10 / March 22: Deep Dive: Inventory Mix
Class 11 / March 29: Roundup and Final Thoughts
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In her own words: Erin Chervenock of Village Books & Paper Dreams in Bellingham, WA discusses the power of PBS
Booksellers Say:
Audrey Beatty
River Bend Bookshop
The Basic Bookselling Certification Course is truly anything but "basic!" The material covered is comprehensive and the instructors were invaluable fountains of knowledge and experience. I've been a bookseller and shop manager for over three years--I both wished this course was available to me when I started AND I felt like I gained so much from the coursework even though I'm no longer brand new to the business! I couldn't recommend it more highly to anyone that is a frontline bookseller, regardless of the number of years under your belt.
Amani Jackson
The Ivy Bookshop
The Inventory Management class I took through PBS made me confident enough to take on a managerial role at my bookstore and introduced me to career booksellers from across the country. I hope more and more booksellers have the opportunity to take classes and open their minds to what a career in books can look like.