What kind of permits would I have to get to own my own bookstore?

Hi Christi,
All the best in your pursuit. I suggest read about SWAT analysis if you have not done it already. My reading is that physical book stores are finding it difficult to stay in business due to disruptive technologies such as ebooks and kindles.

To open your own business you'll need a few things:

1) A business license - these tend to run a few hundred bucks, but it really depends on where you are how much they cost.

2) A location. This is absolutely critical. You need to have a location that is easy to access and sure to get you plenty of foot traffic into your store.

3) Product. You'll need books, magazines, bookmarks, cards, nice paper stock, tchotchkes, etc. This is going to be a huge money sink to stock your business.

4) Stuff to run your business. Quickbooks, Square or whatever POS system, a website, SEO, signage, marketing, etc.

5) Employees. You could probably run your business by yourself for a little while, but eventually you'll need help. You'll need to hire employees...and sometimes fire them.

6) A business plan. How are you going to make money to pay for all the overhead and even pay yourself?

Hi Christi,

For independent booksellers, opening a bookstore business mostly revolves around selling printed books. Like all “bricks and mortar” retailers, successful bookselling requires:

A desirable location—likely around other retailers, and somewhere there will be lots of foot traffic. Generally, the better the location, the more expensive the per-square-foot rental will be.

“Retail” (i.e. sometimes long) hours—you’re paying rent for the location and in most of today’s retail environments, customers expect stores to be open when it’s convenient for them to shop. That almost always means at least some late nights, weekend days, and even many holidays.

A capable bookselling staff—successful booksellers rely on their staffs to engage and “hand-sell” their customers. That means time spent recruiting, training, personable, book-knowledgeable people.

It also means ensuring you keep your bookselling staff interested and engaged themselves, so you retain their services for as long as possible to keep your bookstore’s continuity and make your time, money and energy investment in your staff worthwhile.

Effective book buying—for the booklover, the act of buying books every season can be a great deal of fun—as well as a lot of work. It means reviewing publishers’ seasonal lists for the up-and-coming new titles, making judgments about books you’ve never read, and buying a mix of titles that appeal to a broad range of tastes (including books that don’t appeal to you personally as a reader).

Efficient book inventory management—even small bookstores stock thousands of different “products,” which need to be analyzed for sales rate of movement, etc., in order to maximize the appeal of the selection in the store and keep the stock turning. Other factors include managing inventory “shrinkage” (aka shoplifting)! Note that cartons of books tend to be very heavy—toting and lifting and shelving them is hard work (in fact, you want might want to add “strong” to the list of traits your capable staff, above, will need!)

Real the whole article with all the tips in:

https://www.thebalance.com/opening-a-bookstore-2800132

Good luck!