By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
Brian Melzack, who plans to turn over a smaller inventory
faster than his bigger competitors, will open Bestsellers
at the downtown site where Honolulu Book Shops closed
a store earlier this year. Behind Melzack, a worker measures
the old store's sign to make room for a new sign.
Merchant hopes
Bestsellers can
be novel idea
Downtown's newest bookstore
By Peter Wagner
will offer top-selling
books, videos and CDs
Star-BulletinBrian Melzack looked at the darkened property and decided that downtown Honolulu is ripe for a bookstore.
His new store, Bestsellers, is to open Aug. 31 at Bishop Square -- where Honolulu Book Shops closed a store earlier this year.
But Melzack, who headed a chain of 150 book stores in Canada, is undaunted by his predecessor's failures.
"A number of their stores were very good," Melzack said of Honolulu Book Shops, currently in liquidation.
"Our research showed their Bishop Square and Ala Moana stores were very strong locations."
Targeting professional and other workers in the business district, Bestsellers will offer a tailored selection of top-selling books, videos, and compact discs, Melzack said.
"I don't know where you can go to buy a piece of music in the downtown area right now," Melzack said. "There are 50,000 to 60,000 people in the area every day."
The store will feature a huge selection of magazines -- 1,500 titles -- a large Hawaiiana section and a coffee bar.
Melzack's plan is to turn a smaller inventory faster than his bigger competitors Barnes & Nobles and Borders Books & Music.
"If you're looking for Tom Clancy, you won't find 15 titles of Tom Clancy. You'll have one -- the most recent."
Melzack is former chief executive officer of the Toronto-based Classic Bookshops, a chain of 150 book stores in Canada and the United States. The business, which merged with W.H. Smith in 1987, was bought out in 1992 by Chapters, a Canadian "big box" company similar to Borders Group Inc.
Colin Miyabara, president of Honolulu Book Shops, said Melzack may be onto something.
"We were locked into a higher cost infrastructure with multiple stores when our sales went down because of competition," Miyabara said. "Somebody coming into it now would have a better ability to control their costs."
Honolulu Books was also locked into a costly lease signed before hard times arrived, Miyabara noted.
With Hawaii's economy in a prolonged slump, landlords may be offering more favorable terms, he said.
Melzack is the second bookseller to set up shop in a failed Honolulu Book Shops location. Former Honolulu Book Shops buyer Pat Banning in April opened BookEnds in the Kailua Shopping Center.
She too has shaped her selection to fit the market -- tending toward affluent and well-educated consumers.
Melzack predicted more independent booksellers will find niches left by the big box giants.
"This is just the tip of the iceberg," he said. "There will be others."
