There’s a cinematic element to The Last Bookstore tale, so it’s apt that it’s in Los Angeles. Book shops often worm their way into film and fiction – from “You’ve Got Mail” to The Neverending Story – but this one boasts a particular fantastical charm.
A noir red neon light denotes the corner of downtown L.A. that houses the shop – which currently is in its second, larger incarnation. A 22,000 square-foot behemoth, it occupies two floors of an early 20th-century bank building – and it’s fair to say the store has become an Instagram influencer in its own right. It’s got a “book tunnel” threaded with little lights; a bank vault housing the horror section; oddball sculptures and towering walls of art. It is always busy.
An Introverted Bookworm at a Disadvantage
The person behind all this grandeur? An introverted bookworm from Hawaii named Josh Spencer. He had relocated to L.A. in 2002 on the heels of a bad breakup, his parent’s divorce, and the failure of his online music and film magazine. It wasn’t an easy transition. He applied for a few jobs he didn’t get and ended up living on welfare and food stamps.
After “an early mid-life crisis,” as he chronicles in this epic documentary, he considered what he loved: writing and reading. “I’ll try books,” he thought. He did, selling titles on eBay from his tiny studio apartment when the site was new and not yet the powerhouse it is today.
Trying to procure books from libraries and estate and garage sales in order to sell them online, Josh was at a disadvantage: He has been paraplegic since a 1996 moped accident, and uses a wheelchair. So he started building relationships around town, asking managers if he could come to sales a little early so he wasn’t mobbed by pushy buyers. It worked.
The winter of 2009 wasn’t an intuitive time to open a bookstore. Borders had just filed for bankruptcy in the U.K., and would close its U.S. shops a couple of years later. Though Josh noticed that bookstores were closing left and right all around him, having experienced losses much greater than that of a business, he thought: “No fear.” When a community advocate pushed him to open a store and he spied a small space opening on Main Street in (then-gritty) downtown, he snapped it up – and cheekily called it “The Last Bookstore.”
Passion as a Motivator – Not Money
Expecting to only last for a couple of years, Josh was stunned to be busy from day one. He hired passionate employees – book, music, theater, and film lovers – and let them drive the events side. (He’d rather be with his books, or behind the scenes.)
At the first space, things were extra-experimental: “We tried every event we thought of.” Think: poetry readings, theater, live shows.
When the first floor of an early-20th-century bank opened up in 2011, Josh went for it. His father, a contractor, helped him build it out beautifully, and artists in the community chipped in to help. As he told one publication, “The vibe I got was Indiana Jones — an early ’20s-’30s university kind of thing. And maybe a Hellboy steampunk feel, too. Stylish and fantastical.”
“Do something that you care deeply about, so whether it’s financially successful or not, you can look back on it fondly.”
The community poured in. Josh kept his events going with events that were typically unheard of for bookstores: a Japanese kimono fashion show with a runway in the middle of the store; Afro-punk bands that generated mosh pits 100 people deep; noise shows that took advantage of the bank’s towering ceilings and fabulous acoustics.
If he had to write a letter to his younger self about event strategy, it would be to choose wisely which events you put your energy into. “Do something that you care deeply about,” he says, “so whether it’s financially successful or not, you can look back on it fondly.”
How to Host Events When You’re a Hit
At a certain point, Josh had to step back and take a hard look at his strategy: He had a “good problem” with a hit bookstore that had become a local haunt and tourist destination. His staff that was super-into music had moved on to other ventures. New events directors were more into literature – “I generally give them free range” – so the calendar shifted in a literary direction.
But book events can be a tricky needle to thread, with the onus upon the creator to return unsold books to publishers afterwards. They required moving stacks of books (thus annoying the regulars). Attendees didn’t tend to buy books or records, and he didn’t have a liquor license, so they weren’t money-makers.
Prior to the pandemic halting foot traffic for a while in the spring of 2020, Josh landed upon a “pre-sales” strategy, in which authors and other prospective event hosts were required to pre-sell a certain number of tickets or books in order to host an event. If they didn’t hit their minimum, The Last Bookstore canceled the event.
The strategy wasn’t always popular with authors and his own event directors, so after the pandemic halted bookstore traffic for a while – during which time the team launched instantly beloved, curated “book bundles” online – Josh switched to a three-pronged approach for IRL events, which he employs today.
First, abandoning the “pre-sales” model, he hosts big events for hotshot authors who are “a sure thing” and will order “tons of books” for those. Secondly, he’ll book small events for acts his team likes – such as a small show for David Eugene Edwards, a singer Josh loves – just for the sake of featuring them. (He doesn’t mind the risk.) Third, he’ll permit performers and authors to rent the entire space completely for an hour or two – which has been popular with those with a big budget, and a hit for weddings. These days, he hosts one to three events monthly – but is working to get that number up to two to six!
Centering the Community
Nowadays, The Last Bookstore still has regulars who come to the shop every day. You can buy records, used or new books, and get lost in a nook, reading. With its soaring ceilings and little hobbit holes, the space casts a bit of a spell on those who walk in.
Josh has one note for his fellow creators concerned about accommodating the disabled. “Make sure there’s a working elevator and someone knows how to operate it if it needs a key or a switch flipped! So many times there’s a lift but it doesn’t work, or the key for it takes a long time for someone to find.” And, of course, “it’s always nice when there’s someone on staff who is trained, empathetic, and has an eye out for any disabled attendees, too, although of course that’s rare and understandably more costly for the venue.”
As if this made-for-the-movies tale couldn’t get more romantic, just a few years ago Josh married his Hawaii sweetheart from 20 years ago, Jenna Hipp – the “bad breakup” that landed him in L.A. in the first place! The couple spends half of each month in the Aloha state with their four kids – and plan to open up a new bookstore there this fall.
Talk about a Hollywood ending.
Interested in attending one of these events? Follow The Last Bookstore on Eventbrite to be alerted when new events are added.
Up next: Read our creator spotlight on how Mess Hall is the Medicine D.C. Makers Needed.
