Today we’d like to introduce you to David and Dara Landry.
Hi David and Dara, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
We are both lovers of books and reading them as well. One of the things that we like to do, when we travel, is to find the local Black owned bookstore(s) and support them with our dollars.
In 2015, we read an article that stated that the Black owned bookstore was rapidly declining in the United States. At that time, there, on average, less that one bookstore per state. After this, we began to travel all over the country, going to Black owned bookstores there (specifically, New Orleans, LA; Long Beach, CA; Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles, CA) and asking them how did they get started and how did they stay in business. Once they all gave us sound advice, wisdom, and information, we went forward with our lives.
In 2020, we got some information about a class on how to start a business, which would not only teach us the ins and outs, but also would provide us with a grant to get our business started. We took the class and after ten (10) weeks, we graduated and were on our way.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Not to sound like a braggart, but CLASS Bookstore has been going pretty smooth, so far. We have only been in business for a little over a year now and fortunately, people have been coming out to support us in leaps and bounds.
We started doing pop-ups a couple of months after we opened and, due to the way that they are set up, it allows for us to meet people directly, interact with them, and find out what they are interested in and what they recommend to us.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
CLASS Bookstore is a Black owned, family operated, online/mobile bookstore, based in Houston, TX.
We specialize in the retail of books and what we have termed “reading lifestyle accessories”, such as bookmarks, t-shirts, and other products that will be revealed, once we have produced them.
The things that sets us apart from our competitors is that we do not operate in the traditional sense of being in a brick & mortar space. This flexibility allows us to move through the city of Houston with ease and bring the books directly to the people.
Brand wise, we are proud of the fact that we sell books that are hard to find for our customer base and they are also hard to find on other big box stores, such as Barnes and Noble and even Amazon.
We want the readers to know that not only can you order from the selection that we provide on our website, but you can also do submit for special orders from us as well, if you are looking for a particular book. We also can ship our products to you and we are able to deliver to people within 20 miles radius of our fulfillment center.
One more thing: we get asked a lot about if we sell audiobooks and we are happy to share that we do! If you go to the following website, www.libro.fm/classbookstore, then you will be able to purchase audiobooks there and we receive proceeds from that transaction. We also have a Bookstore.org page as well, https://bookshop.org/shop/classbookstore for those who want to have a Amazon like experience, but are desiring to support an independently owned bookstore.
What makes you happy?
We make one another happy. As a married couple in business, we find things both within the business and outside of it to fulfill our happiness.
We love music, traveling to different places, sneakers and streetwear fashion.
Pricing:
- Use the code “LASTONE20” for all of our books in the category, “LAST ONE”, on our website, www.CLASSBookstore.com
- Purchase a CLASS Bookstore Shirt for $35 on our website, www.CLASSBookstore.com
- Purchase a RBG #BANGONTHESYSTEM bandana for the month of February for $25 at www.CLASSBookstore.com
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.CLASSBookstore.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/classbookstore
- Facebook: facebook.com/classbookstore
- Twitter: twitter.com/classbookstore
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-EQlc_1FVSbr2PMp8hjXIg
Image Credits
Jeffrey Brandon
Aswad Walker
David Landry
Dara Landry
