Teachers kept telling Margaret Barber they couldn't find materials they needed for their classrooms. She had worked in other bookstores for years and knew it was true. Big stores didn't carry many specialty books. So nine years ago Barber opened her own store, the Bookery in Socorro. Now she caters to academics, and has survived by going where the teachers are.
Barber buys from the big name educational publishers.
But she also deals with smaller houses who sell specialty merchandise. You have to do that to survive, you have to specialize. The Bookery also has a special Latino room , with books and plays from countries like Cuba and Peru. It's designed to serve Hispanics and all Latinos. And to get little kids interested in reading, she schedules puppet shows and storytelling times.