Opening an Islamic bookstore

[Haaji_Abubakr]

السلام عليكم

It's always been part of my dream to open and run an Islamic bookstore. It seems though that all the brothers I've come across that own one have a hard time maintaining it because of lack of customers. Maybe that's just the situation in parts of the U.S. but I've always been wondering how do Islamic bookstores stay in business?

[Magoo]

by being diverse, just selling books is tough, if you can get mens and womens islamic garments it helps, also selling scents helps, the few that i have seen do well all sold frames with islamic calligraphy on them, im not sure what the ruling is on these frames but they are big sellers

[AnonyMousey]

As-salaamu 'alaikum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatu,

Sister Ruth Nasrullah in Houston, Texas has just opened up an Islamic bookstore called "Light of Islam" - http://www.light-of-islam.org/

You could contact her for more info, insha'Allah...

Also, in my experience, there's always the good ol' "Islamic bookstore room" at a Masjid (halaal-ness of that is a bit questionable though, no? Allahu a'lam :S), or your Islamic centre... that's what we did in my old city - it was an Islamic centre/ bookstore/ library (BIG library, masha'Allah!), and it was a hit!