Today, Arundel Books is a beloved local staple in Seattle, Washington. But the bookstore itself was technically an accident. “Collecting books was something I did on the side just for fun. I had a big dollar job offer in another field,” said founder Phil Bevins. His parents, however, encouraged him to pursue his passions. “My parents told me that they knew very few people who’d found the kind of joy I found in books in their day-to-day work and that I should just think about that. Work doesn’t have to be hard and awful. It could be fun,” Bevins recalled from the conversation with his parents. A few decades later, Bevins, to his surprise, is still having fun.
Arundel Books originally specialized in art, poetry, and rare, out-of-print books. Today, it is a thriving bookstore with a diverse catalog that aims to reflect the community surrounding it, as well as several related ventures. Arundel Books has affiliations with Indie publishing company Chatwin Books and operates a book and printing operation that boasts a vintage letterpress printing press. Expanding beyond the four walls of Arundel Books is, perhaps, one of his favorite things about being in business. And he’s leveraged key tools to help growing the bookstore more strategic and impactful.
“We’ve been creating new companies, growing existing companies, creating jobs, and making things here in America. Square is one of the key partners that has made that possible,” said Bevins.
How it started: Struggling to secure access to capital
Bevins started the Arundel Books based on a pure love for books, but he quickly realized that he needed capital to help him establish the business. “I started with pretty much nothing. I had a customer that wanted to spend $2,000, but only if he could put it on his American Express card so he could get miles,” he remembered. “I couldn’t take credit card payments, and the bank wouldn’t even consider you for a merchant account until you had been in business for a full year with a retail space,” he added.
Even when Bevins finally began to secure financing partners, he felt undervalued. He recalled a story of going into the bank one day for his business account and seeing it marked as a “high-value customer.” Only later he learned that high value had a different meaning. “At first I was like wow, they really value my business. But no, that’s not what it meant,” he said. “What it meant was I was a high fee customer and that they should look at additional ways to get me to open more accounts and try to find ways to hit me for extra fees,” Bevins concluded.
He knew he had to make a change, and he had to make it quick. “If I was still working exclusively with them, we would still be right where we were at that point. And, you know, it’s really sobering to think about that,” he noted. Bevins ultimately brought his Arundel Books to Square.
How it’s going: Securing loans with confidence and time saved
Bevins began taking out business loans with Square Loans, which are powered by Square Banking, and notes that the process is tailored to entrepreneurs. “There’s no one size fits all in terms of financing and loans. But there are two main advantages to using Square Loans1. The application process is painless and the repayment terms are intelligently structured. Your payments rise and fall with your cash flow,” he said.
As a business owner, he works around 80 hours a week, sometimes more. Long, dreadful financing processes would sometimes take him two solid work days to complete, essentially adding to his workload. Taking out a Square Loan ultimately saved him time because the application didn’t require a wide range of redundant information that was already housed in the system. The repayment system also makes Arundel Books feel like it has a true partner supporting its growth.
“There are companies that take a look at your pie, and say, this is our piece of it today and we’re going to take more of it tomorrow. Then there are the companies that look at your pie and say, ‘Here’s our piece of that pie, and if we help that pie grow, our piece gets bigger. Square is the latter,’” Bevins explained.
Beyond financing, Bevins also shared that the ability to process payments with confidence has made his operation run much more smoothly. “Square is more predictable. We don’t get hit by mystery processing fees amounting to hundreds of dollars at the end of every month. Square’s fraud prevention is better, we have very, very few chargebacks. Lastly, our customers trust Square which is super helpful when you’re trying to run and grow a business,” Bevins said.
The impact: Future-proofing the business
“We’ve been growing faster since we started partnering with Square. Square Loans is far more efficient than financing through a (traditional) bank and better suited for business too,” Bevins shared. With a partner that enables steady growth, Bevins and the Arundel Books team are now focused on making more strategic decisions to build on the growth they’ve built.
For Bevins, this means future-proofing Arundel Books. “Today, a business model is good for about six months,” he said. In other words, Arundel Books is looking into ways it can avoid being stagnant. “The most important skill that a business owner can develop is that of adaptation. Being responsive to changes in the market, changes in consumer taste, or changes in customer preferences,” he said.
One of the ways Bevins does this is by always listening and prioritizing the experience. Bevins, for example, lives in the neighborhood so he’s constantly talking to members of the community and getting into their heads, trying to understand the things they care about. The most poignant moments, however, always happen when he least expects them. “We sell a lot of things that we make at the bookstore. When people pick those things up and respond to them [in warm ways] and eventually bring it to the counter, it’s like, ‘wow, we made that right,’” Bevins said proudly.
Creating and handmaking items is ultimately one of the many ways the bookstore differentiates itself, building a distinct path for the future. Bevins said: “Nobody seems to make things anymore, right? That makes it more remarkable that Square has made it so that you can make more things and have access to the [$13,000 machine] that you need to create.”
1All loans and Savings accounts are issued by Square Financial Services, Inc., a Utah-Chartered Industrial Bank. Member FDIC. Actual fee depends upon payment card processing history, loan amount and other eligibility factors. A minimum payment of 1/18th of the initial loan balance is required every 60 days and full loan repayment is required within 18 months. Loan eligibility is not guaranteed. All loans are subject to credit approval.
Savings accounts are provided by Square Financial Services, Inc. Member FDIC. Accrue annual percentage yield (APY) of 1.00% per folder on folder balances over $10. APY subject to change, current as of 2/18/2025. No minimum deposit is required to open an account. Accounts will not be charged monthly fees. Accounts are FDIC-insured up to $2,500,000. Pending balances are not subject to FDIC insurance.
Square Checking is provided by Sutton Bank, Member FDIC. Square Debit Card is issued by Sutton Bank, Member FDIC, pursuant to a license from Mastercard International Incorporated, and may be used wherever Mastercard is accepted. Accounts are FDIC-insured up to $250,000. Funds generated through Square’s payment processing services are generally available in the Square checking account balance immediately after a payment is processed. Fund availability times may vary due to technical issues.
