Educators: Nina Barrett, Bookends & Beginnings and Middles; Raven Stubbs, Women & Children First; Tim Smith, Schuler Books The Owner’s Retreat is a collaborative, solutions focused retreat designed for experienced bookstore owners navigating the evolving demands of long term leadership. Through open roundtable discussions and expert led education, owners will explore strategies for building sustainable, people centered businesses. The retreat opens with peer roundtables where participants identify and explore their top three operational or leadership challenges. A classroom-style session follows, offering insight into advanced topics: • Developing Effective Employee Manuals • Performance Reviews • Fostering Leadership within Staff To close, attendees have the option to join the 0–5 Year Owner’s Retreat for a joint lunch. Those who wish can stay for an additional hour to offer guidance, answer questions, and share hard-earned lessons with newer owners, helping foster a culture of mentorship and community across generations of bookselling. Format: Phase 1: (10:00 am - 11:30 am): Roundtables Owners round-robin and discuss their top three most pressing concerns in roundtables. Phase 2: (11:30 am - 1:00 pm) Classroom style education and discussion covering the topics above. Phase 3: (1:00 pm - 2:00 pm): Optional Lunch at Roundtables 5+ year owners will join the 0-5 year owners in their room for lunch. 5+ year owners then have the opportunity to volunteer to stay until 2:00 pm and attend roundtables and answer questions for the 0-5 year owners.