Saturday, January 28, 2012

Saving a Local Bookstore

Hubs and I headed into town earlier this morning to run some errands, and he told me that one of the small local bookstores, The Paperback Rack, was having a big sale and had published a plea asking people to visit so they could scrape together enough money to keep from going out of business. Wow, that was an incredibly long run-on sentence.

Anyways, you don't have to twist this gal's arm to get me into a bookstore, since I love my paper and ink and have yet to purchase an e-reader. So, we headed over, and were pleased to see that the store was pretty busy. I have to admit I am not the biggest fan of small bookstores because I'm a child of the age of instant gratification, and I want to know that I'm going to find the book I'm looking for. For instance, I was fairly chagrined when I was told they weren't stocking any (ANY) Neil Gaiman books at the moment (though they sell mostly used books, so I imagine they just have to take what they can get). And, the nice store clerk did recommend some Charles de Lint, since he was a big inspiration to Neil, as well as another book that Neil wrote the foreword for.

It was a fun adventure. I whipped out my Droid and pulled up my Goodreads list, and was able to find four books that I had on my TBR list. And while I was flipping through the Charles de Lint book the store clerk had shown me, wondering if I wanted to buy it or not (I had some other Charles de Lint books on my TBR list, and my pile was getting pretty large), a girl walked by, spotted it in my hands, and asked if I was going to buy it because she'd been looking everywhere for it. I happily passed it over and she was ecstatic. It was a magical book store moment. Another was when some guy went up to the clerk and gave him a check to help save the store, even though he wasn't buying anything.

So, I made out like a bandit, getting five books for like $3-$4 each. Here's my stash:


And since you all know how I love posting random pics of my cats -  this is Mr. Fox on my night stand a few months ago (he's grown in size pretty significantly since then):


I hope everyone's having a great weekend. Any fave small bookstores in your area? Have you paid them a visit lately?

23 comments:

  1. Yes! My launch party is next weekend in an independent bookstore that I try to visit several times a year. (Children's Book World, Haverford, PA)

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  2. Good for you, and GOOD for you! :) I have two of those books. :)

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  3. Aw what a great thing you did! We actually don't have any local bookstores. Well, we do have some trade-in ones...I haven't been to those in a while. But those don't carry new books at all. The last bookstore that carried new books closed last year or the year before I think. Borders closed so now all we have is Barnes and Noble...sigh. In a city of 150,000 you'd think a local bookstore would be able to thrive...

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  4. The closest city to me is 25 miles from where I live. Borders was all we had, but not long after it closed, a Books a Million moved in (but for some reason, I'm not in love with it. I think it has something to do with their "as seen on TV" section that has absolutely nothing to do with books).

    I've gone e-reader these days. But I LOVE the library's annual used book sale! ($5 for a whole bag of books!)
    erica

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  5. Ooh, you did get some good books! See, now I'll be able to access my TBR list on GR too. I never thought of doing that before two weeks ago.

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  6. What a great day! Love when peeps donate cuz they can. And you did get a great selection. I started reading Pillars a few moths ago and it's fantastic, but had to set it aside while I do some beta reading.

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  7. Oooo, you got some good ones. I liked The Vampire Lestat so much better than Interview w/a Vampire. And Pillars is awesome (long, but so worth the time). Enjoy! =o)

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  8. Hopefully all of that was enough to keep the store going a little longer.

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  9. What a sweet story, Alexia. Sadly, although my little town does have a library, we do not have a bookstore. We have to drive to a bigger city for that. Consequently I am currently buying mostly e-books. I do love visiting bookstores and it is not out of the question for me to find something there to take home. I really do hope that bookstores find a way to hang in there. It would be a shame without them.

    -Jimmy

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  10. That would be really cool if you all were able to save that store by being there:)
    What a neat experience! And you made out like a bandit:)

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  12. What a great deal!! Looks like a good stash of books. And I adore your cat photo. :)

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  13. ...very kind of you to help out your local Indie ;)

    I recently visited ours as well...love that place.

    The Vampire Lestat was a wise investment. A great read!

    El

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  14. Great bargain.. books look good:)

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  15. Ah, I LOVE The Vampire Lestat!

    Sadly, I'll admit I'm a B&N girl. I don't even know where any local bookstores are around my neck of the woods. :o(

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  16. I love visiting bookstores. Like you, I am a big fan of pen and ink :)

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  17. Good for you for responding to the call and helping out a small business! :) Looks like you got a very good haul indeed.

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  18. If only more people were as thoughtful as you - more small bookstores might stay open if that were the case. I don't have a favourite as there aren't any locally. However, whenever I'm in our local city I always make a point of purchasing a few books from Waterstones. They may be a large chain but they are only decent highstreet book seller left!

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  19. Hello Alexia! My first visit, will visit you again. Seriously, I thoroughly enjoyed your posts. Congrats for your work. If you wish to follow back that would be great I'm at http://nelsonsouzza.blogspot.com
    Thanks for sharing!

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  20. We don't have small bookstores in my area. I wish we had a good indie one because I would happily shop there. And I love your random cat pics. Was he looking at a bug? Our one-eyed cat, Pip, used to sit and stare at the wall in our old apartment - she would talk to it. It was sort of creepy, especially now that we're in the new house and she hasn't done that once. Makes you wonder if she was talking to spirits (we used to joke about that). Ha!

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  21. A Borders closed around here recently, but I found a small bookstore that had everything, in a small yet ordered space. Very cool. Surrounded by good cafes and restaurants, too. So I went in and spent some dough. You've gotta support the bookstores these days, even if you can get more for a lot less on Amazon.

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