What do we do all day in the bookstore? Here’s a snapshot.
Today, we have a new online ordering system with our main book distributor, Baker & Taylor. Title Source 3 has been retired, and Title Source 360 replaces it. This doesn’t affect our customers lives in the slightest, but it’s new territory for us. So far, so good, but it’s still so very new. And it will affect our future as we grapple with a new inventory/POS system, but that’s another story.
We’re also getting ready for our Valentine’s Night tomorrow. Bought some carnations, some chocolate, posted to Facebook and Twitter, sent out an email to our newsletter subscribers. Tomorrow we’ll rearrange the room into an intimate cabaret and welcome the musicians.
On the tech end of things, Stump the Bookseller has been down for too long, but we’re working hard on it behind the scenes. After much discussion, we’ve decided to format it as a WordPress blog (like this one), which should make posting and commenting easier. But there’s lots of initial set-up to do, and we’re working on that now. Go, Quinn!
And in the long-term planning category, the Larchmere Festival really isn’t that far away. So we’re starting our planning meetings with other merchants and residents to organize the annual Larchmere Festival on the first Saturday in July. Hard to plan for hot weather when it’s still so cold.
Meanwhile, the Valentine cards are selling like crazy, we sold a nice Wizard of Oz book, and customers are asking us questions and sending us hunting as usual. What do you do all day?
Today in our Lost in a Good Book series, we present a pearl, or rather, The Pearl by John Steinbeck (1947), with a charming little gift tag.
“Pat this [is] not a guild book
