I opened the door and people materialized – right before my eyes. It was surprising, like when I spent three hours putting together a remote controlled plane for my son and the thing actually flew! Our first customer browsed, then several hours later returned and bought a $50 Far Side cartoon collection. The actual first sale was a first edition of Annie Dillard’s “The Maytrees,” followed by Eco’s “The Name of the Rose.” We sold a biography of Richard III, William Manchester’s “The Power and the Glory,” Gunter Grass, Shel Silverstein, H.G. Wells… well, I shouldn’t try to list every book, but I was strangely affected by every sale. Many of the books were titles that I had picked out myself, believing they were books
Opening a Bookstore Archive
This is my last post before next week when Circle City opens its doors to customers. I am facing with a calm and serene acceptance the fact that my first week in business will be a chaotic welter of disorder and catastrophe. From credit cards to cash register to furnace to plumbing to signage – all is in flux, and by flux I mean completely beyond hope. All right, I am exaggerating. There is still a sliver of hope that in the next week I’ll get things straightened out. Nevertheless, we are opening, ready or not. And what will be ready is a store full of books. I’ve finished building and installing the bookshelves, and I expect to spend most of the next week filling
If you want to lose weight, you should open a bookstore. It might not work for you, but I’ve dropped 20 pounds since this project began in mid-July. I doubt it is because of exercise, though I’ve carried more boxes of books than I could count. I think it is from not eating, which I often forget to do as the day passes while I am focused on one of the tasks that I need to complete if I am going to be ready to open the doors October 20. This past week I devoted to organizing, sorting and culling books in the general fiction room. I have made the following two decisions and I am curious if they offend anyone: first, I am shelving
As I write this on Sunday night, there are now just 20 days until the bookstore’s opening, Oct 20. I don’t know if I’ll be ready or not, but I am determined to open regardless. It’s time to start selling some of the astounding mountains of books that continue to grow around me. This week was the Chatham Community Library book sale, and somehow I managed to find room in my store for 500 more books. On Saturday, bag day ($5 per bag) I packed 430 books into 20 bags. These were books that had not sold the day before for $1 per trade paperback or $1.50 per hardback. Yet, there were many great books left, and other buyers found as many or more than
After several weeks of fine-tuning, I’ve finally got a logo. That means I can start working on the signs that will go on and around the building. Our graphic artist came up with a much better design than what I had in mind when I presented him with my rough idea. My wife and daughter went back and forth over colors and details and, I think, everybody is happy. We’ll see what it looks like four feet high. As time passes, and word spreads of my existence, I am getting more calls from people who want to unload their books. I’ve seen a lot of worthless books over the past month. The hope that, at long last, someone might actually pay money for torn, wet