Welcome to the new year, friends! And thank you for making 2024 a successful and enjoyable endeavor. You have the best wishes of Jason and Cade as you embark upon a well-read and joy-filled orbit of our quaint little star.
Hours Adjustments
One of our weak points of 2024 was unacceptable (to me, anyway) variability in our weekly schedule. Much of it was unavoidable, thanks to Cade's cancer treatments and the arrival of Tyr the Mustang, but some of it was not. But it made me reflect a bit on the need to be clear and consistent in expectations we communicate to the general public.
Therefore, we're moving to a different scheduling model. We'll still be open in general from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday (and until 8 p.m. on Wednesday), but we're adding hours on the third Saturday of the month and closing the Friday before. Daily hours may fluctuate based on my non-bookstore schedule and the dojo schedule, so we're committed to being transparent in advance of those variations.
We've developed a handy-dandy calendar plugin on our Hours page that shows the guaranteed-open hours for every single day of the week. In addition, special activities (like salons) are represented, with the specific topic embedded in the calendar description. I can tweak it on my phone, so if there's some catastrophe or some unexpected and unavoidable event pops up, I can fix it in advance.
The TL;DR? Check the Hours page before you venture in, to be sure of our specific hours for any specific day.
Pricing & Market Changes
Since the beginning, we've sold our used books at $5. But as our collection has grown, that pricing logic increasingly makes little sense.
Going forward, we're adjusting pricing into five tiers:
- Small books (like those for small children) – $1
- Standard paperbacks – $2.50
- Standard hardcovers (usually genre fiction or mass-market titles) – $5
- Large, technical hardcovers (textbooks, big concordances, &c) – $7.50
- Rare books and sets optimized for online sale – price varies based on market trends
It'll take us through the end of the month to get the stacks fully processed with these changes, but the pricing logic takes effect immediately.
Book Buyback Program
We're re-opening the buyback program, but with new parameters.
We're going to be more aggressive about declining books that have limited resell value or for which we already have a billion copies in stock (lookin' at you, Anne of Green Gables). Right now, we're closing the door on additional religion titles. Pricing for what we'll offer is 1/5th of our intended resell price. For example, we'd pay $0.20 for small kids' books and $1 for mass-market hardcovers.
Cafe & Writing Space
Over our two-week closure, we accomplished some much-needed deep cleaning. We've thoroughly restocked the coffee-shop side of the joint. As always, we're happy to make brewed coffee, lattes, cappuccinos, or americanos, or offer you a packaged snack.
We welcome folks who just want to drop in to read or write. Between the reading chairs, the high-top tables, and a vast array of folding tables and chairs, we can flex seating for an astonishingly large number of people. During posted hours, there's no need to RSVP or anything. Just show up. 😄
New Books and Literary Journals
We've long planned to bring in new books and literary journals "in early 2025." It's now early 2025 and the effort begins in earnest.
What we need from you:
- Tell your author and small-press friends to reach out to us to recommend their specific books. We're going to place our first big order at the end of January; until then, we're soliciting nominations for what to buy.
- We accept both consignments and orders from Ingram.
We are never going to stock the new blockbusters you can buy from the local Barnes and Noble. Instead, we wish to highlight the local gems that can't find shelf space at a chain store.
Salons
The Wednesday-evening Salon program is back, with modifications. We're dropping the "Big Talk" part — not many were interested — and have introduced an open-floor writers' group.
The book club remains (it meets next Wednesday; the books are Why Is Sex Fun? by Jared Diamond and The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis) and will continue to meet monthly. We'll occasionally intersperse a gaming-and-socializing night into the schedule, too.
We're adding an open-access writers' group, which first meets in two weeks. No membership, fees, or RSVPs needed. Just come with a printed piece to workshop. We'll round-robin review everything that comes in. (People are welcome to participate without contributing a piece, too!) If no one brings anything, then it's writing time — individual writing, in community, with a chance to ask questions or get help about something vexing your drafting process.
Thanks for your patronage in 2023 and 2024. We look forward to continuing to serve you in 2025 and beyond!
