Tag Archives: bookstore

Big Holidays Doings at the Bookstore


SLLC City Wide Book Fair 2013 (3)

Yes, I said “doings.”

Anyway, coming up this Saturday we have the amazing Laura Ray – I won’t try to list all her names because it gets a little confusing – with her new book, “Brain Dead and Still Cooking.” Awesome recipes, and an hilarious style make this a great gift! Pair it with her first book, “Brain Dead in the ‘Burbs,” for twice the awesomeness!

SUNDAY-SUNDAY-SUNDAY!

Yes, we’ll be open this Sunday, noon to 5:00 p.m. for a special event – and you ALL SHOULD COME! Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, I’m going to add the press release for this FANTASTIC, ONCE A YEAR EXTRAVAGANZA!

St. Louis Literary Group Rings in the Holidays with an Area-Wide Book Fair

Checking your list? Checking it twice? Books make great gifts, and there’ll be plenty of chances to  shop ’til you drop at the St. Louis Literary Consortium’s Second Annual Holiday Book Fair. Set for Sunday, December 8, 2013, from 12 noon to 5 p.m., the Book Fair will feature the work of local writers at five locations around the St. Louis Metropolitan Area.

“We’re always happy when we can partner with independent booksellers to support local authors, and the Holiday Book Fair is a great opportunity for us to do that,” said Winnie Sullivan, who heads PenUltimate Press, a Consortium member organization. The St. Louis Literary Consortium, formed in 2012, is an alliance of literary organizations whose purpose is to promote the literary arts in the Greater St. Louis Metropolitan Area. Its members include Blank Slate Press, the St. Louis Writers Guild, the   St. Louis Poetry Center, and Walrus Publishing.

Holiday Book Fair displays will showcase the work of St. Louis writers at the following stores:

  • Subterranean Books – 6275 Delmar Boulevard, University City
  • All on the Same Page Bookstore – 10052 Olive Boulevard, Creve Coeur
  • STLBooks – 100 W. Jefferson Avenue, Kirkwood
  • The Book House – 7352 Manchester Road, Maplewood
  • Main Street Books – 307 S. Main Street, St. Charles

And writers will be on hand to sign their books at the Creve Coeur, Maplewood, and Kirkwood locations.

So come out and join in the holiday fun. Shop at your neighborhood bookstore, browse at one of the newer bookstores in the area, or visit all five! For more information about the Holiday Book Fair, contact Kristina Blank Makansi at kbmakansi@blankslatepress.com or any of the participating organizations, whose website addresses are: www.blankslatepress.com, www.stlwritersguild.org,  www.penultimatepress.blogspot.com, www.stlouispoetrycenter.org, and www.walruspublishing.com.

So, there you have it! Saturday AND Sunday this week! Plus, we have book bundles, and new items, and NEW coffee, tea, and hot chocolate! Come on down!

 

 

Stories from the Bookstore


Yesterday must have been some sort of official “I left my mind at home” day . . . Oh, not me! Ha. That never happens . . .

Anyway, I fielded the usual “do you BUY books?” “No, I’m sorry, we’re a bookSTORE, we SELL books,” – and no, I don’t really say that. But I want to. And I answered the phone and listened to the up-to-three-times-a-day automated call from Google.

I called a customer to tell her that the book she’d ordered had arrived. She asked me “which bookstore,” and okay, I can understand that. If you frequent several bookstores in a week’s time. When she came in, she looked perplexed and asked to see my note to make sure it was HER name and HER number. Then she wondered who had ordered the book.

Um, yeah, it was her – late last week. And her name, and her number. That’s how I knew to call her . . .

About an hour later, an elderly gentleman came in and said he wanted a couple paperbacks. I showed him the section in which he said he was interested, and he told me, in no uncertain terms, that he NEVER BOUGHT USED BOOKS.

So I took him back up front, to our local section, and pointed out several mysteries, new books. He barely paused to look as he stomped out the door, muttering that HE didn’t buy used books.

Just goes to show that simply because you’re an elderly WWII vet – at least that’s what his cap said – doesn’t mean that you can’t be a jerk. And in case you’re wondering, his hearing was perfectly fine . . .

Stuff like that always bothers me, on two levels. First, I never think customers are “bothering” me unless well, they do something like this. Like when you’re focused on a task and your kids are doing the “Mom, Mom, Mom, never mind” thing and so you’ve been interrupted for no good reason.

But second, and mostly, because I like to chat with customers, find out what they like to read, talk about books or whatever – and someone like this, whose interaction is so one-sided, perplexes me. Like the lady who came in one day, first time, and flat-out told me that I should rearrange my entire store and buy all her “practically brand new” hardcovers. More like she demanded that I do these things, because it was ALL ABOUT HER.

Sure, the customer is always right. Well, no, I don’t really believe that. The customer is always right if our policies (or me) are wrong. And yes, for my husband, I CAN admit when I’m wrong!