Around Indies

National Bookstore Day for the BookPeople Nation

First there was California Bookstore Day, then Chicago Independent Bookstore Day, and now there’s National Bookstore Day for the BookPeople Nation. The Austin, Texas, indie is inviting the “Citizens of the BookPeople Nation” to events all day Saturday, August 16, to celebrate “everything we love about the wonderful world of books.”

Among the festivities will be the unveiling of the official BookPeople 100, a compilation of store staffs’ best loved books of all time; a literary trivia contest; a sneak peek at fall titles and the announcement of the coming season’s author events lineup; a very special storytime; a magnetic poetry-a-thon; a tour of BookPeople’s mysterious fourth floor; and refreshments, giveaways, and author events.

Though the folks of Austin really don’t need an excuse to party, on its website, BookPeople said that it chose to make “a fuss on this randomly selected day,” before the fall whirlwind, so it could say thank you to customers “for building a nation of book lovers right here in Austin.”

Books on the Common Celebrates 30 Years

Ellen Burns and Darwin Ellis, the owners of Ridgefield, Connecticut’s Books on the Common for the last 10 years, are marking the store’s 30th anniversary this year. Founded by Bob and Sally Silbernagel in 1984 in a tiny, 450-square-foot space, the business moved within a year to Copps Hill Common shopping complex. In early 2009, Burns and Ellis moved Books on the Common to the town’s Main Street, where it benefits from the foot traffic of visitors to the downtown area.

Despite the challenges to their business from electronic media and Amazon, the owners remain motivated by a passion for community and literature, the Ridgefield Press reported. “It takes a lot of perseverance and big headedness — we don’t want to live in a town without a bookstore,” Burns said. “We feel that this should always be a part of the community — a place where people can come and discover new books.”

Face in a Book Owner Talks Expansion, Sales, Success

Tina Ferguson, owner of Face in a Book in El Dorado Hills, California, spoke with the Modesto Bee this week about strong sales at the two-year-old bookstore (up 30 percent over last year) and quieting the naysayers who had warned her against opening the bookstore.

In May, over Mother’s Day weekend, Face in a Book expanded from 1,100 square feet to 1,800, and added titles to the children’s section for its “voracious readers.” In addition to kids’ and adult books, the store features gift items that Ferguson scouts out at sales expos.

“Every square inch has to be used to sell stuff,” Ferguson told the Bee, noting that surplus inventory ends up stored at her nearby home.

Firefly Works With Senior Citizens to Help School Build Library

Since 2012, Lauer’s Park Elementary School in Reading, Pennsylvania, has been receiving credits at Kutztown’s Firefly Bookstore in order to purchase books for its library.

Credits for the school purchases come from the residents of a nearby independent living community who donate their used books to Firefly. “Many residents of The Heritage are downsizing to a smaller living space and want to find new homes for books they no longer read,” said Ellen Laincz, who lives at The Heritage and is the mother of Firefly co-owner Rebecca Laincz. “The book credit exchange is a great way for us to give the gift of reading to local children.” 

School librarian Dawn Conrad and reading specialist Heather Glendening recently used $650 in credits to buy 123 books, including fiction, nonfiction, and picture books, reported Berks-Mont News.