Scenes from the shop: Mid-December Edition
Ring, ring, ri…: “Good morning! 4 Kids Books, this is Cynthia, how may I help you?”
“Do you have the new Wimpy Dog book?”
“We have both Dog Man #14 — that’s the latest one — and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Partypooper, also the latest in the series. May I hold both for you?”
“No, it’s one book and I saw it at Yarns and Gobble and then I forgot to send money to the school book fair, so my kid is all upset and we need it to be from Santa.”
“Gosh, I don’t think I’m familiar with a standalone book with that title, but let me look it up for you — can you hold just a minute?”
“No, I’m in the carpool line and it’s pickup, so just find it in paperback because I’m not paying over $10 for a book, and be sure to wrap it in paper with Santas.”
The front door opens wide to let in a blast of winter wind, three moms with strollers and a blizzard of preschoolers. As I greet the kids and point toward the play tables, I see the UPS truck pull up and an unknown driver holds up all ten fingers, and makes the “soooooo big” sign with his hands. I nod and point toward the back entrance, wondering if the doorstop will be on its usual December hiatus. Each year they collectively go on some kind of religious retreat on Small Business Saturday, not to reappear until Valentine’s Day, inexplicably tucked into a box of pink slime jars. As I begin what will be another failed search and just drop a case of damaged book returns against the open door, I see a familiar elderly couple carefully inching their way across the icy parking lot toward the front door, and rush to the entrance to offer an arm at the curb — and hear a crash from the middle grade section, where one of the preschoolers has climbed onto a step ladder and is gleefully dropping handfuls of Magna-Tiles to the floor.
Our staffer at the register steps in to help our young Newton down and I walk to the picture book section, where dear Grandpa is carefully pulling a piece of folded yellow paper from his front shirt pocket, which he unfolds and hands to me the favorite document of children’s bookselling: a handwritten list containing the first names and ages of 12 grandchildren, penned in a spidery script, and representing the next hour’s work. We carefully select two to three titles per child, which are then carried to Nana in our comfy chair, with her reading glasses on and large pocketbook tucked neatly behind her feet, as she prepares to choose just the right book for each child.
Happy holiday season, dear friends and bookselling colleagues. I know that wherever you are, whether the winds blow snow or rain or sea breezes and humidity through that front door of the shop, we are all answering the same phone calls, asking the same gentle questions of customers to help them find what they need, and wondering, collectively, why all the misremembered books of the season were “BLUE, and it was RIGHT HERE.”
The practice of bookselling, in spite of our seasonally crowded stores and all those malapropic conversations with customers, can often be a lonely profession. There’s sometimes a feeling of “us against the world” (or us against tariffs, book banning, shipping and damage woes, product shortages, unrelenting event schedules, and the ever-present conversation about where the customer can “get it cheaper”) and it’s even more pronounced when we NEED this season to work. We build our spring orders on the cash that we generate in November, and we pay our staff and our rent in the first quarter on December sales. Every single day we check the weather, the UPS tracking, the list of special orders and count the website orders like Santa checks the hooves on the reindeer.
All of this is done with a smile facing the customers, for we must also create a space that brings them off their couches and into our stores. We provide great book recs to be sure, but this alchemy of bookselling only works when we create spaces that draw people in. We might be running on caffeine and cookies from the tin dropped off by a gift rep, but we are creating community and conversation and welcome with every bit of energy we can muster, and it takes a lot from every member of our store team.
We see you, friends. We are here, and you are not alone.
While we are all busy handselling and wrapping and managing a spreadsheet schedule of part-time holiday staff that resembles the Rockettes’ holiday show choreo, the staff at ABA is working just as hard on our behalf. I feel their support every day, and the weekly updates from BTW are like snacks in the break room — just the boost we need for another round on the floor. The sheer volume of work that is performed by the ABA staff and leadership is remarkable, and I couldn’t be more grateful for their responsiveness and commitment to our success.
I am thankful for the friendship, the advice, and the support of my fellow volunteer ABA Board Members — and I know that every one of them is continuing to work on the business of the association while they balance the demands of their stores. I appreciate our industry partners who work to amplify our efforts and support our success, and want to remind Santa that Bookshop.org and Libro.fm have been very, very good this year and deserve everything on their lists. Most of all, I am honored and inspired to be part of this bookselling community with all of you.
Be well, take good care of yourselves and your teams, and may this season show you all the ways you are valued by your communities. This is hard work, but may it also bring you joy this year and always.
Fondly,
Cynthia Compton
ABA Board President
Owner of 4 Kids Books & Toys, Zionsville, IN, and MacArthur Books, Carmel, IN