Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Seven Years and I Can’t Hear You

Saturday (October 22) we sent out our first Email Newsletter. This article was featured and as promised we are posting here too. If you would like to receive Shop News before everyone else (wink, wink) be sure to sign up for the Email Newsletter!  ---> Click Here for the Newsletter Sign Up

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There are times when it is funny, but for the most part it is a mystery to us how after seven years in business customers still don’t know we are here. “I’ve lived here my whole life and I didn’t know a bookstore was here.” Maybe people are not as observant as they used to be? Perhaps three years with an awning that was far from bookish related (Valley Furnishings) didn’t help? Or we are cornering the market on obscurity and being a hidden gem? Which I’m told is hipster gold. Hello hipsters? Yeah we have gold, in fact Mentone is a goldmine. So where is our Gold Rush of California proportion? We are waiting with smiles…and books.

Bookstores are not dying. They have broken the internet, so to speak, or more accurately they have overcome their prophecy, that admittedly I and many others proclaimed years ago at the onset of the eReader. Books are resilient. They are made of tougher stuff than people give them credit for. I never thought books would die, but if you were around at the beginning of shop days you may remember the eReaders vs. The Real Thing article I wrote for our (now defunct) Newsletter. I had an outlook motivated by fear and of a progressive world wherein technology gets bigger, better, and faster. Real books are not what many would deem “of the day” or “trendy”. That is to say people who are not bibliophiles or avid readers. Books knew better all along and they stayed calm (still do) while many rushed around in panic as the end was surely in sight any day.


My article wasn’t necessarily a doom and gloom piece, but a pros and cons look at the technology people were eager to jump on board with. I think I feared a loss in interest, but reserved my hope, and
even faith, in the readers of the world that no matter what books, of the paper variety, would be held in high esteem, by some, forever. I still hold those beliefs to be true.


One friend at the time remarked, “Hell will have to freeze over before Maddie gets an eReader.” I’m certain hell is still there, hot as ever, and I own an eReader. I even have changed my stance on Audiobooks (that’s a story for another day). I don’t mind, at this time and for this purpose ALONE (I’m terrible when it comes to being wrong), admitting I was wrong about eReaders.

There is space in my life for both. Have I given up reading paper books? No. Have I stopped buying real books? My mother probably wishes at times I had and someday my own house might question my sanity (House: Um, Maddie you think you are getting all of those in me? Girl, please.), but no I have not stopped buying paper books. I read. I read and try to be an unbiased reader. I am a non-denominational, non-format-judger, diversity seeker (newbie), reader. My head spins sometimes when I think about all the books and all the knowledge I have accumulated in my digital and real-world library. It spins with all I want to learn and feast my mind on. Can’t I just read all day? (haha another story, for another day)

My point is this: Some people may read the first paragraph and immediately jump to a few conclusions. One being, bookstores are dying. Please don your sack clothes and grab your signs on the way out, the people of the world may want to hear your message. I’m a little hurt that you want to tell me those things, scratch that…there is nothing little about it. I once wrote another piece for my personal blog, “When you tell me my Baby is ugly”. I may link to it as long as there is nothing too scathing in it. However, to sum it up, the Bookstore is my Baby. We put many hours of love, blood, sweat, and tears into the shop. Looking for books for the shop sometimes feels like we are bloodhounds on the scent of the next book buying frenzy. (Isn’t that a lovely visual?) There is nothing easy about running your own business, except the ease of sharing your passion with your fellow human and that human is so exuberant they could light the sun. That is easy. That is joy. That is what makes all the time and effort worth every penny. Books aren’t dying. Books depend on you to read them. You haven’t stopped reading, have you? I mean you’re reading this article if you’ve gotten this far and if you have gotten this far it means you follow one of our various social media platforms, and if you are following us it means you  have mild to severe bibliophile-ism. No worries, there is a cure for that and you are doing it now by reading this ‘note’.

Our job may be harder some days (i.e. figuring out why after seven years people still don’t seem to know about us), but it doesn’t mean we are going the way of the dinosaur. But you know dinosaurs are now housed in museums, and millions of people from around the world flock to see their BONES, and some of those millions of people even pay to read books and watch movies about them…..so perhaps that is a poor comparison because who wouldn’t want to be remembered that way after their deaths? If you say no, than this entire speech has fallen on the wrong ears and that is sad day my friend, a sad day indeed. (wink)

It does mean we keep trying and we keep remembering those customers whose exuberance “could light the sun”. It means writing an article/note/post like this that not only encourages you, but encourages me as the writer as I write it. New things. Big things. Strange things. Keep trying, keep doing. Stop telling us our baby is ugly (you know who you are).

As a side note, if you were not one of the people whose conclusion drawn from the first paragraph was we are dying, first I would like to say GOLD STAR! Second; if not daily, we hear at least once a week how bookstores are dying FROM CUSTOMERS, IN THE STORE SHOPPING, TO OUR FACES, and even in a conversational baiting tactic. I think these customers want collaboration on their ‘earth shattering’ wisdom and theories. We aren’t buying what you are selling folks. In all fairness I think these customers A. are not bibliophiles (why you are in a bookstore I don’t know) and B. often mistake Freddy or I for employees who don’t so much care for the business as we do for our weekly paycheck (haha paycheck, right), as I know some employees in chain stores can resemble such behavior. These same customers like to tell us they buy their books on Amazon. I’m glad people know how to be honest, but perhaps after honesty we should learn tact. Amazon is nice, I’m happy it exists, but if you play monopoly you should know monopolies are bad, competition is good. (If you read that last sentence slowly and loudly like someone talking to another person who might not understand them, I read it that way too…oops.) Let’s not make Amazon the true bad guy by making it the monopoly monster it is becoming. Again, baby = bookstore = don’t tell me it is ugly. How about shop local = your baby is cutest baby I’ve ever seen! (I’m not inserting sarcasm here because, girl you think I’m being sarcastic? Please.)
 


The Long and the Short of it

- I am not a short winded writer. I bet you didn’t guess that one!
 
- eReaders and Paper Books can coexist peaceful in your life. We don’t mind. Have you seen the quote on our wall, that’s perhaps going to take up permanent residence? It’s already been there for almost 2 years. “Books are no more threatened by Kindle than stairs by elevators.” ~Stephen Fry
 
- We are human too and sometimes our discouragement needs to be voiced and maybe what you read here was a little discouraging to you. Or maybe it has stirred in your heart the desire for action? Not to buy books from us necessarily, but to support local businesses more and to do so creatively. You can be a walking billboard! Tell your friends (we know many of you do) about what Mentone has to offer! No seriously drag your friends if you must (wink).
 
- You can think someone’s baby is ugly, but maybe you should refrain from telling the mother it is ugly. I hear the “mama bear” syndrome is real and REAL SCARY. Let’s just not, right let’s not tell mothers their precious bundles are ugly. We can all agree BAD IDEA, right? Right.


Tuesday, December 8, 2015

When the Magic Gets Better

From time to time the Bookshop can seem a dream, that we haven’t quite woken from yet. I can’t believe it is 6 years old and sometimes it is hard to believe we have made it. Owning and operating the shop is not only a dream, but a labor of love. It is the product of our passion for books and the hard work we continue to foster in our dream, our “baby”—our bit of magic.

As with most business endeavors you want to see growth and change—bad change need not apply *wink*-- both can be a combination of crazy, exciting, and even scary. The Bookshop is a place for Freddy and I to spread the love for the written word to our small-town and to the surrounding communities. We want to reach more and more people because that is growth AND that is how it gets better and better!

Over time we have made the transition, in name only, from ‘Used Bookstore’ to ‘Small-Town Bookstore’. It was a subtle way of bestowing more love and fondness into the shop, that and it sounds better. Am I right? We are pleased to announce it is no longer in name only! As of today we can now offer more to our customers—our regulars who have become a second family—we can offer the luxury of stocking AND ordering new books.

It is very exciting and has been a dream/desire for a long time. The change can also bring about questions and concerns from you, our Customer Family, and this post is to put you at ease.

What does this mean for the “used” books?
We will continue to primarily stock used inventory. It is not going anywhere! Freddy and I will not be changing our shopping habits for the Shop. The boxes of books we bring every week will not end and the current stock will not dwindle (well unless you come in and buy it all!).

So what DOES this MEAN?
Now Stocking and Ordering New Books!

It means the next necessary step in growth for reaching a bigger audience/community is to expand in what we offer, what we bring to the reading table so to speak. You will see, over time, more books of the “out now” variety, the “must reads”, and you will have the availability to request/order more readily said books. It is still your choice whether you order used or new, but the added luxury is yours for the “taking”!

What does this represent to Pete & Freddy’s?
GROWTH, GROWTH, GROWTH! It is exciting to offer more and to align ourselves further with the book buying world. There are not many Indie bookstores “in the neighborhood” and it has long been a faraway dream to join the ranks of Indie Brick and Mortars! The more opportunities we have to expand our endeavors, the more people we can reach with our love of the written word. (Am I saying ‘more’ enough? *wink*) We have been staunch proclaimers of “Shop Local!” and giving our customers this service is icing on the cake, giving you more reasons to practice what we preach!


Now for your orders, oh yes and questions *wink*! Help us make the magic better and see what the Lord has in store for the Shop’s future as we grow. Thank you to our Customer Family, without you the bibliophile madness would only be two young ladies surrounded silently (and madly) by stacks of books.

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Books from the man in the trench coat anyone?

Where do you get all your books? 

This is the question most asked by customers or curious friends and family. It is also the question we struggle the most to understand the curiosity/motive behind the question. A loaded question? The foremost mode of action for a bookseller (at least here at Pete & Freddy's) is to present an enthusiastic front for our customers, after all giving people a little smack isn't widely/socially accepted...or so it would seem. *wink*

Freddy and I have been collectors of books rare, wild, and wonderful for so many years I often can’t pinpoint a day or time when we didn't read or buy books. To date, our combine libraries would be in the realm of 5,000 or more. This does not take into account that Freddy's library was joined in matrimony to Yeti's; nor that Mum shelves many of our books for us until that fateful day when book friends will say goodbye to their neighbors as one moves out and the other stays behind.

So as this question is asked time and again, it is easy to find ourselves scratching our heads,
Books Rare Wild Wonderful
wondering why does it matter? However, curiosity being what it is, people want the scoop, the juicy gossip, or what have you. Our job as booksellers is to foster within our community the love of books and reading, to establish new readers, to give people the book-touchdown moment we all long for. When we look for books for the shop we are nurturing our inner book collector, but more importantly for OTHER PEOPLE with the widest, most diverse taste, and with the goal in mind to bring to the people what the people demand…books with a side of more books please. I mean we’re not buying books from the guy down the street in the trench coat. He is kinda creepy and do we really want to buy, or read for that matter, books from under someone’s trench coat? *wink* We bring passion to the game and then we dish it out in the form of customers’ delight at finding that gem. Our endeavor has been, from the get-go, to keep our prices affordable and people wanting more. We didn’t start the shop with the notion of becoming wealthy, well unless you mean wealthy in experience and memories. Our dream was being realized and we grabbed at the chance to share it with you.

So where do we get ALL our books? Here, there, yes everywhere! It is fair to say we’re experts at what we do AND we are always learning…still. Our ‘talent’, the knack for the job came about long before we unlocked the door and hung the ‘Open’ sign, only now we are using our abilities for you too...it’s nice to share or isn’t that what our mothers teach from our youth?

"I cannot sleep unless I am surrounded by books."
~Jorge Luis Borges