Last month, I took a job working part-time at the independent bookstore in our small college town. I’ve admired the female-owned bookstore from afar and as a customer, attending many author events there and meeting some of my favorite writers. But as we all know, writing can be a lonely business. Most of my days as an empty nester are spent talking to my dogs, researching and recording podcast scripts, working on essays, short stories, and longer lengths of work. It can be days before I leave my neighborhood and sometimes it feels isolating.
So, when I saw the opening for a part-time bookseller, I jumped at the chance to apply. Fortunately, the owner knew me from my previous job as editor of a regional magazine. She hired me and I began my training last month. I work two or three days a week, which is perfect for my schedule. I work with a large group of women with very diverse backgrounds (the owner if a former high school biology teacher), the store manager writes in the romantasy character, another co-worker studied data sciences, a member of the town’s historical society and a former archivist, and so on. You get the idea. We have a wide range of interests, which helps us assist our customers no matter what type of book they are looking for. Because there are so many of us, the job offers us the flexibility we need.
One of the first things I noticed on the job was how happy the customers are. I never realized how busy the bookstore is, but it makes sense. It’s on the main street of a small college town, and we have a diverse group of customers walking into the store every day. They are so happy to find us, because we have a carefully curated selection of not only books, but stickers, journals, puzzles, and gift ideas. Children happily skip into the store to search for the next book in a series they are devouring, readers come in looking for their most current book club selections, and parents visiting their students at the college say they love visiting the store whenever they’re in town. Because our store is small, we can’t carry everything in stock but have created a system where customers can place orders with us with no shipping and the book are usually available within three to five days.
With inflation on the rise and more people budgeting their money carefully, I’ve noticed books are a comfort item people are willing to splurge on.
In the past few weeks, I’ve seen:
- A man with a National Parks employee patch on his polo shirt searching for a copy of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road so he could take it backpacking with him over the weekend.
- A neighborhood mom and her friendly black lab, Scout, who visit weekly to pick up books or simply chat about what we’re all reading these days.
- A middle-aged couple and their son picking up a copy of Yellow Face by R.F. Kuang because they are reading it for their family book club.
- Children from the local elementary school stopping in to pick up a book for their grade’s new reading club.
Renee Roberson is an award-winning writer and creator/host of the true crime podcast, Missing in the Carolinas. In 2023, the bookstore she works in appeared in the movie, The Other Zoey.
0 comments:
Post a Comment