Still Here

 This post is just to make sure that the blog is considered active.  The store is still open, but we have just decided not to maintain the blog on a regular basis.

Twenty Years at Booknotes

It was twenty years ago today, a Saturday, that my store, Booknotes, opened.  Of course, that makes today the store's anniversary.  This is the china anniversary.  We had actually started cleaning out and remodeling of the unit back in July of 2020.  It just took a few months for everything to be fixed.  The fixtures and books starting coming in September.  I had to sit down and open dozens of books and make sure that the inventory was correct.  At least one book was missing, but it has been so long I can't really be sure of anything else.  That first day, we only had a few people come in.  Our first customer was an associate of my mother's, either someone who worked for her dentist or hairstylist.  One of the books she bought was a food lover's companion.  That maybe the actual title, but I can't be sure, so I won't put it in italics.  She wound up paying for the books with a check.  That means we never had a first dollar as a good luck charm.  That might be one of the reasons why we were never a huge success.  In these twenty years, Booknotes has had many ups and downs.  We have had well over a dozen events.  Some were great, but a few had hardly anyone.  The store got flooded from pipes twice.  It almost got flooded from a mudslide.  There were multiple closures due to snow storms, not to mention the reason two month forced lockdown due to a pandemic.  Almost every other business that was at our shopping center has moved, closed, or both.  Some are still here, but are under new management.  I haven't even looked at some of the newest businesses yet.  There is even a church across the parking lot.  This lot is actually one of the main reasons why we chose this location.  There is usually plenty of parking, although we only needed all of the space just once.  To be honest, there aren't many things I still like about being in business.  I have always loved knowing about what books will be coming out, months or more in advance, even if there is only one distributor that we can still deal with.  I love to finally get the chance to read some books that I had been waiting for.  It is only because of the store that I read The Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter series.  I have read so many books, and kept some of them entirely for me.  I love coming up with ways to decorate the store, making logos and filming them, coming up with the themed puzzles behind displays, drawing up the "Upcoming Releases" board each month, and even designing the store's website and social media pages.  Still don't have those last two exactly as they should be.  Lately, that is all I do.  Hardly anyone is coming in any more.  Most of our business has been on special orders.  We have never truly figured out which books we should always have in stock.  Sometimes we work it out, but we never seem to have enough money to get all of the special orders and new books to reorder much, especially now with direct withdrawal.  We have been through four cash registers, three microwave ovens,  five calculators, but barely three-fourths of the thousands of staples in the box we got at opening.  We still have dozens of the books from those original shipments, too.  Some are out-of-date, and dated, but many are still perfectly enjoyable and useful.  I don't know how much longer I will be here at the store.  Its time is definitely numbered.  I had expected to be in school and out of the area by this fall, but I'm not.  If I could just have some way to keep doing this, while making money, then the picture wouldn't be so dim.  Here's hoping for at least a few more weeks.

A New Year, and We Are Still Here

It has been about three months since our last post, and we have had some news.  We almost closed at the start of the year.  We didn't want to make much of a fuss about it, since we did manage to come up with a way to keep the store open, for now.  However, we know for a fact that the store will not be here, at least in its current form, by the end of the year.  If all goes right, this poster will be leaving the area by the end of summer.  By then, we hope there will be some arrangement so that people will still have the opportunity to have a book store, in some form.  We are looking into many options, and we hope to have news up long before any transitions take place.  In the interim, we have made a few small changes to the store's design.  We will be posting these changes soon either here or on social media.  We wish to thank our customers, both frequent and new, for your continued support.

Nineteen Years, and Maybe Stop Counting

First, let's apologize for waiting so long for a new post.  We were initially planning on doing at least one a month, but there really wasn't anything to report on, so we didn't post anything.  We still updated the rest of the site on a fairly regular schedule, but this part just fell to the wayside.  Since the last post, many things have happened.  First, we had to stop taking credit cards again.  Things were just getting too expensive for what we were getting in return.  We have been trying to look into alternatives, but nothing has come of them yet.  Second, we have had to severely restrict our ordering due to having to go through a different distributor.  We have basically only getting special orders in and nothing new.  We simply cannot order extra without more people placing orders and paying for them up front.  We hate doing that, but it is the only we can place the orders.  Third, today marks the nineteenth anniversary of our opening!  October 7, 2000 was our opening day.  It was a Saturday.  Our first sale was for three books, paid for by check.  We were not able to have a lucky "first dollar" to mark the opening.  We only had about four people come in that day, and the day was mostly quiet, a harbinger of the things to come.  Ever since that day, were have been quiet and empty the overwhelming majority of days.  We have gone a week and more without anyone coming in, and we don't just mean in the depths of winter during major snow events when six foot plus drifts get piled up in the center's parking lot.  We are trying to do better, but the odds are that we will be closing by the end of the year.  As we do every year, we would like to thank our friends and customers who have come into our store over the years.  While we know we aren't the biggest or always the best, we have always tried to do so.  We will continue to try for as long as we can.  We hope to see all of our loyal friends at least one more time before anything else happens.  Thank you all for your support.

And That's All He Wrote, for Now

This will be the last regularly scheduled post for this blog for the foreseeable future.  Quite frankly, there is nothing to write about.  Nothing much is happening with the store.  No events are planned.  No news to report.  Nothing.  Last year, when we decided to initially change the format mot twice a month, a large part was because the regular author had so much extra to do outside of the store.  Two times a month worked out fine then.  However, another part of the problem was that was less to write about.  When this blog first started, the author did not have as many outlets as he does now.  With those outlets, the need for writing here has decreased somewhat, especially since more is happening in his life outside of work than with it now.  With more avenues for communication and less need for this one for Booknotes, the urgent need to write about anything in this space has lessened to the point where it is no longer viable.  As of now, we will still publish at least one post per month, but it will not be on any sort of regular schedule.  If there is any pressing news, it will be commented on here, but it would be announced through our other social media channels first.  While this section of the site will be slowing down, the rest of it will b e updated on its regular basis--weekly book debuts, monthly sneak peaks, and holiday themed colors and pics will still be changed on a regular basis.  Store pictures and videos will also be present on our Facebook page.  In fact, a new video will probably debut in the next few days.    So, be on the lookout for new postings, though our Facebook page, and then come back here to read them.  We will be waiting for you.  Until next time.

What Had to Be Done

First, sorry about this post being so late after the last one.  These posts are supposed to be on the second and fourth weekend of the month.  Well, June had five weekends, so the second weekend of July is three weeks late.  There was supposed to be a mini-post, but we forgot to do one.  Our bad.  Second, we are now having to ask customers to prepay for most special orders.  It is a consequence of having to deal with a different major distributor.  Our previous one, Follet/Baker and Taylor, went out of the retail market.  With this change, also came a change of payment plans.  This means we must pay for our deliveries before they can be shipped out.  This means that most books will now have to be paid in full before ordering them.  It is the only way we will be able to get them for you.  Some books on the lower end of the price range will not have to be prepaid, unless multiple ones are ordered.  In that case, they would have to be paid for up front.  We regret having to ask our customers to change the way we do business, but it cannot be helped.  We are doing all we can to try and ease this burden, but there is not much more we can do.  Stay tuned for more updates, either here and elsewhere on our website, or on our social media pages, such as Facebook.  See you in two weeks.

Thanks for Everything

If everything goes right, there will be a picture of our certificate from the Appalachian News-Express for winning the award for best place to buy books.  We would like to thank everyone who voted for us.  We would like to thank you in person, so please come in at your earliest convenience.  However, we do have a few problems.  After one last order, going out this Monday, June 24, if possible, we will b e making major changes.  After this time, we will have to ask for at least half down on all orders.  We may have to add shipping and handling fees as well.  Also, we don't know how much longer we will be able to place orders.  We should know more by the next post.  Check our Facebook page for any immediate news.  In any case, we will have one more post this month, next week.  And again, thanks for everything.  It took awhile, but we were finally able to add the picture.