Posts Tagged independent bookstores

Indie Spotlight:Spellbound Children’s Bookshop, Asheville NC

By on April 30, 2013   /   Book Lists, For Parents, For Teachers, Indie Spotlight  

screenshot_707Sue Cowing for Mixed-up Files: This month we’re talking with Leslie Hawkins, the intrepid founder/owner of Spellbound, the only children’s book shop in North Carolina (www.spellboundchildrensbookshop.com/). Rather than close her doors during the late bad recession Leslie downsized her shop temporarily, moved it downtown, and partnered with an art gallery.  But now the shop is doing well and she’s ready to grow again and move  to a site still close to town but with easier parking and more room for activities.  We’re especially glad to feature Spellbound this month, because they’re in the midst of a $18,000 fund-raising campaign with Indiegogo that could make all this happen, and the deadline is May 15. For more details, see: http://bit.ly/GrowBks

MUF:  Leslie, If you do make your goal in the Indiegogo campaign by May 15th, what are your plans for Spellbound’s future?

Artist's view of the new Spellbound space, incorporating some familiar items

Artist’s view of the new Spellbound space, incorporating some familiar furnishings

Leslie Hawkins: Spellbound will expand back to “pre-recession size.” We’ll have a bigger inventory and more space for events. The space will be both bigger and more efficient, as we plan to build an event room that can be closed off to allow private events to take place during store hours. This is something many customers have been asking for, room to have birthday parties, workshops, etc.

MUF: And if you exceed that and make your “stretch” goal you will keep your downtown store as well?  What have been the benefits of sharing space downtown?
Leslie: Well, the many opportunities for cross-promoting, of course. Zapow gallery and Spellbound have expanded each other’s customer reach; we bring more families to the gallery (which has plenty of art that appeals to all ages) and being housed in the gallery has brought in more teens and young adults to see Spellbound’s book offerings.

Spellbound downtown

Spellbound downtown

The biggest benefit has been the capability to share customer service hours. Lauren, co-owner and curator of the gallery, has a masters degree in illustration and is a bona fide kidlit nerd like me, so my customers are in good hands even when I’m not at the store. We have each benefitted from having more time to work on behind-the-scenes business tasks by sharing the customer service workload—and not having to pay each other!
I have, so far, been the only full-time Spellbound staff member.

MUF: You’ve been in a smaller space for awhile, so you’ve probably had to be more selective in what you carry.  How do you decide?  What wouldn’t you do without?
Leslie:  Since being so downsized was only ever meant to be temporary, I have tried to keep the full range of offerings—baby books, early readers, etc.—on hand but yes, necessarily smaller inventory. If this becomes our smaller, satellite location as I envision, the inventory here will be geared more to comics and graphic novels, illustration-heavy books, and teen fiction, to tie in with the core audience for the gallery.
I mostly have relied on a combination of proven sales for backlist—not national bestsellers, necessarily, but what has been consistently in demand here—and my own instinct for frontlist. What do I love? What will I be enthusiastic about? Most of my regular customers come to Spellbound to see what I love and recommend. It’s not the size of the inventory but how it’s curated.

Graphic illustrator Hope Larson with Wrinkle in Time Art Contest winner Crow Thorson

Graphic illustrator Hope Larson with Wrinkle in Time Art Contest winner Crow Thorson

Some titles that I would never want to do without include the Indestructibles baby books from Workman; Betsy Snyder’s board books; the Ivy and Bean series; Nick Bruel’s Bad Kitty books in any format; 39 Clues, Sisters Grimm, and Mysterious Benedict Society series; Kristin Cashore’s Graceling; works by Hope Larson, an Asheville native who has found major national success with her graphic novels; and A Wrinkle in Time, my personal favorite and the very first book ordered for our stock when Spellbound opened in 2004.  And, of course, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler!

MUF: What kind of atmosphere do you try to create in your store no matter where you are?  How do you help books and readers find each other?
Leslie: I always want the bookstore to feel fun and welcoming, and for the staff and books to seem very approachable. The main ways I help connect kids to books are listening closely, asking good questions, and always staying tuned in to my younger self and what would have intrigued or excited me about a book at a certain age. Whether helping a kid, a parent, or both, genuine enthusiasm is by far the best tool in my bookseller toolbox.

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Seymour, R.I.P.

MUF: Tell us about your bookstore dog.  Can children read to him/her?

Leslie: Sadly, Seymour passed away last summer (at 17 years old). He was great company for staff and customers alike. He was very quiet and liked to accompany people around the store as they browsed. He did not, however, enjoy being dressed up, as I learned when I tried to put a Santa hat on him for a holiday ad in the local paper years ago. And yes, he loved being read to!
I am almost ready to adopt a new canine friend from the local animal shelter. My hope is that when I find the right match for me, it will be a dog that will enjoy spending days in the bookstore as much as Seymour did.

MUF: Do you and your staff have particular favorites, fiction or nonfiction, new or old, that you’re recommending to middle-graders right now?
Leslie:
Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made by Stephan Pastis
The Last Dragonslayer: The Chronicles of Kazam by Jasper Fforde
The 13th Sign by Kristin O’Donnell Tubb
The Fourth Stall books by Chris Rylander
When You Reach Me continues to be a hot handsell… and I love that it almost always proves to be a “gateway” book, bringing customers back for A Wrinkle in Time if they haven’t already read it.

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MUF: We notice Spellbound is among the bookstores who have a book club for adults (like us) who like to read children’s fiction.  What’s the book for May?
Leslie: In May we’ll be discussing There Is No Dog by Meg Rosoff.

MUF: Your current downtown neighborhood looks lively.  If some of our readers visited Spellbound from out of town, would there be family-friendly places where they could get something to eat after browsing?  Are there other attractions in Asheville that families wouldn’t want to miss?

Spellbound view of the neighborhood

Spellbound view of the neighborhood

Leslie:  Oh, yes! Chai Pani is a great family-friendly Indian restaurant directly across the street, with an ice cream store located conveniently next door. Early Girl Eatery, just around the corner, is my go-to place and I frequently recommend it to visitors with kids.
We have a kids’ science museum and a group of working art galleries called the River Arts District, where you can watch artists paint, throw pots, blow glass—you name it! And then there are literary attractions like the Thomas Wolfe Memorial and Carl Sandburg’s home. Perhaps the best attraction is the eclectic variety of shops and galleries and street performers you’ll run across as you walk through downtown. Following the Urban Trail is a good way to make it into a game for kids.

MUF:  Thank you Leslie for taking the time to talk with us us about your shop and your dreams for its future.  We’re sure that wherever children and their adults visit you, they’re going to be Spellbound!
Readers, if you’ve been Spellbound already or are glad to know about this shop, please let Leslie know here.  And if you would like to help Spellbound its return to it’s former size or more, please go to http://bit.ly/GrowBks between now and March 15 to find out how.  One of the gifts you receive in return for a donation may be one of these charming locally-designed stuffed bookworms–a great present for an avid reader!screenshot_708

 

 

 

Sue Cowing is the author of puppet-and-boy novel You Will Call Me Drog, Carolrhoda 2011, Usborne UK 2012.

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Indie Spotlight: [words] Bookstore, Maplewood NJ

By on February 28, 2013   /   Author Interviews, For Parents, For Teachers, Indie Spotlight  

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Mixed-Up Files posts monthly interviews with the owners of children’s-only bookstores and there are still many more of those to feature, but I’ve recently discovered [words] bookstore in Maplewood, N.J. (wordsbookstore.com), a general independent bookstore with a strong emphasis on children’s books, and most importantly with a unique and hopeful mission. This is a bookstore with a heart, and I’m eager to spread the news. Today I’m talking with [words]Co-owner Jonah Zimiles.

[word] Co-owners Jonah and Ellen Zimiles

[word] Co-owners Jonah and Ellen Zimiles

MUF: I gather you first got into the bookstore business because the only bookstore in Maplewood was closing? How brave!
Jonah: Thank you. We have lived in Maplewood for twenty-three years and raised our two children here. When the economy deteriorated in the Fall of 2008, we wanted to find a way to help our community. My wife and son were walking in town when she saw a sign saying that the bookstore was closing in a month. Ellen thought that we should buy the bookstore, even though we did not have retail or book industry experience.

MUF: Your store has also taken on the unique mission “to help Maplewood become a model community of inclusion” by acknowledging and serving a special community, families with members on the autism spectrum. How did that come about?
Jonah: In addition to assisting our community buffeted by the recession, we were interested in providing a model vocational training program for young people with autism. Our hope is that through our bookstore, we will inspire other for-profit businesses to hire employees with autism. Our son, who is now 17, has autism. We have always found Maplewood to be a warm and welcoming community, and we wanted to play our part in furthering that culture.screenshot_639

MUF: Tell us about your “Second Sundays.”
Jonah: Our Second Sundays programs were created to provide parents of special needs children the opportunity to sample for free many activities that are often available for typical children but unfortunately not for the special needs population. At the same time, it allows us to acknowledge and publicize service providers who are offering these services or to give new ones considering this market a chance to try out working with our kids at our store. Activities include: yoga, karate, arts & crafts, drama, sewing and cooking, to name a few.screenshot_629

MUF: Not only do you welcome autism syndrome kids in your store and provide programs they can take part in, you also employ them as part-time workers and provide vocational training. Tell us how that works.
Jonah: Most of our kids come to us through job sampling programs in their school. They come in small groups with job coaches once or twice per week and progress through a series of jobs depending upon their skill levels and interests. We also have paid employees on our staff with autism.

MUF: Say a ten-year-old comes into your store looking for “a good book.” Do you have some favorite titles, fiction or nonfiction, that you are especially recommending to middle-graders right now?
Jonah: Our middle graders love Rick Riordan, Jeff Kinney and Dan Gutman. One of our favorite books is R. J. Palacio’s Wonder.screenshot_631

MUF: I’ve just re-read Marcello in the Real World for a workshop. It seems there have been a slew of original and engaging novels for children in the last few years whose main characters are somewhere along the autism spectrum——Mockingbird, London Eye Mystery, The Blue Bottle Mystery, Colin Fisher — and that these stories have the positive side-effect of creating insight and understanding in the general reader. Are these books popular at your store? Have any of their authors come for a visit?
Picture 30Jonah: We have seven or eight autism authors visit our store for readings during April for Autism Awareness Month but these authors so far have been non-fiction authors. We have tried unsuccessfully to get Jodi Picoult to our store. Some of our favorites have included practitioners like Ricki Robinson, author of Autism Solutions, researchers like Martha Herbert, author of The Autism Revolution, and parents, like Priscilla Gilman, author of The Anti-Romantic Child: A Story of Unexpected Joy.

MUF: [Words] became an instant community center in another sense after Hurricane Sandy hit, didn’t it?

[words], a haven during Sandy

[words], a haven during Sandy

Jonah: Yes! Most of the power in our town (including in the homes of our owners and most of our employees) and the surrounding towns were knocked out for a week, but power was maintained on the block where [words] is located, so we became a community center to which people came to charge their cell phones and computers, learn the latest news, and to get some needed respite from the travails of the storm and the power outage.

MUF: If a family from out of town came to visit your store, would there be a family-friendly place nearby where they could get a bite to eat after browsing?
Jonah: Yes, dozens! Arturo’s across the street is extremely popular and delicious, and the Laurel offers a terrific relaxed atmosphere with great food.

MUF: And if they could spend some time in Maplewood, are there some family activities or sights in the area that they shouldn’t miss?
Jonah: In addition to our quaint village with many fine shops, we have a beautiful park in our town that is well worth a visit, as well as a gigantic nature preserve, the South Mountain reservation. Of course, the best reason to come to Maplewood is to meet the Maplewoodians!screenshot_636

MUF: Any exciting programs coming up in March?
Jonah: Many! Two are of particular note. On Saturday, March 2, we celebrate Read Across America, with a kids’ Pitchapalooza featuring four local children’s authors. On March 20, Harlan Coben kicks off his publicity tour for his exciting new thriller, Six Years.

MUF: Thank you so much , Jonah, for sharing the goals and programs of your store with us.

Readers, if you’re as inspired as I am to read about what Jonah and Ellen are doing at [words], I’m sure they’d love to hear your comments–and have you visit!screenshot_624

Sue Cowing is the author of the middle-grade puppet-and-boy novel, You Will Call Me Drog, published in 2011 by Carolrhoda Books and in 2012 by Usborne UK

 

 

 

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Indie Post: Creating Children’s Bookstore Memories

By on November 27, 2012   /   Indie Spotlight  

This month, with the holidays and the New Year coming on, Mixed-Up Files is saluting all children’s bookstores everywhere, and remembering a few individual gems we’ve featured in 2012.

www.takeyourchildtoabookstore.org

Kids can get overwhelmed with gifts of things, especially at this time of year. Yet we know that the most lasting childhood memories are not of things but of experiences, especially shared experiences.   A good book is both a thing and an experience, shared in a sense with the author and with everyone else who reads it. So isn’t a book the ideal gift?

And it’s so easy! Go online any time of day or night and in less than five minutes you can order your child a book tax-free at a big discount, and it will magically appear a few days later, even gift-wrapped, if you so choose.  Or, if you need the book sooner, you can wait until open hours at the nearest chain store where you’re bound to find something appropriate from their large selection.

Whoa.  What if, instead, you invite the child to come with you to real children’s bookstore to choose his or her own books,  even make a day trip to another town if there’s no such store where you live?  What will reward your extra effort?

A unique atmosphere

All online and chain bookstores are alike in predictable ways, on purpose. Chains are concerned with “brand” and want all their stores everywhere in the country to have a familiar look and feel.  And there are not many places to sit down (unless you buy something at the café), because they don’t want you to browse and read.  They want you to get to the checkout counter.

Each child’s bookstore is different in its own way, a unique world, created by owners who delight in children and children’s books.  It’s their dream come true of what a children’s bookstore should be. Can you stay all night and read at Barnes and Noble?  You can at Velveteen Rabbit Book Shop and Guest House in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. Can you get a moustache out of a vending machine there?  You can at Green Bean Books in Portland, Oregon.  Are the walls bursting with colorful art and the signatures of visiting authors?Are there live animals roaming the store—cats and chickens and chinchillas?   Encounter  them at Wild Rumpus in Minneapolis.

Browsing at Wild Rumpus

There’s a welcoming magic in children’s bookstores that children young and old (and the child in us) respond to immediately.

Real people

All physical bookstores have people in them.  But in a children’s bookstore, you can be sure these will be people who know children and books. Their main job is to help find just the right ones for a child, and they aren’t required to spend part of their time at a table up front, demonstrating and promoting their company’s latest e-reading device.    (Note to children’s authors:  these independent booksellers are also the ones who actually read, know, and hand-sell your books).

Real choice

At first it might seem that a big chain store could offer you a better choice of books than a small independent. But it matters who chooses the books and why.  Independent booksellers can and do choose to carry—or not carry— any books they like, and they can display and promote them however they want to.  Of course, you say.   But most of the titles in a chain store have been selected, not by the people who work there, but by remote company experts who have made a guess about what you will be likely to buy and who need you to fulfill their predictions. Independent booksellers are on-the-spot curators who can sort out quality from hype, and can lead you to their favorites and yours, often less-publicized great finds you might not otherwise have discovered.

Higher prices

Though independent bookstores may offer some modest sales and membership discounts, most have to charge the cover price for a book.  You may feel foolish, even guilty, paying full price plus tax for something you know is available at a deep discount and tax-free elsewhere, but in this case you  get what you  pay for.

A great time with the child

When you make a trip with a child to a children’s bookstore, inviting him or her to enter the atmosphere and browse and choose to his or her heart’s content, you create an experience neither of you will soon forget.  Priceless.

The chance to support a community

That cover price and tax you pay at an independent bookstore– where does it go? Some to the publisher, of course, but, unlike the money we spend online or at a chain, the rest goes to the local community.  Children’s bookstores stay alive by responding to the needs of their neighbors—listening to their preferences, developing personal relationships with customers young and old,  creating unique events and programs for them, and championing local authors as well as nationally known ones.  Aren’t such stores, and the communities that have the wisdom to sustain them, worthy of our support?

Hunger Games training camp, Little Shop of Storiesand championing local authors as well as nationally known ones.  Aren’t such a store, and a community that has the wisdom to sustain it, worthy of our support?

A chance to vote

Every time we spend money one way rather than another, we are casting a vote for what we value and want to see thrive.  So what’ll it be? Amazon and Barnes & Noble* or places like Blue Manatee, Eight Cousins, and The Little Shop of Stories?

 

 

 

 

Ask a child who’s been there!

 

*If online is really the only way you can buy children’s books this season, you can still order them through independent stores.  Many children’s bookstores fill online orders, including a number of the following that we have featured so far this year:

The Green Bean, Portland OR: www.greenbeanbookspdx.com
Blue Manatee, Cincinnati OH: www.bluemanateebooks.com

The Eight Cousins, Falmouth MA:  www.eightcousins.com

The Wild Rumpus, Minneapolis MN: www.wildrumpusbooks.com

The Little Shop of Stories, Decatur GA: www.littleshopofstories.com

Bbgb (Bring Back Great Books), Richmond VA: www.bbgbbooks.com

The Velveteen Rabbit, Book Shop and Guest House, Fort Atkinson WI: www.velveteenrabbitcookshop

Monkey See, Monkey Do, Clarence NY: www.monkeysread.com

Or you can go to the largest independent bookstore in the country at www.powells.com or to www.indybound.org and order from them.

If you and the children you love have fine memories of visiting a children’s bookstore, please tell us the story in a comment below.  Do you have a favorite shop you think we should feature in 2013?   Next month we’ll be talking to the folks at Reading Reptile in Kansas City.

Sue Cowing lives in Honolulu HI, 2,000 miles from the nearest children’s bookstore.  She is the author of a middle-grade puppet-and-boy novel, You Will Call Me Drog (Carolrhoda Books 2011, Usborne UK 2013)

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