Do You Remember Those Days?

In a modern world, fascinated and obsessed with instant gratification, we lean too heavily on big box stores and mega corporations for all our shopping needs. Which sometimes, is unfortunately impossible to avoid. However when it comes to books and gifts, we really should try harder to go to our local small businesses. Especially since some of those places have been around for a decade or two, or three, or more!

We used to go to the little bookstore in town or the local library. It was a cozy feeling, walking up and down the aisles of books, magazines on wooden rollers, newspapers on microfiche (bonus points to you if you even know what that is!), comfy plush chairs everywhere, hushed whispers gently echoing through the rooms, the sound of pages turning with curiosity. Do you remember those days? Sadly for a lot of places, those days are now over.

There are plenty of reasons for that, but it is mainly because people have turned to mass-bought books that are offered at cheaper prices than any bookstore could ever offer and quick "free" 2-day shipping. The sad truth is that most small bookstores can't even begin to compete with that. So how do we get back to supporting Local and Independent Bookstores? The answer is relatively simple for the modern age of technology, there are ways to still support them even while shopping online!

How Can We Help Small Bookstores?

Everything is online now, that means your favorite little bookstore or gift shop probably has some sort of online presence, because we have had to adapt to it. Whether it's social media, a website or a simple email newsletter. There are plenty of ways to stay in touch to find out what those cozy little places are up to. 

So look around Instagram or FaceBook for your local small businesses and give them a follow, you don't know how much it means for places like us to know people still want to see and hear from us. Sign up for newsletters, you never know when they will give out a discount, a coupon or announce a cool special event! But most importantly...Shop on their websites for things you need or want!

Quite a few businesses will have as much of their inventory on their website as they can! Even if you don't see something you want, you can email or call them for a custom order and 99.99% of the time they will do it for you! And might even be able to ship internationally! This goes for any small business in your town, but what about bookstores? Can you really buy books from them that way? The answer is a resounding YES! It's encouraged now more than ever!

It's sometimes difficult to have an entire inventory of books online, you run into inventory problems, shipping issues and occasionally not having the book someone wants! However the last couple of years a new website has helped so many Independent Bookstores increase their sales of books online! 

Enter The New Age of Book Buying

BookShop.org and ABA (American Booksellers Association) have made it easier than ever before to order books online and still support local indie bookstores! By purchasing books from BookShop.org you can select the bookstore to support or it will support every bookstore on their website! (all links on our site automatically select us to support with every purchase)

If you take a look at our Book Page you will see that we have curated lists and a search bar. By clicking on the List title or a single book it will take you to the BookShop page of the List or book so you can browse and buy! If you want to search for a book or author you can do so in the search bar above the lists of books and it will take you to the results on BookShops website. Any book you buy there still benefits us, without us having to worry about not carrying the book or running out of popular ones, and they ship it directly to your door!

They have helped so many bookstores since their opening and continue to do so by having this service. We encourage you to try it out for yourself and share it with your fellow bookworm friends! It's never too late to support small indie bookstores and find that next hard-to-put-down book!