Shakespeare and Co. Booksellers

Quite a bit. January is busy here. There is a tremendous amount of buying to get done and, as with selling, it gets done by hand. We not only stock our store, we also stock the Jeannette Rankin Peace Center. In January we have to finish up the winter orders, do the spring orders (they bear down quickly), and restock everything we’re going to restock that sold over the holidays. And, as always, there are also special orders. It’s fun, the buying — but it’s also a big job. One consequence is that lately we haven’t found time to blog. The physical store, as it has from the beginning, comes first.

Last year was a good year. In this respect, we are fortunate. (Other stores, as we know, were not so fortunate in 2009.) Sales were strong and the shop made, we believe, some significant improvements. Consolidating the former two spaces was a well-received move and we have never looked back. We welcomed Carlos One Night Stand to the block. And while we miss our neighbor Susanna Springer terribly, but we are happy to see that Joseph’s Coat goes on.

We welcome bootman Stan Logan’s new pup, Kavik. If you go in to get your shoes fixed, you will meet Kavik.

Here in the shop, we got through another year without a computerized inventory or a point-of-sale system; without a cash register; without a counter. When you bought a book, you sat in the comfy stool and took a load off for a minute. In these ways, we tried to keep it personal. We will continue with that practice.

One great thing about running a bookstore is that you can always improve it. You can always try to blow people away with it just a little bit more. So that’s the goal for 2010: do what we do here, every day, only do it better. We look forward to this task very much.

Thanks for your support.