I often think about the similarities between an independent bookstore and a good neighborhood restaurant. Hunger can be physical or intellectual. Sometimes a customer strides in with a specific request. The book title, author, and other information is written down and the transaction is quickly completed. It’s like sitting at a table and ordering without …
There’s a quip I sometimes use at the conclusion of a book purchase. It’s meant to be amusing but also contains a serious grain of truth. When the customer is in a good mood, my occasional comment as I hand over the selected items is, “These are ready for immediate use the moment you get …
Years ago I was driving in the Bay Area and saw a sign for “Gas ‘N Jeans.” It was an old filling station and the owner had converted the service bays into an apparel showroom, so customers could top off their tanks and shop for pants in one convenient stop. I’ve always liked the dual-purpose …
Because I’m constantly thinking about how to attract more customers through the front door, I was intrigued by a recent story on NPR that described how the Walgreen’s chain is experimenting with a wider range of products as a way to attract shoppers away from department stores. The online version of the story includes a photo …
My copy of The Best and the Brightest by David Halberstam is filled with notations I’ve scrawled in the margins during repeated readings, and one of my favorite lines is the opening sentence of Chapter Eight: “The essence of good foreign policy is constant re-examination.” In fact, this concept holds true at all levels of …
Every day there are customers making their first visit to Annie Bloom’s Books and I’m always interested in finding out why they haven’t been in previously. “I’m from out of state” is a common reason along with “I don’t get over to this side of town very often.” And sometimes a person will pause and …
There’s no official list of standards and practices for customer behavior at Annie Bloom’s. We do have a small note posted on the front door that says “Please leave all large bags and packs at counter” but it’s more of a guideline than a rule. I can pretty much guarantee that none of my co-workers …
What’s a good chapter book for a young reader in elementary school? The suggestion I’m giving to parents these days is Homer Price by Robert McCloskey. The Puffin Modern Classics edition contains six stories about life in and around Centerburg, a little town that shouldn’t be forgotten. To be honest, I had almost forgotten about …
People sometimes ask, “What’s it like working at Annie Bloom’s?” and my answer is, “Mostly it’s a gift.” As an example, customers often make comments that are so interesting I write them down on little scraps of paper. It’s like getting a free one-liner to use in a future conversation, which is exactly what I …
I started reading about modern warfare in elementary school and have kept at it steadily for more than five decades. One result, which I began to notice back in the 1970s, is that military thinking has become the default setting in my brain. Battlefield diaries and the memoirs of former combatants are filled with lessons …
