used bookstore

I Hate February! So, Let’s Have a Sale!

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All the evil hate in the mad heart of February was wrought into the forlorn and icy wind that cut its way cruelly across Central Park and down along Fifth Avenue. – F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and Damned

February is a suitable month for dying. Everything around is dead, the trees black and frozen so that the appearance of green shoots two months hence seems preposterous, the ground hard and cold, the snow dirty, the winter hateful, hanging on too long.” – Anna Quindlen

I think you all know that I hate February. And yes, I truly do. The reason is legit.

One day several years ago I was having a very melancholy day and being in the bookstore, I knew I couldn’t have that. Owning a used bookstore is supposed to be fun. Right? So, I asked myself how could I turn it around to make it a great day? A sale! But what do I offer as a discount? 10%? 20%? What? Then I remembered what Ben told me. That would be Ben from the Country Bookshop in Plainfield. He said if you have a sale make it a 50% sale! That way everyone has fun. Customers will enjoy the savings and well, you’ll start seeing holes on your shelves and that’s always good because heaven knows there will be more books you can unbox to fill those holes. And it’s good for the cash register. So, from that conversation in my head, I came up with the I Hate February Sale.

And it actually starts Friday, Feb 14. Why not? I have chocolate!

Recap of 2024 and Looking Towards 2025

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 If one is not careful, one allows diversions to take up one’s time—the stuff of life. – Carl Sandburg

Goodbye 2024. Hello 2025. What a year. 2024 is soon done and ready to be put away. I’m looking forward to 2025 and see what mischief it’ll cause.

I was caught. I couldn’t read. Couldn’t embroider. Couldn’t wrap my head around anything but doing nothing but cleaning, sorting, shelving. In the bookstore and at home, too. It’s winter and for me that means piles of books I want to read, and stacks of material and baskets of embroidery floss to work through.

So, I didn’t finish many books, but I started a lot. I read nine books. Three about Ulysses S. Grant, soldier and president. Two by local author, Steven Kiernan. Also, Dodie Smith, Amor Towles, and Fiona Davis. I’m once again participating in an online book club hosted by the Grant Cottage State Historic Site in New York. This year we will be reading two books on Grant.

Thanks to Goodreads I see I have started fourteen books this year. Almost finished Kevin Graffagnino’s , Ira Allen: A Biography. It is jammed packed with Vermont history. I already know I have to reread it so I can absorb it all. Highly recommend it. Plus, his newest, Vermontiana: An Annotated Checklist, 1764-1899. And I’ve started several on the Revolutionary War as well as the French & Indian War. Trying to familiarize myself particularly on our area of Vermont and New York. Also a historical book on Salamanca, NY where I once lived as a little girl. Novels? I have started a few: Seize the Day (Saul Bellow), The Brothers Karamazov (Dostoevsky), The Nightingale (Kristen Hannah), Barkskins (Anne Proulx), The Moon and Sixpence (W. Somerset Maugham), plus, plus, plus. Crazy. But I must get going on Grant at 200: Reconsidering the Life and Legacy of Ulysses S. Grant. Fortunately, it’s just 40 pages before our first meet-up so I must get cracking.

I’m not going to beat myself up for not completing books but marvel on how many I started and work on trying to finish them during 2025. There wasn’t a lot of porch rocking and reading this past summer as the gardens were always yelling at me. I’m going to be looking for my creativity spark to come alive again. Heaven knows I’ve got floss enough and vintage material and spools that I like to work with. And books. I’ve books galore!

Before I forget, I am going to take time at the start of the year to take care of me: reading, b&w movies, embroidering and start 2025 refreshed and renewed. I think I deserve it. So, see you Thursday, January 5, 2025.

Celebrate 18 Years!

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I finally cleared off my stool and moved the stacks that were hiding the laptop. All so I could add a new post. Oh, it really has been a while.

Life has been good to this used bookstore. Busy, busy, busy. From accepting books, purchasing from various book scouts, and viewing collections. To cleaning, sorting and shelving. Shuffling boxes around to go through, or to place out of the way to go through later. Trying to keep up with the errant leaves making their way into the store. All’s been good and as it should. No complaints. And, of course, sales.

Here it is, the last days of November. Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving are special days. I have owned Otter Creek Used Books for eighteen years. 18! And that means, books are 50% off.

Eighteen years of being a used bookstore owner is blowing my mind. I am not sure why this number means more than say, five, ten or fifteen. But eighteen is blowing my socks off. Maybe because I feel I’ve done it.

Thank you all! In much appreciation. To The Vermont Bookshop. MarbleWorks Pharmacy and Costello’s Market. And especially to all my customers throughout the years. Now, come in and enjoy the 50% Sale Friday and Saturday, November 29 and 30.

I Hate February Sale! 50% Off Books

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…I hate February. So there. I know hating allows bias and bigotry to distort good judgment but consider February. It begins with Groundhog Day, an observance devoted to predicting how rotten the rest of the month is going to be. And the prophet for that forecast is a fat rodent who specializes in harvesting gardens before the people who plant them think the crops are quite ripe.

Now consider the name: February. You can’t even pronounce it. Who tucked that “R” in behind the “B” anyway? Feb-brew-airy. Right. How often do you hear it that way? Feb-you-airy. Feb-wary. And for those with the British speech defect, even Feb-bry. - Steve Delaney, Vermont Seasonings: Reflections on the Rhythms of a Vermont Year.

A kindred spirit!

In a newly arrived stack of books, I found Delaney’s book and started to skim it. It’s divided by months, and I’m not sure why but the author begins the year with March. Ends with February. Thumbing through the February essays I couldn’t stop laughing. I one hundred percent -100%! – agree with him on disliking February. We have different reasons but we each do not like the month, and I have to say, I feel vindicated. I wish we could commiserate over a cup of coffee or tea or a shot of bourbon.

I will celebrate my dislike for the month by having a fun 50% sale on all books. (Ben, owner of The Country Bookshop recommended, if you have a sale make it fun!) And a big bowl of chocolate. Starting Wednesday, February 14 the sale will begin, and end on the 29th. We will get through this ridiculous month.

But think, fast, because the sole grace of February is that at least it’s short, even in Leap Year. – Steve Delaney, Vermont Seasonings: Reflections on the Rhythms of a Vermont Year.

And Now Here is April

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businesscards_ashtrayGreat news! I now have the ability to sell gift cards through Square on the OCUB Facebook page. Check it out, if so inclined.

Honestly, it has been quite a time for me and the store. I ended 2019 on a strong note with January and February equally strong. I was in the process of readdressing my marketing plan to prepare for an uncertain summer due to the upcoming Main Street construction. I took my books offline to reevaluate what I was offering. I purchased several collections to recharge the shelves. And then BAM! everything was turned upside down and I feel like I got caught unprepared for what was to come.  Fortunately I know I wasn’t alone but I have to come up with another plan.

You see, when I purchased the store I had to turn everything around – the physical space, the inventory, the reputation. It was a process that, at the time, was exciting because I knew there was only one direction to go in and that was up. I worked an extra year at my employment to carry the lack of business that store was experiencing. Then I took a huge leap of faith to leave that job and devote my time fully to the store. It took five years but I got there. The store became financially sound. Then I had to look at the future of the location the store was in. I knew from my previous employment that the building was going to eventually come down. And I knew the condition of the train overpass next to the store was in a bad way. The state could condemn it at anytime and that would obviously affect my business. So I decided to be proactive and started contacting landlords of spaces currently available in town. That led me to here, the historic MarbleWorks. That also meant I had to once again put my nose to the grindstone and work to get my business back. I almost didn’t make it but I did. So that was twice I had to turn the business around. 

Now I am faced with the very possibility of turning the store around for the third time. Frankly, I don’t know if I have it within me. When we were told to close I stayed away for a few days. Then I would come in to check the mail and the answering machine but I would leave because I just couldn’t deal with whatever was going on with the world. Here it is April 7 and I’m trying my best to address things I’ve wanted to do but couldn’t seem to get to it – change displays, go through shelves with a better eye and weed, clean, and other used bookstore chores. I’m trying to not be discouraged. All I can say is that once we are given the okay to reopen I will have one hell of a sale to try to keep the store going. But honestly, I am going be realistic.

For now, I wish all well. I look forward to reconnecting with everyone real soon.

“To wish to be well is a part of becoming well.” – Seneca

tennyson_shelf

“Dreams are true while they last, and do we not live in dreams?” – Lord Alfred Tennyson