Around Indies

Afterwords, Califon, and Jan’s in Finals for National Small Business of the Year Award

Afterwords Books in Edwardsville, Illinois; Califon Book Shop in Califon, New Jersey; and Jan’s Paperbacks in Beaverton, Oregon, are among the 25 quarterfinalists for Independent We Stand’s Independent Small Business of the Year Award. Voting to choose 10 semifinalists is underway now through December 14 at www.IndieBizAward.com.

Individuals may visit the Independent We Stand website to cast one vote each day per IP address. The top 10 vote-getters will be declared semifinalists. The winner will be chosen from the semifinalists by a panel of judges and will be announced on December 17. The winner will receive prizes with a combined value of more than $10,000, including $5,000 cash.

Book Culture Celebrates Grand Opening of Third Store

On Wednesday evening, Book Culture hosted a grand opening party for its third store. Located on Columbus Avenue on New York City’s Upper West Side, in a space once occupied by Endicott Booksellers, the new store will be affiliated with Harper’s Magazine. Chris Doeblin, the president of Book Culture and majority owner of all three stores, is welcoming Harper’s Magazine publisher John “Rick” MacArthur as a minority owner of the Columbus Avenue location. Plans call for Book Culture to partner with Harper’s on readings, discussions, and other events at the store.

The partnership is “a logical alliance,” MacArthur said. “Our common cause is to protect the integrity and freedom of thought.”

Left Bank Launches Online Personal Shopping Program

Left Bank Books in St. Louis, Missouri, has launched an Online Personal Shopping Program, which offers customers a solution to their holiday gift-giving stress. Through a form on the store website, gift givers can input information about a friend or loved one and store staff will respond with a personalized list of recommended titles. Left Bank emphasizes that gift givers can choose to place their orders from the comfort of their own homes and have the books wrapped and delivered.

The cost for the service is $5 for each person on a customer’s list, said Left Bank, “which buys you some extra time this holiday season to take in a matinee at the Moolah instead of wedging your car into a space at the Galleria. No algorithms, just fantastic customer service!”

To introduce the program, some Left Bank staff members and friends created a YouTube video, which offers 10 reasons why customers should use the new service. The full 16-minute director’s cut, which will be broken into five segments and shared on the store’s Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube Channel, can be viewed here.

Phoenix Books Hosts Food Drive

Dr. Seuss' Grinch helps launch Phoenix Books' food drive.

Phoenix Books owner Mike DeSanto is calling on the stores’ communities in Essex and Burlington, Vermont, to donate nonperishable food items for local community food shelves and has upped the ante by pledging to make a personal cash donation equal to the value of the food collected, up to $5,000.

Phoenix Books launched the food drive with the help of an iconic costumed Dr. Seuss’ character on Sunday, November 30, with Meet the Grinch events at both of the store’s locations. The food drive ends on December 22.

“Personally, I’ve become convinced that hunger has to be taken care of first, before people can succeed in raising themselves up in other areas,” DeSanto said. “I really hope that I have to write a check for $5,000. I would feel really good if that happened.”

Mysterious Galaxy on the Move

On December 6, Mysterious Galaxy will begin its move to a new location: 5943 Balboa Ave. in San Diego, California. The bookstore announced its move in June this year, along with plans to close its Redondo Beach location.

Its fourth location in 22 years, Mysterious Galaxy will be welcoming an expanded space — 3,200 square feet — with which to host larger author events and to better enable the store to warehouse books for offsite events. The store will also be growing its community outreach program to develop fuller partnerships with area schools, libraries, corporations, and the local literary community.