It’s no secret that Autumn is our favorite season here at Annie’s Book Stop of Worcester, the little bookstore that’s bigger on the inside! The weather is cooler and crisper, giving readers the perfect excuse to get comfortable with books.
We’re always restocking our store sections with pre-read books for adults, teens, and children, and to make room for that restocking, we’ve placed quite a few titles on markdowns for our Sidewalk Sale carts. Currently there’s one dedicated to middle reader and teen school reading titles, one dedicated to literary fiction and biographies, and one that’s a mix of romances, mysteries, Westerns, and vintage pocket paperbacks.
The Sidewalk Sale carts will remain outdoors in temperate weather between now and December 1st, or between now and the first snowfall, whichever comes first, before they move back indoors for the Winter months.
This week, Sunday September 26th through Saturday, October 2nd, is Banned Books Week. We have associated merchandise for sale that supports literacy advocacy.
For more information, check out https://bannedbooksweek.org.
We continue to monitor everything related to COVID-19 and are complying with the latest regulations regarding safety and capacity. The City of Worcester has mandated that facemasks be worn in all public indoor spaces, and thus we must ask that all customers and employees be masked while shopping and working at ABSW. This means that we will be severely limiting our plans for in-store events.
- Spinning Yarns remains on hiatus until Spring 2022.
- Rather than hosting an in-person craft session on the Monday holiday on October 11th, we will have “pick-up crafts” – pre-assembled kits with three different kinds of paper harvest crafts inside, for ages four and up. We will be giving those out starting at 10am on October 11th to the first fifteen customers who request one!
- The Rainbow Readers Book Group *will* next meet here on Saturday, October 16th at 6pm, but will be limited to ten persons. Please RSVP on their Facebook page.
- We will be hosting local children’s author Julia Kneeland on Saturday, October 23rd at 2pm. She’ll be reading from and signing her picture book JIG GETS LOST. As space is limited, please RSVP on the event page on Facebook.
- Our Spoooooky Storytime event in late October and our annual DOCTOR WHO all-day celebration just before Thanksgiving will now be virtual rather than in-person. Details are still forthcoming.
- We are finalizing arrangements for an in-person presentation by the Worcester Mineral Club for Small Business Saturday on November 27, 2021.
Please keep an eye on our Facebook page and our website for updates concerning events.
Our October publisher specials are starting to arrive on our shelves; so far we have:
- THE OCTOBER COUNTRY by Ray Bradbury
- THE LIAR OF RED VALLEY by Walter Goodwater
- MY HEART IS A CHAINSAW by Stephen Graham Jones
This month’s specials reflect our regional trade show discounts are are priced 44% off of retail prices, not just 42%.
Speaking of regional trade shows, our thanks and admiration go out to all the booksellers, authors and publisher sales representatives who met with us virtually at this year’s NEIBA Fall Conference. We’ve worked on and off with the New England Independent Booksellers Association for nearly a quarter of a century, between being employed at the old Tatnuck Bookseller on Chandler Street in Worcester and taking over this Annie’s Book Stop franchise outlet in 2010. Everyone associated with NEIBA is a star in our eyes, and we thank you for letting us be a part of this conference.
One topic of discussion that came up over and over again at the Fall Conference was the worrying state of the global supply chain due to the pandemic. The transit of books from printer to publishers to distributors and wholesalers to bookstores has been impacted just like every other shipped commodity. We here at ABSW appreciate the patience of our customers in dealing with these unprecedented delays; know that we’re continuing to work to get titles onto our shelves and into your hands as fast as we can.
Have you checked out our YouTube channel? Are you a subscriber? You won’t want to miss our fresh content!
Did you know we have dedicated playlists of our author interviews, readings, and Q & A sessions, organized by genre? Take a stroll and give a listen to our many special guests! Upcoming interviews will include graphic novelist Bree Paulsen, whose debut work GARLIC AND THE VAMPIRE has won our hearts with both its story and its illustrations, and long-time favorite Craig Johnson, author of the LONGMIRE mystery series.
Please help us spread the word about these wonderful creators!
Thanks, as always, for making our shelves your destination.
—Patty and the staff at Annie’s Book Stop of Worcester / Tower Books