1/ I’m going to be honest. We’re having terrible weather (wet snow, hazard driving conditions, more to come in the next day) here in New Hampshire/Vermont up north. My bookstore is right in that weather zone. We’ve been having the *worst* sales season for Christmas in the last 9 years we’ve been open. If we don’t earn a lot more in the next week (leading up to Christmas), we will struggle until April, when the tourists/seasonal residents start coming back…
2/ Please consider buying from an indie bookstore. We don’t support a huge employee pool, but we do support: a husband, 3 cats (all rescues or ex-ferals), a rapidly aging 1902 Victorian farmhouse, and a (usually) thriving business in a small town in Vermont that NEEDS thriving businesses to fight against the nearby Walmart Superstore….
3/ We are part of Bookshop.org. Just about every book in print is there, plus games, Funko Pop, journals, ebooks, gift cards (!!), even links sometimes to used books (at Biblio, which is NOT owned by Amazon). We benefit from every sale. Not Jeff Bezos. Your books are (usually) discounted, shipped wherever you want (pick Priority now if you want Xmas delivery, sorry), and you can sleep better knowing you’re not giving $$ to Musk’s evil twin. HTTPS://www.bookshop.org/shop/Starcatbooks