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Independent Bookstore Day: Supporting Our Local Bookstores

Shelves loaded with old books surround a double-door.
Credit: Pixabay.com





Last time I said that there may not be a post for this Saturday due to posting this coming Wednesday for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group (IWSG). But when I heard about Independent Bookstore Day, I had to post at least a brief write-up about it. This special day, which occurs on the last Saturday in April, has been going on for five years. Yet as much as I’m a supporter of independent, locally owned bookstores, I only found out about it two days ago. So maybe not enough people are sharing about it on social media and/or maybe news media isn’t covering it enough. I can’t say for sure. What I can say for sure is that I felt compelled to do my part and share this special day with fellow avid readers and fellow writers who may be in the dark about Independent Bookstore Day like I had been.

Independent Bookstore Day started in California in 2014 and went nationwide in 2016. Each store that participates celebrates in their own special way. Ways of celebrating have included discounts on books, author presentations, scavenger hunts, kids activities, contests and even barbecues. Indie bookstores are celebrated on this day to show the people that brick-and-mortar bookstores are not dead, are not a thing of the past, but continue to live and thrive even during this age of digital technology domination. “In fact,” explains the Independent Bookstore Day website, “there are more [brick and mortar bookstores] this year than there were last year.” I can’t tell you how great and how much of a relief that is to know, myself being a person who will not read a digital book on a device that summons works from some cyber netherworld onto a screen only to banish it back to that netherworld as if it will never exist again.

True, I do shop for books online. However, that’s more the exception than the norm for me. I usually purchase a book online if it’s a very hard to get edition. But if my local, indie owned bookstore carries the book, I will buy it from them. The owners and staff of indie bookstores tend to show more interest in their customers especially those that share their love of books. Also, indie bookstores often work well in exposing self-published authors’ works. Which was my case with the Avid Reader bookstore in Davis, California. So I owe at least that respect for them for putting copies of my short story collection, The Fool’s Illusion, on their shelves. Because of that, they are one of my favourite bookshops in my home area of Sacramento.

Other favourite bookstores in my home area are Time Tested Books, Jerry Cloutier’s Used Books, Beer’s Books, and Bizarro World. The last in this list specialises in comics (which I also love and collect) but also carries prose books particularly of the science fiction and fantasy genres and offers a good selection of vintage paperbacks. Within that, they have a good selection of H.P. Lovecraft books. And to celebrate this day, not only am I going to try visiting at least two of those above stores I listed (some people will do what they call bookstore crawls and go to as many as ten stores in a day, but unfortunately I don’t have that time on this Saturday) but am listing below links to past posts where I’ve discussed the value of locally owned indie bookstores:







Be here Wednesday for another Insecure Writers’ Support Group post!

Do you have a favourite independent bookstore? Will you be celebrating Independent Bookstore Day there?

Until next time . . .

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