Last week, 30 people representing 20 new bookstores across the country and in the Caribbean participated in "Bookstore Boot Camp," run by the Bookstore Training Group of Paz & Associates and co-sponsored by the American Booksellers Association. It was the largest class in the last dozen years, and "85% of workshop attendees were committed to opening in the near future or were already open," Donna Paz Kaufman said proudly. The group met in Franklin, Mass., and went on a field trip to host bookstore An Unlikely Story Bookstore & Cafe in Plainville, the beautiful new store owned by Diary of a Wimpy Kid author Jeff Kinney (in the dark T-shirt in the back row).
The next Bookstore Boot Camp is scheduled for March 28-31, 2017 on Amelia Island, Fla., with prerequisite online training available now.