Women's clothing retailer Talbots "has rolled out a give-a-book-get-a-book program to give shoppers yet another reason to visit its stores," Women's Wear Daily reported. Through the Talbots Summer Book Club, "customers are encouraged to drop off a favorite read that has impacted their lives, and in turn they can pick up another book that someone else recommends."
Bookplates referencing Talbots are being provided to customers so they can write a recommendation note in their copy before it is passed along to the next reader. The retailer hopes to have thousands of books in circulation in time for the summer book reading season, at the end of which any books remaining in stores will be donated to local organizations.
As of Memorial Day weekend, Talbots "will be expanding the Book Club through a partnership with Random House that will tout some of the publisher's leading writers." Each week, a different author will be spotlighted in stores and on a designated landing page. Showcased titles will include Elizabeth Strout's Anything Is Possible, Nancy Thayer's Secrets in Summer, Lisa Wingate's Before We Were Yours, Fannie Flagg's The Whole Town's Talking and Susan Elia MacNeal's The Paris Spy. Talbots has also recruited "some well-read influential women to help spread the word about their favorite books," WWD noted.