In admittedly "low-key fashion," as bookseller Robert McDonald put it,
Unabridged Books, Chicago, Ill., is celebrating its 25th anniversary.
Technically, founder and owner Ed Devereux told Shelf Awareness,
"we missed it," since the store was founded on November 1, 1980. Still,
as a thank you to customers, Unabridged is offering a 25% discount on
all items in the store Friday, December 2, through Sunday, December 4.
As for a bigger celebration, Devereux promised, "We'll have a party in
the spring. It just seems a little hectic now."
In a sense, Unabridged is celebrating surviving and thriving during a quarter century highlighted by two major changes that Devereux said were unimaginable when he started the store: the development of the Internet and Amazon and the advent of superstores. "They changed the nature of bookselling and retailing in general," he said.
To make it through the past 25 years, the store has followed some basic, solid principles of bookselling. For one, all staff members work fulltime, and all new hires have had bookstore experience. As Robert McDonald put it, "We're career booksellers." Many of the staff have worked at the store for years.
Unabridged also has one of the most extensive shelf talker programs in the country, so much so that the store's bookcases can seem to be covered by a sea of paper. "Shelf talkers still sell books really well," Devereux said. McDonald called them the store's hallmark, adding that "some customers swear by them" and follow the recommendations of their favorite booksellers.
Unabridged is unusual in its mix of titles, and yet this stems from its longtime approach--"to promote and sell great books." It has a gay and lesbian focus and is known, McDonald said, as "the gay bookstore" in Chicago. At the same time, however, it has a strong general interest focus, with strengths in children's, fiction, travel and home design. In fact, Unabridged sells as many children's books as gay books. An announcement about the store's anniversary summed the result up this way: "It's safe to say Unabridged is the only bookstore in Chicago where a shopper can buy the latest issues of gay erotic magazine Honcho, a copy of children's classic Goodnight Moon and pick up literary critic Harold Bloom's new book on the Bible, all in one stop." The store also has a strong remainder selection, which Devereux buys.
Unabridged has expanded from its original storefront into another storefront and into the basement, taking up about 5,000 square feet of space. (It's much larger than it looks at first glance from the street.) The store stocks perhaps 20,000 titles, a number Devereux admitted is "pulled out of a hat."
Unabridged's most recent challenge was more humdrum than the rise of online retailing and chain superstores, but one that many booksellers find particularly perplexing: in the late spring and early summer, the street and sidewalk outside Unabridged Books were rebuilt. "They tore it up and put it back," McDonald said. Business in the last weeks has been "very busy," which, despite being early in the season, "bodes well" for the holiday.
Unabridged Books is located at 3251 N. Broadway, Chicago, Ill. 60657; 773-883-9119.
In a sense, Unabridged is celebrating surviving and thriving during a quarter century highlighted by two major changes that Devereux said were unimaginable when he started the store: the development of the Internet and Amazon and the advent of superstores. "They changed the nature of bookselling and retailing in general," he said.
To make it through the past 25 years, the store has followed some basic, solid principles of bookselling. For one, all staff members work fulltime, and all new hires have had bookstore experience. As Robert McDonald put it, "We're career booksellers." Many of the staff have worked at the store for years.
Unabridged also has one of the most extensive shelf talker programs in the country, so much so that the store's bookcases can seem to be covered by a sea of paper. "Shelf talkers still sell books really well," Devereux said. McDonald called them the store's hallmark, adding that "some customers swear by them" and follow the recommendations of their favorite booksellers.
Unabridged is unusual in its mix of titles, and yet this stems from its longtime approach--"to promote and sell great books." It has a gay and lesbian focus and is known, McDonald said, as "the gay bookstore" in Chicago. At the same time, however, it has a strong general interest focus, with strengths in children's, fiction, travel and home design. In fact, Unabridged sells as many children's books as gay books. An announcement about the store's anniversary summed the result up this way: "It's safe to say Unabridged is the only bookstore in Chicago where a shopper can buy the latest issues of gay erotic magazine Honcho, a copy of children's classic Goodnight Moon and pick up literary critic Harold Bloom's new book on the Bible, all in one stop." The store also has a strong remainder selection, which Devereux buys.
Unabridged has expanded from its original storefront into another storefront and into the basement, taking up about 5,000 square feet of space. (It's much larger than it looks at first glance from the street.) The store stocks perhaps 20,000 titles, a number Devereux admitted is "pulled out of a hat."
Unabridged's most recent challenge was more humdrum than the rise of online retailing and chain superstores, but one that many booksellers find particularly perplexing: in the late spring and early summer, the street and sidewalk outside Unabridged Books were rebuilt. "They tore it up and put it back," McDonald said. Business in the last weeks has been "very busy," which, despite being early in the season, "bodes well" for the holiday.
Unabridged Books is located at 3251 N. Broadway, Chicago, Ill. 60657; 773-883-9119.