Who needs Santa Claus? Random House is assisting booksellers in their roles as gift connoisseurs--whether they're recommending RH titles or ones from other houses. 
As part of its Gifts = Books campaign, the publisher has put together a Personal Shopper Kit. It contains a customizable table-top easel, "Personal Shopper" buttons and a Grid O'Gifts with recommendations in categories ranging from History Buffs and the Hard-to-Buy-For Person to the Littlest Reader and Young Adults. Also included is a list of questions to kick-start discussions at Personal Shopper events, such as what book you give over and over again and what your selections would be for President Obama and his family.
None of the materials in the kit are branded with the Random House logo. "We began this campaign last year as a way to help booksellers increase their foot traffic at the holidays and to help support the message to consumers that books are the perfect gift for everyone on your shopping list," said Ruth Liebmann, v-p and director of account marketing. "Most stores do their own branding, and our 'Personal Shopper' buttons can easily be integrated into an existing store campaign."
More than 200 kits were shipped to stores in 40 states, among them the Booksmith in Seneca, S.C., and Murder by the Book in Houston, Tex. (whose assistant manager, David Thompson, is sporting the "Personal Shopper" button).
The kit inspired the Holiday Gift Giving Ideas Breakfast taking place this Saturday at Chester County Book & Music Company in West Chester, Pa. "It's a way to supplement what we do one on one," said bookseller Joe Drabyak. Store staffers are wearing the buttons, which, Drabyak noted, help remind customers to ask for assistance with their gift selections. Some pieces from the kit are part of the contents of a binder at the store's reference desk--a resource for booksellers making gift suggestions that also has supplemental materials like the New York Times Book Review's best books of 2009 and the Indie Next List.
At Saturday's event, Drabyak will be recommending books from various publishers and titles from Random House imprints both on the Grid O' Gifts--John Grisham's Ford County: Stories--and off, like Something Missing by Matthew Dicks. The debut mystery about an endearing thief who steals only items that will go unnoticed and who plays guardian angel to the homeowners he burglarizes, said Drabyak, "is the type of book I could easily recommend to anyone."
To request a kit, e-mail personalshopper@randomhouse.com. --Shannon McKenna Schmidt