With many businesses throughout Montana able to reopen this week, Fact & Fiction in Missoula, Mont., will remain closed to in-store browsing for now, store manager Mara Panich-Crouch reported. There is no timetable for reopening the sales floor, but the bookstore is once again offering curbside pick-up.
Even with social distancing regulations in place, Panich-Crouch and her team felt it was too soon to open the store to browsing. She added that her customers have been extremely supportive of the decision to keep the store closed, and she noted that her county health department's orders were in agreement with this. She said: "This is a time to think about the health and well-being of our community, not our bottom line."
When the store eventually does reopen for browsing, she continued, Fact & Fiction will follow social-distancing protocols as well as all suggested protocols from the CDC and local health authorities. The store will likely be able to allow only a limited number of customers in at the same time, and will request that people wear masks and will regularly sanitize all surfaces throughout the day.
Throughout the shelter-in-place order, meanwhile, Fact & Fiction was able to take orders over the phone and online. Said Panich-Crouch: "We've stayed busy and appreciate all the support our community has given us."
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In Black Mountain, N.C., Sassafras on Sutton is currently closed to the public, but owner Susanne Blumer is at the store every day doing courtyard pickups and processing IndieCommerce orders.
Earlier this year, Blumer and her team began the process of doubling the store's size by expanding to the floor above, where they planned to move all of the store's children's and middle-grade titles. Stairs were put in, and Blumer spent most of January and February buying lots of toys, puzzles, games, baby merchandise and art/STEM kits, with the plan to open on April 1. That, of course, hasn't happened, but Blumer is "working seven days a week" receiving, pricing and "making the new floor beautiful." Whenever the lockdown is lifted, the expansion will be ready to go.
Blumer reported that all of her staff members are furloughed until she can reopen her store for browsing. "They miss being here and I miss them," she said, "but we will come out of this stronger than ever before."
Blumer said she applied for the PPP and was approved "right when the first one ran out of money." Now that it's been replenished, she's waiting for more information. She also applied for the EIDI loan but hasn't heard anything about that.
Sassafras on Sutton has hosted some virtual events through the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance, but the store hasn't run any virtual events of its own. Blumer explained that events were on the store's checklist for 2020, so those are still to come.
One silver lining amid all of this craziness has been seeing so many people in the community reach out to the store. And while Sassafras on Sutton has had an online store for about two years, it was hardly used until the shutdown began, and Blumer hopes her customers will remember it after the physical store reopens.
Looking ahead, Blumer said she'll have to get creative with new ways to do business. Her town is a tourist destination, and a lot of the store's sales come from people who are attending conferences, vacationing and going camping in the North Carolina mountains. Her expectation is that things "won't get right back to normal," and she's planning contingencies in case those sales don't materialize in the summer and fall.
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Lane Jacobson, owner of Paulina Springs Books in Sisters, Ore., reported that although his store isn't open for browsing, there is a register set up at the door so customers can make purchases while still following all safety guidelines. There are windows wrapping around almost the entire store, he added, and he and his team have been able to make use of them by flipping their shelves around and displaying staff picks, new releases and sidelines in the windows.
On the subject of his staff, Jacobson said they're faring well, all things considered, and he hasn't had to lay off anyone or reduce hours. "My staff is what gives the store its identity, so it's important to me that they're the top priority, both in safety and financial terms," he said. It also helps that Sisters is fairly rural, and it's stil safe to go on walks and get some sun and fresh air, "which has been good for all of our mental health."
Jacobson received money from the PPP two weeks ago, despite the application process being "an absolute clusterf--k." The bank he wanted to use wasn't accepting applications until they received official guidelines from the government, which didn't happen for a few days after applications opened. But once the store's application actually got in, the process was surprisingly quick. "It buys us some time," Jacobson noted, "but it's just a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of things."
Jacobson said he and his staff haven't run any virtual events. His store isn't very events-driven to begin with, and their plates are "more than full" just keeping the business afloat. While it's not out of the question for the future, the team is currently focusing on "doing the few things we can do as well as possible."
While closed to the public, Jacobson and his team have taken the opportunity to do some deferred maintenance to the store that probably would have forced them to close temporarily anyway. It's also been encouraging to see the ways in which communities have rallied to support their bookstores, and the way the indie community has rallied together under the leadership of the ABA, which Jacobson called "stellar." He said he hopes this will help "accelerate some positive change in the industry that will benefit the longterm health of the indie channel." All that being said, however, he'd prefer the way things were just a few months ago.
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Julie Mitchell of the Copperfield's Books store in Calistoga, Calif., shared her experiences "making sales in isolation" in a column for the Weekly Calistogan: "Twice a week now, since April 4, I unlock the door to the darkened bookstore, switch on the lights and the heat or the air conditioning depending on the day. When I open the back-office door, the two shop cats are there to greet me, Nica with her loud and demanding meow to be petted, Zora more slowly, stretching and making her way over, winding herself around my legs. They will soon be out in the now empty Copperfield's bookstore in Calistoga to wander amongst the bookshelves.
"Sometimes the phone starts ringing even before I've turned on the computer; other days it doesn't ring for an hour. I must work alone during the bookstore's twice-weekly three-hour windows where I sell books and other items over the phone. I can only take credit card orders, and if we don't have something in our store, I can't get it from another store as I used to be able, and I refer customers to the Copperfield's website. After I complete a transaction, the customer is supposed to tell me when they'll be by to pick up their purchase. Then I can leave the items on the sidewalk just outside the store at the designated time. If the two phone lines ring at once, I juggle; putting one person on hold while I look something up for the other. I am the only one allowed to make sales right now, and I can only use one phone and one register. Safety is key.
"Sometimes, though, the system doesn't work. People show up early or without calling; they tap on the front window or door, and I have to grab my mask and keys, unlock the door and ask them to back away so I can put their order down for them to pick up. Customers have tried to hand me their credit cards under the door. Others aren't sure what they want, and I bring several puzzles or kids' books up to the door, and the customers and I communicate through the glass. I hold up one thing after another until they make their selection. Then I go to the counter so they can call me, pay for the book over the phone, and then I go back to the door, mask on again, and motion them forward so I can complete the sale. It makes my day when people smile and wave when they come by. It feels good to help the community in this way, and customers have told me again and again that they consider books absolutely essential to their well-being. It is quiet in the bookstore, but the cats keep me company, and there are books to shelve and displays to redo. Still, we all can't wait till the day when the door can open to let the customers inside."