"Our doors are staying closed for your safety and ours. We're shipping books daily." Avid Bookshop, Athens, Ga., recently shared a photo of its sidewalk chalkboard from "almost exactly a year ago. Alas, the caption... is still pretty much the same, though now of course we are offering contactless curbside pickup in addition to shipping. We know many of y'all are more than ready to resume in-store shopping. The urge is probably even stronger if you're fully vaccinated now. We get it. The thing is, it's not time yet. But that doesn't mean we haven't been doing a lot of work behind the scenes to plan for the future.
"I truly appreciate your patience as Rachel, Luis, and I continue to do what we think is right for our booksellers, our customers, and the community at large. We do want to reopen--none of the booksellers got into this gig because they wanted to work at an online bookstore. Nope, we're here because we value face-to-face connection with readers of all ages. Please trust me when I say that we are working thoughtfully and deliberately to get back to being a bookshop that's a dream to browse. A bookshop where you can get the book you came in to find along with a few that caught your eye and called out to you. A bookshop where you can meet authors, bond with strangers over shared interests, and encounter a book you'd never heard of that will end up changing your life."