Handselling fun

One of the wonderful things about working in a small bookstore is noticing what sells and when. In large bookstores, I wasn't able to keep tabs on books I cared about. Now, I can see holes in displays every couple of days and celebrate.

 At my store, we love to write post-it notes. It's a way of handselling even without talking to the customer. Just today, a lady purchased Here's Looking At You by Mhairi McFarlane from our display "Books in My Beach Bag" based on the note I put with it. 

Today I asked a customer, "Are you finding what you needed?" He said he wasn't--he was there to find books to read aloud on a road trip, and the suggestions his kids had given him were not in stock. I showed him A Long Way from Chicago

and A Year Down Yonder,

both by Richard Peck. My triumph is not that the books sold, but that I know a family is going to have a great time listening and laughing together over those two treasures.