Sean C. Morgan
The Friends of the Library bookstore is doing more than ever to help the library.
Before opening the bookstore almost a year ago, the Friends of the Library held two book sales each year at the library to raise funds to help out at the library.
Need figures to go here….the difference between the book sale and bookstore.
“There’s some days when all you make is 20 bucks,” Friends volunteer Richard Zentzis said. “On a good day, that one customer comes in and spends 20 bucks.”
“It’s doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the day of the week,” Friends Treasurer Gretchen Schaleger said, though sometimes Fridays and Saturdays can be quite busy.
A good day is $40 to $50, Schaleger said. “We’ve had a couple days where we’ve had more than that and a couple days when it’s been under $10.”
The store is staffed only by volunteers. The bookstore pays receives help in the form of a low $100 per month, though a “for rent” sign remains up in the front of the store should a for-profit business be interested in renting the store.
The building owner is Ray Fisher of San Francisco, Calif.
Business picked up quite a bit before Christmas, and the store received higher levels of donations, Zentzis said. That really helped out the selection at the store right now.
The Friends like to look at the bookstore as a community thing, Schaleger said. “The support of the community makes it work” by buying books and by donating books.
When the Friends first opened the store, they thought they would sell off their stock and wouldn’t have any more books, but donations keep coming.
In fact, the store had to open its workroom up to make more space for displays though a table remains open in the middle of the back room where they can prepare new donations for sale.
The Sweet Home Community Foundation “gave us a grant to help us get set up,” Schaleger said. For that, the Friends are grateful. The funds were used to buy furnishings, a register, a safe, hardware and some promotional material.
“It wasn’t so long after we opened that the library closed,” Schaleger said. “So we saved the money. One of the first things we did (when the library reopened in October) was purchase a large book order.”
When the library opened, taxes had not yet arrived for the new fiscal year and couldn’t yet buy new books, Schaleger said.
The Friends purchase a wide variety of items for the library, ranging from books to furniture and videos. They also spend money on children’s programs, including the Summer Reading Program. The Friends also put aside money each year toward future expansion of the library. They hope to use the money to leverage grant funds for construction.
The Friends are talking about ways to celebrate their first anniversary next month, Schaleger said.
The change in fund-raising tactics has been well worth it, Schaleger said. “It’s worth more than just raising money. We look at it also as a good thing to have a bookstore available to the people in the community.”
Residents of other areas, like Albany, often come to Sweet Home just to shop at the used bookstore, Schaleger said. “They’re coming expressly to the bookstore, but maybe they’ll stop at other businesses while they’re up here.”
The bookstore also fills in an empty storefront, Schaleger said, asking what empty storefronts say about the community.
“It’s a storefront that’s not empty,” Schaleger said. “We want to thank the community. That’s the big thing … for their support of the bookstore and also their support to get the library reopened.”