A Wee Opening at Tannery Books

The past two weeks have been absolutely crazy as I prepared to open my new bookstore, Tannery Books, and volunteered with church events that included missionaries visiting from far away. Of course, I didn't plan all that to happen at the same time! Very little went according to my ideal schedule — my counter didn't arrive until two nights ago, the floor wasn't finished until about two weeks ago, the sign had some delays and didn't go up until yesterday... I still don't have a digital version of my logo. On the positive side, I've been blessed over and over. Family members did the professional work (at a good rate for me and some business for them), and people gave me some books and furniture.

A week and a half ago: I can put the shelves in!

This past week: Sorting and pricing books

Irish tea and "biscuits"

People kept asking me, when is the grand opening? With all the doubt and waiting for the basics before I could bring in the books, I couldn't guarantee anything grand. So I told them it would be a "Wee Opening," in keeping with March's Irish theme.


With all the chaos, I was up until 4:30am this morning pricing books and cleaning up. I still hadn't cleaned the new counter (a large glass display case that has been stored in a garage for some time) and I hadn't even started pricing the antique books. One goal I really wanted to meet, but didn't, was to have some flyers to hand out with basic information like store hours and trade-in policies. But people didn't seem to mind. I started an e-mail list and said I would send them information later.

My counter/display case — future home for antique books

People stopped by all day to browse, chat and wish me well. A few bought books, and one friend brought me a trunkload of books as a donation. It was a great opening day!

Tannery Books — Opening day!