Spring break for Northport school is March 24 through the 28. It's usually a very quiet week in the village. Since, however, I decided not to travel away from home myself, I'll be in and out of the bookstore. I'll be in on Monday, normally a day the shop is closed, since I expect a UPS delivery. Tuesday, closed. Wednesday through Saturday I'll probably come in around noon or 1 p.m. and stay until 3 or 4. Maybe. We'll see!!!
In other words, I'll be winging it for the week of 3.24-3/29. Maybe people from other places on spring break will wander up to Northport. Hope to see some of you!
P.S. 3/26: It's here! Fleda Brown's new chapbook arrived today! That was worth being here for!
In solidarity with the 24-hour national economic blackout this Friday, Dog Ears Books will be open for business from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. but only accepting cash as payment for purchases on that day. Thursday and Saturday will be regular days, with all forms of payment accepted.
On my first reading of the plan for a “buy-nothing” day, which also urged buying nothing online and not using forms of digital payment, I wondered why I would have my business open at all on Friday. If not buying was the aim, why wouldn’t I just keep the doors closed that day. Wouldn’t that show solidarity?
Further down the line of do’s and don’t’s, however, people were told to buy at small local businesses, if they were going to shop at all,
and my bookshop is not only local, it is definitely small, so after mulling the question over for a few days, I decided I will have the doors open that day.
As is true any day of the year, there is no obligation to buy. Anyone who wants to stop in to visit without buying is welcome. Please, however, as Peg Bracken so memorably said in a book title back in 1969, I didn’t come here to argue! So no arguments, please, on Friday! Come or don’t come, buy or don’t buy. Those choices are yours. I’ve told you the choices I’ve made for the day.
If you do plan to support the boycott, plan ahead. Put gas in the bank on Thursday. Stop by the bank for cash if you’re going to be doing some local shopping or local dining or coffee sipping. Tip your servers with cash, too, at those local cafes and restaurants!
One friend suggested I tell customers on Friday that my credit card machine isn’t working, but no – it would work fine, but I won’t be using it that day. Whatever anyone else thinks of the efficacy or strength of this protest, for me it is a matter of principle and a question of solidarity.
Thank you for your support.
Dog Ears Books will be OPEN on Monday (usually, in winter, a day we’re closed), from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
CLOSED on Tuesday (probably!)
OPEN Wednesday,
OPEN Thursday,
OPEN Friday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., BUT NOT TAKING CREDIT OR DEBIT CARDS OR APPLE PAY OR ANY OF THAT. IT WILL BE A CASH-ONLY DAY. We welcome your support of local business on a day we hope you will be joining the boycott of big box stores, online shopping, and credit card use. CASH IN LOCAL BUSINESSES! THANK YOU!!!
OPEN Saturday, March 1, from 11 a.m. until perhaps as late as 5 p.m., depending on weather and whether or not people are shopping in Northport.
Reminder: Dog Ears Books in Northport, Michigan, is open four days a week this winter, Wednesday through Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Reminder: you can order audio
books through Libro.fm and choose Dog Ears Books as your bookstore on the Libro.fm site, and we will earn a little something from each audiobook you buy that way. It will help us get through the winter. Thank you!
Blog note 1: My main blog, Books in Northport, the one I post to most frequently, has been around since September of 2007. It has always been free and will be free as long as it survives. I make my living as a bookseller, not as a blogger. Neither will I be moving to a Substack account, although many professional writers and independent journalists are there now, and I encourage you to follow a few, upgrading to a paid subscription if you can afford it, especially those whose work is crucial to giving us real news, e.g., Dan Rather, Heather Cox Richardson, and others. The importance of these sources will increase sooner than you might imagine.
Blog note 2: Call Books in Northport a “labor of love” or call me a graphomaniac – however you want to characterize it and/or me, I’ve stuck to this project for over 17 years. Some of you have been with me from the beginning, while others are brand-new readers, but I appreciate every single one of you, however long you have been reading. My morale this year, however, could use a little extra support (I’ll be trying to provide support for the morale of my readers, too), so I encourage you to (1) sign on as a follower, (2) comment on posts, and (3) send links to your family and friends for posts you find particularly meaningful. There is no financial advantage to me in this, only personal satisfaction.
If you haven't seen the latest post yet, because I just put it up a few minutes ago, check it out now! Thank you!
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| From Traverse City -- chickadees! |
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| From Cathead Bay -- new perspective -- |
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| From Leland, magic and the moon for kids -- |
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| (See? Plenty of on-street parking available!) |
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| Horses in the snow |
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| Horses in the window |
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| Newly arrived in the shop! |
