January at Experienced Goods
By Jennie Reichman ~ It's likely most of us heard something like this from one or both parents when we were children: “You’ll thank me for this someday” or “You’ll understand when you’re older.” Compelled to clean our rooms, help with housework, eat our vegetables, in our heads we screamed, “Never! I’ll never be like you! When I grow up, I’ll be and do the opposite of everything you say!” As adults, we probably have had a moment (or many moments) when we think, “Ha! They were right. I get it now.” I find myself carrying on the legacy of my mother’s sensibilities in much of my life, sometimes begrudgingly, but mostly gratefully and with a hint of irony, able to see her now for the flawed, generous, determined person she was, and that I am more like her than I thought I would be.
In particular, she instilled in me the love of two things: spending time in nature and reading books. I grew up in a rural setting in Oregon, and it was a regular occurrence on a sunny day for her to say, “Let’s go for a walk!” This often meant packing a picnic lunch and hiking through the hills and woods surrounding our property, sometimes visiting neighbors, sometimes admiring the views from atop those hills, hours spent learning the names of trees and plants, exercising my body, and cementing what would become for me a lifelong love of the outdoors and my place in it. My passion for books and reading started long before elementary school. Before I could read, I was read to, and pretty soon was figuring out the words for myself. Little Golden Books from the grocery store, the bookmobile, libraries, became treasure troves for my imagination. Now, an hour spent browsing in a bookstore is the quickest way to quiet my frazzled brain and find an oasis of calm in what is often a frantic, busy day.
The book department at Experienced Goods is, I think, that oasis for many of our customers. When we moved to our current location, we put a lot of thought into creating an inviting, light-filled book room to house the huge variety of reading material donors bring us. Great books at thrillingly low prices that are restocked daily; just one of the many reasons to stop in often and peruse the shelves. As we enter the new year, our co-worker Ruth will be organizing and revamping the book room, streamlining the pricing system and making it easier to find the perfect book you didn’t know you needed. Most of the books will have colored stickers on the bindings to correspond with the tag colors of other products in the store, which will change monthly and be subject to our half-pricing system. This will help us determine which books have been on the shelves longest. Book pricing will be as follows: Hardcovers will be $3 unless otherwise marked, trade paperbacks (the larger ones) will be $2, mass market paperbacks (the smaller ones) will be $1, kids books will be 25 cents unless they have one of our colored stickers, in which case they will be $1. This will also help us distinguish between young adult fiction and books for younger children. Large format and collectible/coffee table books will be priced as marked. There will be clear signage making all of this easy to understand. After our holiday book sale created lots of space on the shelves, we are going to start the new year with a fresh crop of exciting reading material.
We have a long, cold Vermont winter ahead of us; what better time to stock up on good books that will keep you thinking and dreaming until spring. And speaking of that distant season, keep us in mind if you start your spring cleaning early, we are always eager to receive your clean, sellable donations of clothing, household goods, jewelry, linens and, of course, books! Thank you again to our wonderful donors, customers and volunteers for a banner year of sales that will support Center for Solace and the Brattleboro community. Thank you as well to everyone who voted for Experienced Goods in the Festival of Miniatures window contest! We were awarded the People’s Choice award! I wonder if there are any books that will help us start planning next year’s windows…..