Please don't sue!

I was originally going to use this blog post to write something about the interesting people of Edmonton but actually found that I have more to say on the fallback topic (I know, lame). That being said, the one location in the city that I have a ton to write about, which also happens to be my place of work, I'm not exactly allowed to name. In fact I believe I even signed something at one point saying that I would not “miss-represent” the company in any way on the internet. So I'm not going to name names. The location I speak of may or may not sell books on Whyte avenue. It may or may not be a large company. And it may or may not also contain a coffee shop. So there, I think we all know the place I may or may not work at.

The bookstore I work at if often scorned for being a giant soulless book empire that attempts to quash innocent independents with a swing of their mighty, discount-wielding fists. I cannot count the number of times I have overheard people tell their friends “Well I only shop at independent bookstores.” while drinking a latte from a corporation coffee shop, the hypocrisy of this statement apparently lost on them. These are the same people who label chain bookstores as “evil” without looking beyond their preconceived notions and finding out what they might actually be doing for the community, and the city as a whole.

My workplace is not just a bookstore. It is a refuge from the arctic temperatures for people who have nowhere else to go. It is a place people can come to when they're lonely and simply want someone to talk to, or a shoulder to cry on. It's a place parents can bring their kids when it's raining and they're unable to play in the park. My bookstore is a place where people can build connections within their neighborhood, community, and city outside of the realm of the internet.

The impact of this bookstore reaches far beyond it's walls, into different parts of the city. Every day we are raising money for a charity that gives money to school libraries so that kids might have the resources to develop a life long love of reading. We do this not only by asking people if they can give 1, 2, 5 dollars today, but also by holding raffles in the winter and selling lemonade in the summer. Every Christmas each of our “evil” chain stores is paired with an elementary school in an economically disadvantaged area of the city. The children at these schools write out wish lists of books they would like to read. Booksellers at our store then pick out these books and ask customers if they would please purchase this book, because it would make all the difference to a child at ________ school.We also go out into the community for read in week and, you guessed it, read to kids.

I have also overheard the notion that big box bookstores don't care about local authors, only noble prize winners and best sellers. This is simply not true. We know that part of being in a community is engaging with it in any way possible. That is why we have a “local author” section and consignment in our store. In fact you can find books in our consignment section that have been written in this very store. We don't just make these books available but also bring authors into the store so that people can have conversations with the mysterious figure behind a title. This bookstore is about more than reading a NY times best seller, it's about readers and authors getting to know one another. We hold author events for just this purpose.

Wow. I think I need to discontinue this rant before I say too much (if I haven't already). I guess what I'm trying to get at is that despite what Adbusters or See magazine might think, large company bookstore are not all that bad.