What You Won't Find at Quimby's

We're almost there! The opening is just weeks away! So real quick...I thought you better know....

What You Won't Find at Quimby's 

1. A Book Store Lady Who Knows All the Stuff

Man... I...I know books, right? Every dang one you pick up I'll be popping up at your side like a overstimulated Golden Retriever "Omgosh is that not THE BEST use of allegory in like ALL of Japanese post-modern fiction? Oh! Oh! Did YOU feel weirdly aroused when the beetles mated or was that just me cuz I don't know how to explain that to myself. No don't put that one back you can't raise a kid without The Little Engine that Could do you want a sociopath on your hands???"

But...I don't know a lot about....anything else? 

You want a receipt? Why? I can't make the printer-box do the...thing today. It's never blinked orange before I think it's sick. I can email a receipt to you...no wait I lost that button. I know it's an iPad...that doesn't change the fact I lost a button.  Fine. Here take this torn piece of my lunch sack where I wrote “I’m a blonde lady with a vintage Joan Baez shirt and I chose to buy that book about teen vampires in love and Therese didn't judge me out loud about it.” There, good?

You'd like to special order for a book club?  Hey that’s nice, book clubs are great. Oh you want ME to do it? I… I can do that! Please look the other way while I quickly watch a Youtube tutorial on my phone that has NOTHING to do with your request.

The toilet is clogged? You’ll note I left an attractive plunger right by the fixture itself so you could avoid informing me of this awkward fact. Frankly I’m embarrassed for us both, sir.

Oh man.

But I'm LEARNING. Please be patient and I'll try and make it all so delightful for you. Because it's my dream, my passion, my job. And I'm so happy you chose Quimby's. 

2. Used/Second Hand Books, nor the Prices the Accompany Used Books

I may be one of the only book stores in Oregon that does this. And as time goes by I will likely learn it’s smart to sell gently used books. But I’m starting with a fresh 1000 titles, brand new and hot off the press. So gird your loins for potential sticker-shock. New hardback books cost as much as a dinner out. But they DO last longer, I can personally guarantee you will find very few strange hairs in your order. 

3. Marginalized Writers  

                                    

Good books don't belong in the "margins" and so I don't put them there. Queer, bipoc, women, body positive and differently-abled authors from the past two hundred years are located in every section. Because the Strange Ones who don’t fit in have been humanity's main producers of reading material since before the printing press. There seems no need to provide them a further designation.

4. Non-Fiction, Hard-Hitting, Neighbor-Dividing Political Examination Written After Roosevelt. 

And I mean TEDDY. 

Not Franklin.

My book-wholesaler selected bestselling books for me across all genres for my first order to take the stress off such an overwhelming selection. I appreciated it. I read through their picks before ordering, and de-selected every single book I could identify as politically or socially divisive. Any book I'd seen with the faintest whiff of  "WHAT THE LIBS/MAGAS/TOOTH-PASTE CARTELS DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW!!!" -boop....off the list.

It's not because I don't value your need to be informed...it's because two things.

1.     1. I can't offer you better modern political information than you can get on a screen. If you want the latest, deepest outrage or cover-up you'll find it faster and it greater depth online. 

2.     2....I want Quimby's to be a spot… unafflicted? 

      The modern world, man. It’s bigger than humans were programmed to handle. We weren't designed to worry all day about all things. So Quimby’s is meant to be a place where that particular goblin, Modern Outrage, doesn't reach out it’s talons to scratch and infect just because you’re trying to take in new information. At Quimby’s…you’re just “at Quimby’s” until you choose a book to transport you otherwheres. 

       Stay, relax! It’s pretty and blue! We have soft stuffie-birds from the Audubon Society that actually tweet when you squeeze ‘em and books on how to cook bread on a campfire! It’s different in here on purpose. I hope you like it. 

      

Note* All those political opinions...ALL of them exist in Quimby's. They're heavily represented in fiction books, and the foundations of them are found in the history and philosophy sections. There is great understanding to be had of the hard and stabby issues when presented with the empathy and context that fiction and history provide.  

5. Coffee, Food or Booze

But that’s ok! There’s at least four great restaurants, two amazing coffee shops and a nice Wine Bar on Main Street. Please feel free to bring in drinks as long as they’re lidded, and in the case of booze, fully and cleverly concealed so I can claim deniability. 

 

What You Will Find At Quimby’s

Baffled, mildly inappropriate but good hearted staff, mostly me, Therese. 

A desire for your input on how to make it better. (But seriously, I can’t put in a booknook under the stairs. I know. I know. Because people would USE it, that’s why. Breaking my spines and besmirching my cushions. Just not feasible.)

A children’s section with the quality and tenor of the stuff I wish I coulda bought my babies.

Every Bookish/Victiorianish gift your particular shade of nerd could want. Including remarkably disgusting candy because I wanted to go as “Victorian” as possible and those people thought Lavender was a candy flavor.

Something special. Something worth driving to, finding parking for, and spending time and money on. That was my goal, more than selling books, when I built this fine lady. A place for you and me, like no where else.