Last year, the state of California gathered its reading heads together and decided that there needed to be a day, one day more special than all of the rest, to celebrate its independent bookstores. The turnout was phenomenal. All over the state, people jumped into action to support their local stores and to shout from the rooftops why shopping indie mattered.
Here I was, tucked away in the tiniest corner of the country thinking to myself, “Huh. That’s not a bad idea. I’m a little . . . . . jealous.” Thankfully, I’m not the only one who was inspired by California’s bright idea, and when it was announced that Independent Bookstore Day deserved to go national, we were, like, so totally in.
So what does this mean for YOU? Well it means that first of all, you should come to Lemuria on Saturday, May 2, and just exist. Visit your favorite section, pick out the prettiest book, plop down on the floor, and read it. It also means that we will be giving out free tote bags to the first 50 customers (our hours are 8:00-7:00), and serving $1 beer all day. And also, here’s an insider’s tip for Mother’s Day: you can get 10% off any copy of Jackson: Photographs by Ken Murphy.
Katie Hathcock with Music for Aardvarks will host a special story time at 11:00, and Paul from Beanfruit Coffee will be here brewing delicious drinks for those who don’t want beer. Want some fresh recommendations? There will be special guest booksellers working throughout the day! Want to get 10% off any purchase here? Tag @lemuriabooks and use the hashtag #IndependentBookstoreDay. Then show us your post when you’re at the register and voila! 10% off! Finally, 5% of all sales throughout the day will go to future Mississippi Book Festivals.
Look, I’m going to be honest. I’m trying to make even more awesome stuff happen this Saturday, but I’m getting tired because between each sentence that I wrote, I got up and yelled, “INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORE DAY IS MAY 2.” So maybe just come to the store on May 2 to experience the party yourself. We can’t wait to see you all there.
Oh, P.S., Want to write for us? We’d love to hear from you. Tell us why Lemuria is important to you, and you may be featured on next week’s blog series for Independent Bookstore Day! Email submissions to hannah@lemuriabooks.com by April 28.
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