Curbside pickup outside Old Town Books. (Photo courtesy Old Town Books)
Nestled in the middle of Old Town Alexandria’s waterfront area in a 1790s stone warehouse building, Old Town Books gets the majority of its sales from foot traffic. The store also hosts events, classes and meetings for Alexandria’s tight-knit literary community.
In fact, the store had just expanded to a second floor, which provided more room for events — and barely used the new space before calls for physical distancing upended business as usual.
“We luckily had a really loyal following on Instagram already so we were able to spread the news pretty quickly that we were moving all our events to a virtual space,” explained Old Town Books team member Angie Sanchez.
Virtual storytime at Old Town Books. (Photo courtesy Old Town Books)
The bookshop pivoted to online sales, as well, including doorstep contact-free delivery. The small team of employees kept in touch with shop owner Ally Kirkpatrick, and each other, with weekly staff check-ins where they would talk through issues and make sure everyone was comfortable with the rapid changes.
The store shared updates with customers on Facebook, Instagram and through email newsletters. Although there was some initial difficulty getting people used to Zoom, attendance for the virtual events doubled in size to 60 people compared to 20-30 people for previous in-person events.
The bookstore experienced a lot of support for their online sales. Readers were able to order books for local pickup or delivery. Sanchez said they received orders from around the country, not only Alexandria. Inside, the shop went from cozy bookstore to book-packing assembly line, and the team was grateful to be able to keep working.
Despite the loyal support, there were times of uncertainty for Old Town Books, just like there were for many other small businesses and individuals during the crisis.
Kirkpatrick started a GoFundMe for the shop to be able to cover payroll and rent before loans and grant funding arrived. The GoFundMe was able to raise almost $12,000. In the face of the unknown, the store still found a way to give back by launching their “Book Love” campaign, which raised money for reading care packages for local children in need and children of essential workers.
When Kirkpatrick opened Old Town Books almost two years ago, she dreamed of creating a community for readers and writers and someday becoming an Old Town institution. With a strong holiday sales season and a bright future ahead of her, Kirkpatrick was surprised by the unique challenges the global pandemic brought to her business.
Even so, the shop found ways to gather people together virtu-ally and share the love of the written word.
Bringing a little humor to the situation, Sanchez and Kirkpatrick joked that they were “too small to fail” – but maybe they were just too loved.
