True to a commitment made by new owner Tom Lyons, comes this from the New England Mobile Book Fair’s Facebook page…
If you are a regular patron of our store you have noticed that books are no longer organized by publisher.
Fiction is now filed by author, and shelved in a new FICTION section, with separate areas for MYSTERY, ROMANCE and SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY genres.
Non-fiction is now broken out into major categories, such as TRAVEL, HISTORY, PSYCHOLOGY, HEALTH and COOKING.
We continue to sell recent paperbacks in THE PAPERBACK ROOM which is where we also keep Childrens Books.
We also continue to maintain THE BARGAIN WAREHOUSE, where you will find thousands of hard-to-find books, all at extraordinary low prices.
About a year ago, a patron of the New England Mobile Book fair wrote about “the charm and character that makes NEMBF a true US treasure.” She noted that “Friends and relatives from California, Oregon, Florida- all come here first on their visits east.” She suggested that we should by all means “make changes for the better, but keep what is special.”
We have heard the suggestions of all of our loyal customers and are acting to ensure that shopping at the New England Mobile Book Fair will remain a unique and enjoyable experience.
Any questions? Ask to be directed to the help desk in the shipping area! And remember: You can order nearly any book via the store website at http://www.nebookfair.com/, or call us over the phone to place a book order.
Oh no!!! They’ve ruined everything!
No, that’s great news. Now I’ll actually be able to find the books I want without constantly having to ask for help.
Great news!
Why did anyone ever think it was a good idea to arrange books by publisher?
In its early life the Book Fair was a wholesaler and organization by publisher was sensible. The owner’s never changed the system once they shifted to retail.
When I first moved to Newton, before I was married and had children, my friends and I would spend Saturday afternoons at New England Mobile Book Fair, just browsing. Since we weren’t going in there looking for anything in particular, the organization by publisher meant that we never knew what we would stumble upon. Clearly we weren’t the ideal customers, but the store provided us with hours of entertainment.
Wow. Remember what it was like to have that kind of free time?
Under the new management they’ve also been running regular readings by local authors and other special events, which is a nice addition. Get on their email list and they’ll send you news of upcoming events.
The internet and big box retail for books have already killed off most independent bookstores. The independents must create a niche that can never be filled by the web and chains if they are to survive. Author readings, signings, and other special events are part of this niche.
I don’t know whether the new ownership at the Book Fair does this, but one can get a membership at Newtonville books for discounts, and one can call them to order most any book under the sun. The book(s) come as fast as Amazon, and I am pleased to be buying local.
Steve – NEMBF sells virtually all books at a substantial discount. Unless it’s changes, they also have a “frequent buyer” rewards program.
Right, but neither the Bookfair nor Newtonville can beat Amazon and other online retailers on price. So they have to try and match convenience (I’ve scouted their websites this afternoon and both now have online ordering of books), and do something Amazon cannot — become a book-based community center. That’s the good news in the competition by the way. In their efforts to survive, these stores are serving our community in ways they didn’t before.
Steve: I work for NEMBF and wrote the Facebook article cited above. We greatly appreciate your thoughtful observations about our niche marketing strategy–as well as about how we serve as a “book-based community center” That objective is certainly a part of our ongoing mission, and we couldn’t have expressed it better ourselves. I would, however, like to correct a misapprehension about NEMBF’s pricing policy. Our daily discounts on mass market paperbacks are often better than those to be found on Amazon. We also discount current New York Times Bestsellers by 30 percent. And our Bargain Warehouse often has books in new condition which are frequently priced lower than the online prices for identical items. In order for us to continue to under-price online retailers, we urge people to visit our store and see for themselves what we have to offer–not only books but toys, puzzles, games, greeting cards, calendars, and other gift items–also priced at 20 per cent off. -fd