Holiday Sales and Charity Crossover

A number of member bookstores are finding time to give back to their community during the busiest shopping time of the year.

Madison, Wisconsin’s A Room of One’s Own is participating in their local Holiday Gift Drive for Teens (a United Way of Dane County program) by agreeing to be a drop-off point for gift collection. In addition to being a good cause, the store is able to drive holiday shoppers with a generous spirit into their store. Capitalizing on some of this holiday cheer, the store is giving a 10% discount on items purchased from the store for the drive, and is circulating a handy list of book suggestions that make appropriate gifts for the drive.

Further south, Bluebird Books in Hutchinson, Kansas is putting on a “12 Sales of Christmas” campaign. Each day leading up to the holiday, the store is offering a new incentive for shoppers to come in and make purchases. Typical sales include percentage discounts on particular sidelines items or genres, such as cookbooks and children’s books. The sales are marketed via newsletter with colorful, fun digital flyers:

Watermark is also participating as a drop-off center for local schools’ “Giving Tree” programs, where customers can purchase books on schools’ wish-lists. The holiday sales apply to all purchases, but are emphasized as an opportunity to make “Giving Tree” gifts.