article by Todd Morman
Spent a couple of hours yesterday volunteering for setup at the annual Wake County Libraries book sale; the new location, a former grocery store south of town, looks great and is packed to the gills with books (kids books are in produce, romance in dairy, art in deli). The sale officially starts tomorrow (Wake teachers and some county employees can swing by today) but here are a couple of things that make this year’s event different:
1. The new space is smaller than the old Super Kmart the library used to use. This is good news for booklovers, because it means that even though the shelves start out stuffed, I saw dozens and dozens of pallets, each with dozens of boxes, still unopened in the back of the grocery store when I left yesterday. So even if you prefer to miss the first mad rush on Saturday morning, you’ll be able to get first crack at the refill batches on Sunday, and probably into next week when the sale continues from Wednesday through next weekend. This is the first year the library is doing a two-weekend sale, mostly to allow plenty of time to restock the smaller space and get books into people’s hands. Which means the standard “all the good stuff is gone after the first day” won’t apply as much as usual.
2. The new space is being offered to the county rent-free. Being a grocery store in decent condition, it also has plenty of shelving, which means Wake Libraries are saving a huge chunk of money they used to spend on renting the location, tables and cleaning. Emphasis on “huge.” The sale is gonna be almost all profit this year. Plus the property owner gets a tax write-off and thousands of customers coming to his strip mall to maybe drop a dime in the other stores. Win-win.
3. The prices are insanely great. I’ve always been a paperback guy, and all paperbacks, regardless of size, are $1, dropping to 50 cents on the second Saturday. That means $1 for everything from mass market sci-fi, Jodi Picoult-size trade paperbacks and David Foster Wallace-size novels (I saw a bunch of “Infinite Jests”) to those expensive Jared Diamond and David McCullough-type popular history books. And don’t get me started on the big art and music paperbacks. One coordinator told me “If you can wiggle the cover, it’s $1.” Hardbacks start at $4, and drop to $2 the final weekend. The final Sunday is bag day, which is always fun.
4. The location is easy to get to. Just take S. Saunders Street out of downtown (or take the beltline and get off at S. Saunders, then stay right after crossing Tryon Road and take a right at the first light, Garner Station Blvd. The strip mall is on the right, with a Hudson Belk. It’s like 5 minutes from downtown if you catch the lights.
See you there. Oh, and for future reference, for every four hours you volunteer, they let you buy $20 worth of books at second-weekend prices. Keep it in mind for next year.
Booksale Hours & Dates:
Saturday Nov. 14 10 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Sunday Nov. 15 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Wednesday Nov. 18 10 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Thursday Nov. 19 10 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Friday Nov. 20 10 a.m. - 8 p.m.
PRICES FOR THE FIRST 5 DAYS ARE $4.00 FOR HARDBOUND BOOKS;
$1.00 FOR PAPERBACKS
Saturday Nov. 21 10 a.m. - 8 p.m.HALF PRICE DAY: HARDBOUND BOOKS $2.00; $.50 FOR PAPERBACK BOOKS
Sunday Nov. 22 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.
$5.00 PER BOX; $2.00 PER BAG
BAGS & BOXES PROVIDED BY THE LIBRARY—-CUSTOMER PACKS.
Welcome to New Raleigh. We welcome your participation in the ongoing discussion. Before posting we ask that you read our Comment Policy and we invite you to register with our site. If you want to keep up with the news on our blog, subscribe to the RSS feed or get emailed every time we post.