Taking a little break

Time flies when you’re having fun, they say. Well, it also flies when you’re hard at work.

Without realizing it, a year has passed since I took a real break from work. Last September, I emptied our old bookstore front at 189 North Street and brought all the remaining inventory to my house, filling up rooms and cupboards with books. As more books accumulated and started overflowing into the living room, the bedroom and in some cases even the kitchen, everyone in the family breathed a sigh of relief when I announced we had found a new bookstore front at 124 Salem Street. Living with books all around you is nice, but to have a bookstore (and a 24-hour bookseller) in your home is a very different situation.

I’ve been storing, packing and shipping all Italian-language books from home since March 2020, and most of the rest since last fall. I’ve had to learn the ins and outs of e-commerce on the fly and make sure orders were managed properly. In just over a year, we went from having a few dozen orders online a month to over 250! Oh, and did I already mention I’m also working on opening a new bookstore? 🙂

All of this to say that I will be taking a week off to spend time with my family and actually tackle my ever-growing to-be-read pile of books. This also means that Italian language books will not be shipped between July 26 and Aug. 1. All shipping will resume on Aug. 2. (Many orders of English language books may still be shipped during this period, as I rely on distributors for these sometimes.)

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

A presto!

Nicola