The Book Shop in Ball Square is now open

[hissilliness.livejournal.com]

The new storefront is on the corner of Broadway and Josephine. They're having their Grand Opening on Saturday, but apparently decided to jump the gun a bit, and are open for business today. Stock at this point is overwhelmingly used mass market paperback genre fiction (science ficton, mystery, historical romance, and contemporary romance were the sections I noticed), but the owner tells me they intend to diversify from there.

He says he is working on a Facebook page, but it isn't ready yet. Online sales are not of significant interest.

He is interested in hosting readings and other events. Local authors are encouraged to contact him. I encouraged him to drop in on True Grounds and check out their "Written Here" shelf.

Now, of course, I'm thinking of a bunch of questions I should have asked him for this post, so I'll put up more data as I get it.

Comments

[ron_newman]

The first question: can he please pick a more distinctive and less generic name for his shop? It will help him market the place better. I suggest "Ball Square Books". Or perhaps "Powderhouse Books".

He should get in touch with Doug Holder and the other folks who put together the Somerville News Writers' Festival every fall. The News office is right across the street at 699 Broadway.

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

aww, but "the book shop" goes so well with the "pub" a few doors down. Ball Square, home of generic businesses?

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

That's wonderful! I hadn't heard about it before. Did he happen to say if he buys used books?

[hissilliness.livejournal.com]

Will check. Gimmie an hour.

[ron_newman]

Some earlier discussion started here, in the comments to my post about McIntyre & Moore's closing sale.

[hissilliness.livejournal.com]

Only for store credit; furthermore, half of any purchase must be in cash. So, if you have $10 in store credit, and are buying $10 worth of books, you can only use $5 of your credit.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

That's still okay, since our house is starting to look like a hoarder house with all the books!

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Also, thank you for going and checking on that!

[dougo.livejournal.com]

When cthulhia and I wandered in yesterday (the door was open, but the store was not yet), the two women working there were eagerly asking if we had any books to sell. So I would encourage anyone to bring their books by.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Cool beans! I'm looking forward to checking it out!

[dougo.livejournal.com]

I just sold 7 paperbacks (the first 7 of the Wheel of Time series) and got $7 in store credit. I think they're especially eager for fantasy & SF.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Awesome! I don't have much sci-fi, but my BF and my roommate do. Mine is mostly literary fiction, and a bunch of non-fiction. Wonder if they'll want that.

[dougo.livejournal.com]

Also, I just added the Foursquare entry. :)

[lac.livejournal.com]

A bookstore that close to my house is dangerous. That said...if he buys books, that would be awesome. I have a TON I'd like to offload and I am lazy by nature. If someone can't come get them, I'd want to bring them someplace close.

And after thinking about it, Ron is absolutely right, that name is WAY too generic.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

Oh, excitement!

[radiotelescope.livejournal.com]

I just took a look. Notes:

It's about half romance; the rest is split between SF, thriller, and mystery. There was some assorted miscellaneous up front that I didn't look at too hard.

Prices are a little high for used books. Old paperbacks are $3 minimum; newer paperbacks are $4, or half cover price. I think hardbacks are half cover price too.

On the other hand, the SF selection is quite nice. (I'm not competent to comment on the rest.) It must come from somebody's collection, going back to the 70s; it doesn't look like the typical picked-over selection of a used SF store. Maybe it'll look that way in a month. :)

They *do* buy books, but only for store credit, and credit is only usable up to half of what you spend there. This probably won't stop me. If I haul in a crate of paperbacks (and I have crates, oh yes) then I guess I could go for a long time buying this place's stock at $1.50 or $2 cash per book. Then again, they might run out of books I want. Depends how many other people have the same idea, I guess.

[blacktigr.livejournal.com]

About the SF? Noted for the record. We'll have to go this week.

[on-reserve.livejournal.com]

In my experience, half of cover price is standard for used book retail. It's what Harvard Book Store and lots of used book stores charge. It's certainly more than 50-cent paperbacks at a yard sale but I don't think it's out of line given comparable shops.

[in-water-writ.livejournal.com]

Um, there is now a bookstore down the street from my house. Every day, there is less and less reason for me to wander away from the Ball/Powderhouse Sq area.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

That's how I felt when I was working a 3 month contract job just over the Medford line (I live in Ball Square). I hardly ever even went down to Davis-proper. My world shrunk drastically.

[dougo.livejournal.com]

Do they have an email address? Or a phone number??

[dougo.livejournal.com]

thebookshop@yahoo.com
617-764-1624

[ron_newman]

do they have a web page?

[dougo.livejournal.com]

Pretty sure not yet. The email address wasn't even printed on their business card; one of the women working there wrote it on the card she gave me.

[ron_newman]

Did they say why they picked such a bland name for their store? I think people are going to be adding "in Ball Square" to the name when they talk about it (at least, I hope they'll be talking about it).

[mzrowan.livejournal.com]

But it matches "Pub" next door so well! I think we should lobby for True Grounds to change to "Coffee Shop". Ball Square Breakfast, Soundbites, and Kelly's can be "Breakfast Place 1", "Breakfast Place 2", and "Breakfast Place 3".

[ron_newman]

Isn't it actually called "Powder House Pub", though? They just never put their whole sign back up after they renovated the façade?

[josephineave.livejournal.com]

Nope, they have a new awning that just says "Pub".

[ceo]

The Pub, I think. So that nicely bookends the block with The Book Shop. Now we need the businesses in between to change their names to The Pizza And Wings Place and The Chiropractor and we're all set.

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

Yeah, It says THE pub now. I liked the "pub" sign better, when they had removed all the other words from the previous pub's sign except for that one. Very resourceful and a great way to name a bar. Not that my opinion really counts for anything.

(oops, I didn't read all the comments before trying to make the same line of joke, above.)

[josephineave.livejournal.com]

Except that 2 of them would insist on a cage match for the better number.

[ritcey.livejournal.com]

And this would be bad why?

[anotherjen.livejournal.com]

Yes! Hee!

[littlecitynames.livejournal.com]

Do you happen to know the hours?

Info

[bookshopballsq.livejournal.com]

The Book Shop at 694 Broadway Ball Square is now open, we sell new & used books ,used mass market & trade size paperbacks are mostly half off the cover price, some are reduced by more. Used hardcovers start at 4.95, we also carry some New Books at 10 to 40% off the cover price. We take books in on trade depending on our need and the condition of the book. Space is limited but we try to have something for everyone. We would also like to thank all the nice people that have welcomed us to the neighborhood we certainly do appreciate it. We're working on a website and will post it as soon as its up and running.
Store Hours are as follows
Monday thru Friday 9am-7pm
Saturday & Sunday 9am-5pm
617-764-1624