With the holiday season in full swing, shoppers looking for a more literary approach to their gift giving can find it at the Library Shop inside the Santa Maria Public Library.
While new and used books are the shop’s centerpieces, they’re not the only inventory available for purchase. The well-organized shelves also display unique items such as greeting cards, jewelry, and games, and even provide a showcase for local talent.
“We are really pushing the newer stuff because we have a lot of work by local artists and artisans and local authors, and I don’t think that’s well known at all,” said Joyce Hall, the shop’s donated materials coordinator. “A lot of people come in the library and walk by the shop and don’t even know we’re there.”
About 40 Friends of the Library volunteers and one paid employee run the shop. A large percentage of profits—$1,500 each month and about $40,000 annually—is donated directly back to the library, supporting rentals and reference sections and children’s programs.
According to shop manager Nancy Marriott, the holidays are the shop’s busy time, when they make up for the slow rest of the year. The most popular sellers during the holidays, she said, are all types of media, CDs, DVDs, and distinctive gifts such as puppets, coasters, and recipe books.
“It’s kind of a double-edged thing,” Marriott said. “You get to help the library, and you get to buy something from local artists and get a good gift without the major crowds.”
Two-thirds of the Library Shop is devoted to donations, and volunteers are always accepting “gently-used” books, CDs, and records. Some materials go into the library collection, but the rest is put out for sale in the shop. Most used paperback books sell for $1, and children’s books cost 25 cents—the more valuable books are sold on-line through Amazon.com, something the shop is building on, Hall said.
In recent times, sales haven’t been as strong as volunteers have hoped for, but the shop did receive some help in the past year in the form of grants from the Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara and others.
Fundraisers are planned for the upcoming year; watch for book sales and silent auctions. Volunteers will hold a raffle of chairs painted by local artists in the spring, and they currently have an ongoing raffle for holiday quilts, handmade and donated by volunteers.
The Library Shop is open Monday through Wednesday from noon to 7 p.m. and Thursday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
For more information, call Nancy Marriott at 868-9933.
Highlights
• The Rock Seafood & Grill in Nipomo announced it will be celebrating its one-year anniversary on Dec. 10 with giveaways and prizes to thank its loyal customers.
Owner Daniel Rivas said he was blessed to have made it through a successful first year in a struggling economy.
“We’re not just still acquiring new customers, but all of our customers are returning,” he said. “When you put yourself on a solid foundation, it makes all the difference in the world.”
Rivas added that he’s looking forward to opening a second location in Orcutt sometime in 2012.
The Rock is at 622 W. Tefft St. in Nipomo.
For more information, call 929-8121 or visit the restaurant’s page on Facebook.
Staff Writer Jeremy Thomas compiled this week’s Spotlight. Send your business news to spotlight@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Dec 1-8, 2011.
