Greetings Book Lovers!
We’re steadily approaching the end of April here which means we are right on the doorstep of one of our favourite days of the year! That’s right, Saturday, April 29 is Canadian Independent Bookstore Day, “the annual day when readers, writers, illustrators, publishers, and other industry supporters come together to celebrate indie bookstores across Canada.”
Though our numbers have dwindled over the decades, we’re lucky enough now to have a handful of wonderful independent bookstores here in town and we’re so proud and happy to call them our extended bookstore family! As a special treat for Canadian Independent Bookstore Day this year, we’ve joined forces with our fellow indies, Octopus Books, Perfect Books, The Spaniel’s Tale Bookstore, Singing Pebble Books, and World of Maps to bring you the first ever Ottawa Indie Bookstore Crawl! From Friday, April 28 to Sunday, April 30, book lovers from in and around Ottawa can collect stamps from each of our city’s six participating independent bookstores for their chance to win a $150 bookstore shopping spree! You can pick up your stamp card at any of the six stores, collect your stamps from the 28th to the 30th, and then hand in your card at your last bookstore stop! And the cherry on top? There’s no purchase necessary to participate! Entries (only one per person) must be submitted at a participating store before closing time on Sunday, April 30. Since each store is run slightly differently, be sure to check individual stores’ hours of operation before mapping out your book crawl route! Please note that here at Books on Beechwood, we will be CLOSED on Sunday, April 30 so will only be able to give out stamps and collect completed entries on Friday, April 28 and Saturday, April 29. When you do stop by, be sure to tag our social media accounts to add to the fun!
On top of The Ottawa Indie Bookstore Crawl and in the tradition of CIBDs past, on Saturday, April 29 only, everything here in the store will be 20% off! The discount will be available in-store and online, but it will not include CDs, magazines, newspapers, or customer special orders. We will also have a number of special door prizes on hand for which a single purchase will get you one entry. Each door prize has a retail value of around $100 and winners will be drawn and contacted once all the festivities are over. There will also be some special CIBD exclusives, including an Indie Bookish Canvas Tote Bag, a special Bibliophile Banned Books Puzzle, and an Ann Cleeves novella called Too Good to Be True featuring Shetland‘s Jimmy Perez! These items are available in limited quantities and will go on sale first thing Saturday morning. While we may be able to get extra tote bags and puzzles once CIBD is over, once the Ann Cleeves book is gone, it’s gone, so be sure to pop by early to secure your copy! We’ll also have lots of freebies up for grabs throughout the day – stickers and pins and tote bags, oh my – so there’s absolutely no chance of you walking away empty-handed!
As if that wasn’t enough, there’s one more contest we need to tell you about. Put on by the Canadian Independent Booksellers Association (CIBA) especially for Canadian Independent Bookstore Day and open to book lovers from coast to coast, you can enter to win one of three gift certificates to the independent bookstore of your choice! Every book purchased at an independent bookstore on Saturday, April 29 is worth a single entry and if any of your purchases happen to be written or illustrated by Canadians, you get a bonus entry! Purchases made in-person, by phone, or online are all valid, but you need your proof of purchase to enter the contest. The entry form will only become available as of midnight Pacific Time on Saturday and you’ll have until midnight on Sunday, April 30 to submit your entries. Check out the Canadian Independent Booksellers Association online for more details.
We really can’t tell you how excited we are about celebrating Canadian Independent Bookstore Day with you all this year!! Even if The Ottawa Indie Bookstore Crawl isn’t something you think you can swing, we hope you’ll still able to make the trek out to your local indie to show them some love and partake in the celebrations!
As booksellers, we all dearly love what we do and we know that none of it would be possible without all of you and your deep and abiding love of books! Thank you so, so much for continuing to support “the little bookshop that could!” Independent businesses are special places born of dreams and determination, and we feel so lucky to be one that’s grown and flourished in this very special community.
So, here’s to you, dearest Book Lovers! Wishing you all a very Happy Canadian Independent Bookstore Day! We look forward to seeing you on Saturday! And for those of you who can’t be with us, we know you’ll be here in spirit!
With love,
The Staff at Books on Beechwood
From Friday, April 28 to Sunday, April 30, collect stamps from each of our city’s six independent bookstores and enter for your chance to win a $150 bookstore shopping spree! Pick up your stamp card at any of the six stores, collect your stamps from the 28th to the 30th, and then hand in your card at your last bookstore stop! Entries must be submitted before closing time on Sunday, April 30.
Please note that we will be CLOSED on Sunday, April 30 so will only be able to give out stamps and collect completed entries on Friday, April 28 and Saturday, April 29.