Aug. 3, 2001 – The second-busiest shopping season of the year gets under way Saturday at Dockside Bookshop in the Havensight Shopping Mall: the annual storewide 25 percent-off sale.
Compared to the yearend gift-giving holidays, it's a short season — just nine days — but a sweet one for anybody in the market for books, audio book cassettes, maps, Tarot cards, rubber stamps, other gift items or the perfect present for bibliophiles — a book repair kit.
"Everything in the store except calendars and newspapers" is on sale through Sunday, Aug. 12, assistant manager Kathy Schlesinger said. "And, yes, we take credit cards during the sale."
The biggest savings to be had (for the highest-priced books in the store) are for "Merriam Webster's Third New International Dictionary," which normally goes for $149, and "The New Shorter Oxford Dictionary," a two-volume set which is regularly $135.
And then there is "The Book Lover's Repair Kit," normally priced at $125. Packaged in a box that opens like a book, the cosmetic surgery kit for treasured tomes that have taken a turn for the worse includes such items as brushes, glue and pH-neutral adhesive, along with a 160-page hardcover instruction manual on how to deal with everything from torn pages to broken spines (written by Estelle Ellis, Wilton Wiggins and Douglas Lee and published by Alfred A. Knopf). In a locale where heat, humidity, mahogany birds and tropical storms take their toll, it could be a wise investment for anyone with a book collection that's personally precious.
Schlesinger also noted that Dockside stocks the books on the summer reading lists for nearly all of the St. Thomas-St. John schools, "and we've got them all in right now."
The discount can't be applied to books being special ordered during the sale, but it's good for any that have already been ordered and have arrived. "If it's in the store, it's 25 percent off," Schlesinger said.
The sale is an opportune time for customers to take advantage of Dockside's Frequent Buyer Book Club, she noted, both for building up credits and for spending them. Year-round, for every $100 club members spend, they get $5 off a future purchase. Anyone can become a club member by providing the requested information at the service counter.
The annual sale is held in August for two reasons, Schlesinger said: "First, summer's kind of a slow season, so this picks things up. Second, we try to make room for new books, and the biggest season for new books is the fall."
Dockside hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday plus Saturday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. The staff will be glad to let callers know if a particular book is available, but holds aren't possible during the sale. Call 774-4937.
