Traveling

I used to travel a lot for work, as well as for pleasure. The first thing I'd do at the hotel was grab the yellow pages and see what kind of bookstores there were, and whether I'd be able to get to them. Now, of course, it's much simpler. I just check the internet, and generally find out much more about the stores and how to get to them, etc. Every time I get to NYC, I make a point of getting to the Strand, which is completely overwhelming, and usually a mystery bookstore as well. My favorite bookstore so far is City Lights in San Francisco. My husband and I were there a couple of years ago. He happened to be wearing his Strand sweatshirt. We were sitting in the bar next door to City Lights when a guy approached us. Turned out he used to work at the Strand and was curious about the shirt. Small world.

I have now added another search for when I travel, for quilting stores. It's really interesting to compare the products, the layouts, the locations, the customers, etc from place to place, for both types of stores. Now that one of my daughters quilts, and both of them do a fair amount of reading, I also do my souvinir shopping at those stores. It's a nice change from t-shirts and keychains. There's usually something regional available, so it's not like I'm bringing them something they could just pick up around home. When I finally do open my bookstore, I'll be keeping this in mind, and will be sure to have some special local stuff.