Sidelines Snapshot: Games, Smudge Kits, Bookmarks and Puzzles

An item from Bookish Birds

Trish Coffey, assistant floor manager at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, N.C., reported that jigsaw puzzles are always "huge" during the summer, and have picked up over the past couple of seasons. Among the store's go-to puzzle lines are Ravensburger Puzzles, New York Puzzle Company and Heritage Puzzle, whose headquarters are in North Carolina. The children's version of game The Storymatic has also proved to be a popular summer item, and Coffey has found that, somewhat surprisingly, all of the store's journals sell better in the summer than at any other time of the year, even the holidays. She added that she brought in journals from DesignWorks Ink in the past year that have done very well.

Coffey has had success with Bookish Birds, a company in Winston-Salem, N.C., that "upcycles" old and damaged books into bookish gifts such as page art, ornaments, cards and more. As for children's sidelines, Quail Ridge carries an assortment of plush along with children's puzzles and simple games. When asked about perennial favorites, Coffey said that Emotion Gallery bookmarks have "sold for years and years," and Book Darts have "been on the counter for as long as I can remember." Reading glasses made by 20/20 Vision and Peepers "keep on selling," while notable card lines include Caspari, Cardthartic, Sacred Bee and Two Bad Mice.

Tea towel from ellembee

In the past year, Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver, Colo., has had "really good luck" with holistic, self-care items like smudge kits and crystal bundles. Gift buyer Sam Foster said Tattered Cover sources theirs from a bookstore in Santa Fe, N.Mex., called The Ark Bookstore, and reported that when she brings them in, "they all start moving the second they hit the shelf." Foster said that Denver was a "remarkable market" for irreverent gift items, including kitchen towels from ellembee that feature fun phrases on them, socks from Blue Q, games like Cards Against Humanity and What Do You Meme, and gift cards from Footnote Studio that have words with funny definitions.

Foster has started working with a company called Indigo Fair, which sells wholesale, nonbook merchandise on a returnable basis; she said the experience has been "fantastic." She's been experimenting with new varieties of candles, and in particular has liked the P.F. Candle Co., which is in Los Angeles. Foster said that Tattered Cover carries a lot of items made by local vendors, and a recent example includes laser-engraved bookmarks from a company called LumEngrave. Among children's sidelines, Foster said she really enjoys games and toys with a cooperative focus, particularly games made by Peaceable Kingdom. She pointed to Where's Bear, Mole Rats in Space and Mermaid Island as great examples.

Copperfield's Books has eight locations in the greater Bay Area, and sidelines and calendar buyer Sharon Rompelman handles gifts and non-book buying for all of them. Rompelman said that some of her favorite puzzle lines at the moment are Pomegranate, New York Puzzle Company, Galison and Ravensburger. Copperfield's stocks a wide variety of games, and Rompelman said she uses Alliance Games Distributors and ACD Distribution to source the sort of "hardcore" or "boutique" games that one normally wouldn't find outside of a specialty games shop. Some examples include Ex Libris, Settlers of Catan (now branded as just Catan), Ticket to Ride and The Tea Dragon Society. Some more accessible games, which don't take hours and hours to play and generally have a lower price point, include Fluxx and Exploding Kittens.

For children's educational items and toys, Rompelman recommended science kits made by Discover with Dr. Cool, particularly the Geode Starter Rock Science Kit, the Hobby Rock Tumbler and the Glow in the Dark Crystal Growing Kit. She also tries to find small rock-identifying kits for the children's section. Rompelman noted that for adults, items like healing stone kits from GeoCentral and stone hearts from Pikes Peak Rock Shop, which were initially brought in as Valentine's Day gifts, are also popular at the moment, as are Ark-Made smudge kits. As for recently introduced lines, Rompelman said she's had success with Now Designs and its counterpart Danica Studio, along with stickers from a local supplier called Mrs Grossman's stickers and new metal bookmarks from Miles to Go. --Alex Mutter

Powered by: Xtenit