Over the course of the pandemic, Word After Word in Truckee, Calif., has moved into a larger location, opened a downstairs record store called Rock Cellar Records and started carrying used books.
Founder and owner Andie Keith, who first opened the store in downtown Truckee in 2016, reported that the store has gone from a 950-square-foot space to the historic Truckee mercantile building, which was a grocery store for decades. The building's main floor features new titles for kids and adults across 3,000 square feet of selling space. There's an additional 1,000 square feet of storage and office space on the bookstore's top floor, and the basement is home to the record store and used books, which are kept apart from the new book inventory.
When she signed the lease for the new space in November 2019, Keith said she imagined using the basement, which has rock-lined walls and brick floors, for events. But then March 2020 rolled around and in-store events were shelved indefinitely, and it didn't help that the cellar had no ventilation. Over the 2020-2021 holidays, Keith and her family were brainstorming about what to do with the basement, and her children, who are all into music, said they'd "love to do vinyl."
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"I said I don't know anything about that," Keith recalled. "They said, 'we'll find people.' "
Keith's son actually came up with a business plan for Rock Cellar Records, and over the winter they began fixing up the downstairs. They brought in tables and crates for the records and created a section for used books. At present the store's used titles were all previously owned by staff members or Keith's family; Keith and her team have yet to buy books from customers.
"It's a really complicated process," she said. "They're so much harder than new books."
The extra storage and office space at the new location has been extremely helpful, Keith noted. In the old location there was only enough space to do just-in-time ordering; now Keith and her team "have an entire bookstore stored upstairs." There's also a receiving area in the back of the building with a doorway that faces an alleyway, where someone is "receiving all day long." The store now feels like a "completely different business."
In March 2020, Keith was in the middle of "drawing up plans" for the new store when she had to shut down the existing location. She remembered sending everyone home and having a "little pity party" for herself because she had two leases at the time. She kept everyone employed throughout the shutdown, and her team figured out online sales and web orders on the fly. The team took things day by day, and in addition to processing web orders they wrote book reviews, put together book bundles and "talked to people at the door with masks on." She called it "a tough time, but a community building time."
Keith said her landlord at the new space was also "really good and helpful" and worked with her during the shutdown. At the same time, she and her family began doing improvements and renovations on the 110-year-old building. Her staff came back in May 2020 and helped move inventory and install shelves and bookcases. She kept the online sales going throughout that time with the goal of being able to reopen when the state's order was lifted.
Word After Word welcomed customers in the new space in June of last year. Now, a little over a year later, the store is still finding its footing in the new location. This summer has been incredibly busy, and while the store has not yet resumed indoor author events they've hosted online book clubs, an online children's summer program and an outdoor event with a local mystery author.
There have been plenty of returning seasonal customers, Keith said, who had no idea the store moved. When they see the new space for the first time, they are "in awe." --Alex Mutter