FWIW
Searching this US worker-coop directory yielded 10 examples of coop
bookstores and bookstores registered as "democratic workplaces" which I
do not yet know the definition of:
https://www.usworker.coop/directory/
Orca in Olympia is not listed which gives me the feeling that there may
be (many) more out there also not registered here. The locations of
most of these are the usual suspects: San Francisco, Seattle, Asheville,
Austin, etc.
My favorite coop experience was the Cheeseboard Pizza Collective in
Berkeley. When i was there they had a line around the block on
Thursday and Friday nights (maybe Saturday also) when they opened at 4
or 5 PM. As the lore went, every member of the coop worked every role,
from cook to cashier to cleanup crew "equally"... and they apparently
had a long waiting list of people wanting to join the coop. I don't
know how much profit/pay the members got, but it was reputed to be
militaristically in it's equality in all ways and was/is apparently high
functioning enough that people really want to join...
It was take-out only but as your part of the line entered the building,
you had the option of being handed a "slice" when you ordered to eat
while you waited to have the order fulfilled (usually less than 5
minutes, the ovens were running full-tilt all the time). If not eating
one in place, they would instead place a single slice on top of your
box(es) for the person picking up to eat on the way home, avoiding that
embarassment when you get there and everyone teases you about the
"missing slice" in the box. "couldn't wait could ya?"!
On 3/1/23 4:16 PM, Steve Smith wrote:
Excellent! This is the kind of feedback I was fishing for. I am
reading some of Orca's materials on their CoOpness and can imagine
that it is a hard thing to pull together without one or a very few
strong personalities with the motivation to move it along crisply.
That is definitely not me.
I was not aware of *any* bookstore coops in existence so this is very
useful and motivates me to maybe look around for other examples.
Peggy has a new employee working there with her who seems pretty
competent and motivated, I will maybe stop in sometime when she is not
around (not sure when that is because she used to be there *all the
time*) and feel out his interest/ability to step up in any
capacity... she is a dedicated but difficult personality and I don't
really want to interfere with her process whatever it might be, just
see if I can facilitate a "better outcome" to show up.
On 3/1/23 3:50 PM, glen wrote:
FWIW, if there were a lot of people interested in helping out a
little bit, consider setting up a co-op. This store here in Oly did
that soon after we moved up here. It was difficult because they
transitioned, rather that constructed from scratch.
https://www.orcabooks.com/co-op
And I don't see Book Mountain on this list:
https://bookshop.org/pages/bookstores
It's probably too little/late for it to help Book Mountain now. But
if someone does take over, it would make sense to get on the list.
On 3/1/23 14:43, Steve Smith wrote:
I was just in Book Mountain which has been operating in SFe
primarily as a paperback exchange since 1980 (just before I moved to
the area) and discovered that the owner, Peggy Frank intends to shut
down, probably sooner rather than later. Here is an article about
her move and rejuvenation of the store a couple of years ago:
https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/business/book-mountain-alive-and-well-in-new-location/article_9003513a-3c8b-11ea-a81e-373351759896.html
The new digs and layout were a modest upgrade from what she had
going before, and has a somewhat wider range of books shelved now,
though the emphasis is still on high-turnover paperback. She has one
of the most extensive collections of Science Fiction I think you
fill find this side of Powells (Portland) or Tattered Cover (Denver).
I probably unloaded 1/4 of my "2 cords of books" leftover from *my*
bookstore (Hunt and Gather circa 2006) on her for trade (my credit
is much too large to begin to drain in the short term).
What I am hoping is that one of her customers or someone in the book
loving circle would swoop in and buy it outright. I have already
talked to some of the other booksellers in town and she has already
approached them offering to sell them her inventory, but the ideal
would be for it to remain a viable business. Her current
setup/inventory/curation works and is by far more valuable than the
mere inventory (which would need to be sorted, shelved, etc. again).
If anyone here knows of anyone suitable for taking on such an
operation I highly recommend it, but I suspect the time is short.
Peggy is just coming out of some health-challenges and I sense she
will not be willing/able to wait very long. I am holding out a
slim hope that one of the other used-sellers in SFe might pick it up
as a satellite (Op Cit already has had multiple locations).
In any case, spread the word if you can. Maybe there is a coop
model or multiple-partner arrangement that might keep it going and
help Peggy leave the business cleanly/gracefully.
-. --- - / ...- .- .-.. .. -.. / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. .
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom
https://bit.ly/virtualfriam
to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/
archives: 5/2017 thru present
https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/
1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/
-. --- - / ...- .- .-.. .. -.. / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. .
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom
https://bit.ly/virtualfriam
to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/
archives: 5/2017 thru present
https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/
1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/
-. --- - / ...- .- .-.. .. -.. / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. .
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom
https://bit.ly/virtualfriam
to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/
archives: 5/2017 thru present https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/
1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/
