Area bookstores pivot their operations during pandemic

Independent bookstores have seen plenty of challenges over the past few years.

For David Hunt, the COVID-19 pandemic has proved to be his biggest challenge since becoming owner of Town House Books and Cafe in downtown St. Charles in 1992. The bookshop, 105 N. Second Ave., has been open since 1974, with the cafe opening in 1996.

“It happened all at once and required a quick pivot and adjustment to try to keep going and make sense of it all,” Hunt said of the pandemic.

In March 2020, Kane County experienced its first COVID-19 deaths and the Kane County Board declared COVID-19 a public health emergency. These days, because of COVID-19 restrictions designed to slow the spread of the virus, Town House Books’ capacity is capped at 50% occupancy.

“We haven’t had an issue where we’ve had too many people in the store,” Hunt said. “People spread out during the day, and we haven’t had any problems abiding by the capacity rules and regulations.”

Because Hunt knows that not everyone is comfortable yet with shopping inside a store, Town House Books offers curbside pickup. In May 2020, Town House Books started an online bookstore through bookshop.org, which works with independent bookstores.

“That was with the intention of creating a remote shopping experience that would mirror the kind of selection and recommendations that our customers come to value in the shop,” Hunt said. “That’s part of the charm of a brick-and-mortar store. You have those relationships and people come in and browse and touch the books and everything.”

For example, after the storming of the U.S. Capitol in January, Town House Books created a special list of books on its online bookstore titled “Making Sense of These Times.”

Before the pandemic, Hunt hadn’t thought of creating an online bookstore.

“We were thinking that we were a traditional brick-and-mortar store for 46 years and that’s what we really wanted to do,” Hunt said. “But then when the pandemic hit, it happened to coincide with this opportunity for not just us, but several independent bookstores throughout the country to join this group together to be able to have a viable online presence.”

Town House Books has been gaining new customers through the online bookstore.

“We’ve had new customers in more than 40 different states that have found our page and liked our lists,” Hunt said. “It’s not meant to replace the in-person experience, it’s just another option to help us with our sales.”

Currently, the shop’s cafe is closed for indoor dining. Customers can order items to go through contactless curbside pickup.

“We’ve had a terrific response from the community supporting the cafe,” Hunt said.

The pandemic caused Chuck Osborne and his wife, Roxanne, to pivot operations at their bookstore, Harvey’s Tales, 216 James St., in downtown Geneva.

The bookstore first opened its doors in October 2018.

“Because of the state orders, our doors were closed in March and April,” Chuck Osborne said. “And on May 1, we started shipping a lot. I felt like an Amazon warehouse almost. We did a ton of shipping, and we were doing delivery and curbside pickup. Nobody was in the store except for us and a couple of employees. And in June, we were able to reopen for customers to browse again. It was an interesting time. We had to make some adjustments. In the long run, we did OK.”

Harvey’s Tales has been able to keep the majority of its employees. The store adjusted its hours when the pandemic hit.

“We’re closed on Mondays now and we decided we kind of like that,” Osborne said. “We have a day to kind of catch up and do the laundry and go to the grocery store. I don’t think we’re going to reopen on Mondays even after things normalize a bit more. It’s really important to get a breather once in a while.”

Harvey’s Tales continues to ship books. Like Town House Books, Harvey’s Tales is part of bookshop.org.

The shop continues to offer curbside pickup service.

“There’s still people who aren’t comfortable shopping indoors,” Osborne said. “If we can accommodate them, we still do curbside service. We still do delivery to some of the retirement communities in the Tri-Cities. But delivery has slowed down a lot. I guess people are a little more comfortable than they were.”

The bookstore sells coffee, but customers can only get it to go these days.

“Our seating is still kind of locked up in our basement,” Osborne said. “We’re hoping as the weather warms up and the vaccine rollout increases that we can allow seating.”

He appreciates the community continuing to support Harvey’s Tales during these times.

“The customer base that we have developed so far has been awesome,” he said. “The city and the Geneva Chamber of Commerce also have been awesome in trying to keep things rolling. We are really appreciative. It’s just been kind of a crazy time.”