Kristen Bell.jpgToday is Black Friday, if you’re braving the malls and high traffic areas – good luck! We’re going to play table tennis and watch Gilmore Girls. Tomorrow, however, I will brave the shopping areas because it is Small Business Saturday, at least according to Kristen Bell. (You may know her from Frozen fame and the great new show The Good Place. She’ll always be Veronica Mars to me. Go Marshmallows!) She’s done a series of commercials to support the day and they worked on me, at least! I’m in!

where-have-all-the-unicorns-goneI actually love that this Small Business Saturday has become a thing because I think local, independently owned stores  feature and support innovative and creative ideas. And that includes the unicorns of the book world – the independent bookstore. There aren’t that many anymore. If we want to keep these magical places around, we need to support them and Small Business Saturday is a great time to do it.

But, how do I support my local book store, you ask.? You can do it in just 3 easy steps. Ready?

  1. Find a local, independent bookstore (if you don’t know one already, google can help you out pretty quickly or yelp works too)
  2. Go to your local, independent bookstore
  3. Buy a book (or 10!)

And, here is where I give a special shout out to my favorite independent bookstore – The Sacred Circle Bookstore and Gift Shop in Staunton, VA. Not only can you pick up a copy of many great YA and fantasy books, including mine, The Travelers,  it also has a lot of other great gifts for the holidays. I got this great pair of hand-knit mittens (with soft fleece on the inside) that would make a great gift. Even my dog loves them.

If you live in the Northern Virginia area, you might also want to check out the pop-up space at Reston Town Center, featuring a Scrawl Books. It’s right next to a place called Living Traders that has really interesting textiles. Go for a book, and leave with a book and blanket to curl up in as you read your book by the fire. Makes sense to me.

Of course, don’t forget Reston Used Bookstore, or One More Page Books and Hole in the Wall Books in the Falls Church/Arlington area of NOVA either. They’re worth a trip if you happen to be a NOVA resident or visiting for the Thanksgiving holiday.

There are places like these everywhere, though, if you just look for them. If you need help finding one, there is a handy website that can help you – http://www.indiebound.org/indie-bookstore-finder?aff=stonebridgepress4.

Let’s make sure we keep those small business unicorns and make sure that magic sticks around!