Saturday Gift Post--Putting Out Ducks, Glasses, and Cards While Working the Front Desk.

As we were short of people today, I started the day at the front desk. In between helping customers, I received our new shipment of reader ducks. Being that we went almost six months with the product sold out, we decided to take no chances and order a bunch. These ducks are PVC free, but I don't think that's why they are a big hit. As the popular children's book says, "It's a book."

This has inspired me to broaden our rubber duck selection. The motif shows up on everything from key chains to kitchen timers. But my concern is that the books that tie in generally are environmental ones such as Death by Rubber Duck and Moby Duck. Doesn't seem like a good match. On the other hand, there are probably some kids' books that work well with the items. We'll see, I guess.

Last night Halley helped me get our new reading glasses on the floor. Several companies have tried to sell me sun readers, and this year I finally bit. I don't think this design is for everyone (for example, it's hardly unisex) but with the cat's eye design, you can pretend you're in Palm Springs or some other mid-century modern kind of place.

I breathe a sigh of relief that another rack is full, but then I turn around and the Mighty Bright Booklights, Out of Print tees, and Moleskine journal displays all look malnourished.  But we'll be getting stock for each of these lines shortly. And not one, but two customers came in for items I had just ordered--a Great Gatsby tee and a pop-up magnifier booklight. In each case, I was able to tag the orders instead of emailing a panic, hoping they could add another item on.

I didn't mention that we got in new spring boxed cards from Te Neues. Several of the lines came in new environmentally friendly packaging featuring designs from Sandra Isaksson. We'll see if customers bypass the glitz of plastic and sturdier cardboard for this green-friendly unbleched packaging. But so far, the bestseller has been a card called Paste Dogs, by Denise Fiedler.

Denise Fielder has been selling her work, also called Paste, since 2009. I wondered if she had licensed anything else, or if the cards were available loose, but to my knowledge, that is not the case. However, you can buy her prints online, or at one of the shops that carries them. In the Milwaukee area, it looks like they have been available at the Home Market in the Third Ward. Cool!