Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachel Baker.
Hi Rachel, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
During the pandemic, our founder, Donald Alexander, was at loose ends (as many of us were). He had opened a used bookstore previously, so posted online saying he wanted to start another one in his neighborhood, and if folks wanted to drop off books on his porch, he’d start the process. Literally hundreds of books arrived every day, so the bookstore took off much faster than he’d expected! He and I had worked together in the previous bookstore, so I came on board from the start.
We’re a nonprofit, and donate to various literary causes locally – Alexandria Tutoring Consortium, local libraries, Inspire Lit, and more. We also moved into our current building in 2022, when Don bought the building! We’ve expanded to three stories, with the top floor primarily being used as event and hang out space. We host weekly game nights, book clubs, kids story times, crafting events, and have started annually holding a haunted bookstore for Halloween and a midnight New Year’s Eve games party.
We started out with the founder, a part-time general manager, and two part-time managers. We’ve now expanded to founder, full-time general manager, five part-time managers, and two weekend assistants. It’s been fantastic growing so much in the last six years!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The pandemic did make opening rather strange, but since we opened after it began, we knew what to expect. We made it a community space to our best ability, requiring masks and also offering private shopping hours for people who didn’t feel safe around crowds. It’s been a learning experience, keeping up with growth and figuring out what works for the neighborhood and what doesn’t.
One of the trickiest parts has been managing the influx of books. We’re the only used bookstore in Alexandria; the next closest are in Manassas and DC. It means we get huge amounts of books coming in for us to sort and process. There’s also a lot of difference between running a bookstore, and managing community events, so balancing that has been interesting.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We’re a nonprofit used bookstore and community space. We’re known for having welcoming space for people to relax or work here in the bookstore, whether they are shopping or not. We have two public restrooms, lots of seating and meeting areas throughout the store, and board games and crafting supplies freely available to everyone.
Over 90% of our books are brought in by locals in exchange for store credit. That’s highly unusual for a used bookstore – usually we’d have to go out more often to sales to find good books. Our staff and volunteers work hard to keep our inventory well organized and our store welcoming and accessible. We regularly have free events for everyone, and are working to expand our book donations to more places in the city.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Building what you set out to build, and finding ways to grow and change. For us, that definitely includes being a part of the community, and supporting the people around us as much as possible. It means making sure our staff, our volunteers, and our customers are being taken care of to the best of our ability. It means having safe places to just be, without requiring costs to participate in the community.
Pricing:
- Paperback books are usually $3-10
- Hardcover books are usually $7-12
- Sales tax is included
Contact Info:
- Website: https://TCBdelray.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/tcbdelray
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/tcbdelray
