Chapter Eleven: New Week, New Store (New Me?)

This week I had my first day at the Phoenix store! I was a bit nervous going into it, but I ended up having a really great day!

When I first walked into the store, I was relieved to see some familiar faces. Brandi, Camilla, and Daniel were working at the Phoenix location today. A lot of the employees at the Tempe location actually also spend some time in the Phoenix store. They help transfer stock between stores and overall just help the much newer Phoenix store run smoothly.

I started off by getting a tour of the store from the manager, Elisa. The only way I can really describe the Phoenix store to someone who has never seen it is that it is a modern bite-sized version of the Tempe store. Also, while the Tempe store is attached to Wildflower Bread Company, the Phoenix store sports First Draft Book Bar, which serves alcohol, coffee, tea, and other light refreshments. Customers can even shop around the store while drinking their beverage from the bar! 

Sorry for the low-quality picture. I couldn't get the lighting right
but still wanted to share this awesome sign!!

Another exciting aspect of the Phoenix store is that the offices and break room are located in the basement, affectionately nicknamed the bat cave, which has the oddly satisfying feeling of a bunker.

After touring the store itself, Elisa showed me The Newton itself, which is the center that the store is located in. Right off the bar is the community room where Changing Hands holds its events. However, the space is not exclusive to Changing Hands and can be rented out for private events, something that I hadn't realized before. There meeting rooms down the hall that can also be rented out. Changing Hands also shares the complex with Southern Rail Restaurant, Southwest Gardener, and a consulting company. It was really cool to see how the center was a sort of haven for small business, something that I though reflected the spirit of Changing Hands.

After my tour was completed, Elisa and I went back up to front info, where I helped answer a phone call! This was pretty nerve-wracking for me since I felt like I wasn't knowledgeable enough to help customers, but I was able to put a book on hold for the customer, which made me feel very accomplished.

Although I never encountered them much in Tempe, Changing Hands does have some regulars. One of the Phoenix regulars actually emails Elisa with a list of books to be ordered for her, some of which don't come out for a few more months. I helped write out order slips for her latest list and placed a book that we actually had in stock on hold for her. It's pretty amazing to see the kind of customer loyalty that Changing Hands has.

Next I went down into the "bat cave" with Heather to shadow her while she makes a list of event books to order for the month of June using information in the event calendar. For signings, she not only adds the authors newest book to the list, but also other recent and/or popular books by the author. Once finished, this list will be used to place the book orders themselves.

After doing a bit or shelving, which was a bit difficult because I'm not yet completely familiar with the store, I actually did some section maintenance for the World Religions section. There's a bunch of different subsections packed in there, but overall it wasn't too difficult.

Finally, I helped Daniel out by labeling some cards. This may not seem very exciting, but I got to use the fancy price gun, which made me feel pretty awesome and official.

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I had a really great first day at Changing Hands in Phoenix! I can't wait to get to know it better! I have two more weeks of my project to go, but for now, happy reading!