I started off by sitting in on the Teen Advisory Board meeting. The Teen Advisory Board is a group of around ten teens that meet with two staff members of Changing Hands to talk about things they want to change about or introduce to the teen section of the store. The meeting I sat in on was actually the group's first meeting, so I got to listen in as they discussed making various displays highlighting local authors, incorporating a graphic novel section in the teen section so that they are more accessible to teens, and having two meetings a month rather than just one so that they can also make the group a book club. It was really cool to see all of these teens who had such a strong love of books; much of the meeting was spent talking about books they loved and just nerding out in general.
Next, I helped set up an event for Frank Beddor's first book in a prequel series to The Looking Glass Wars, which is a series targeted towards teens. The setup that Phoenix is able to do for events is extremely different from the setup Tempe can do. Since the Phoenix store has access to the Commons for events, they have a designated event space that doesn't require them to rearrange shelves in the store (which is what happens in Tempe). The Commons also allows for more creativity with even setup. For instance, for the Frank Beddor event, the space was set up with rectangular tables with tablecloths, top hat centerpieces, and table confetti that went with the theme of the book. Additionally, during the event, there was a magician doing tricks and even a ballet performance by a local company! The event space in the Phoenix store is extremely unique, which is something that I think helps Changing Hands get that competitive edge against other venues that might be vouching for authors.
Over the next few days, I spent a lot of my time interacting with customers, both in store and on the phone. I was able to overcome my initial borderline-crippling fear of answering the phone and was able to answer questions with more ease, not afraid to put someone on hold to ask a manager or another employee for help. I got really good at putting books on hold in the system, which is something that people asked about a lot. Other than that, I put a good amount of time into ordering books that we didn't have in-store for people.
I also did some more section maintenance. This time, I worked on the science, social issues & politics, social issues & economics, and teen sections. The science section in particular was a lot of fun to work on because the entire top shelf is dedicated to display, so I got to choose from all of the books in the section to put up there! All of the science books have gorgeous covers, but I think I was especially partial to the books about space.
Some of the things I do at Changing Hands are a little less glamorous than most of the things I talk about. For instance, the other day I was given the task of going down to the basement to shred things until the shredder overheated. After two shredding sessions, I was able to tackle all of the bags, which was extremely satisfying. Another thing I did was stamp paper shopping bags with the Changing Hands and First Draft Book Bar logos.
This may seem like just another tedious task, but it's really good free advertising for Changing Hands. And, on top of that, it adds just another personal touch to the shopping experience.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was another eventful week at Changing Hands! Next week is my last week at the store as well as the last week of my Senior Project, so I just wanted to take this time to thank everyone who has taken the time to read my posts every week. Next week I will be sharing a link to my final presentation slides, but until then, happy reading!
Over the next few days, I spent a lot of my time interacting with customers, both in store and on the phone. I was able to overcome my initial borderline-crippling fear of answering the phone and was able to answer questions with more ease, not afraid to put someone on hold to ask a manager or another employee for help. I got really good at putting books on hold in the system, which is something that people asked about a lot. Other than that, I put a good amount of time into ordering books that we didn't have in-store for people.
I also did some more section maintenance. This time, I worked on the science, social issues & politics, social issues & economics, and teen sections. The science section in particular was a lot of fun to work on because the entire top shelf is dedicated to display, so I got to choose from all of the books in the section to put up there! All of the science books have gorgeous covers, but I think I was especially partial to the books about space.
Some of the things I do at Changing Hands are a little less glamorous than most of the things I talk about. For instance, the other day I was given the task of going down to the basement to shred things until the shredder overheated. After two shredding sessions, I was able to tackle all of the bags, which was extremely satisfying. Another thing I did was stamp paper shopping bags with the Changing Hands and First Draft Book Bar logos.
This may seem like just another tedious task, but it's really good free advertising for Changing Hands. And, on top of that, it adds just another personal touch to the shopping experience.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was another eventful week at Changing Hands! Next week is my last week at the store as well as the last week of my Senior Project, so I just wanted to take this time to thank everyone who has taken the time to read my posts every week. Next week I will be sharing a link to my final presentation slides, but until then, happy reading!
No comments:
Post a Comment