Spoke with Janet Webster jones who is the owner of sourcebooks sellers in detroit about how the shutdown how has affected her business Janet Webster jones give us an update five months into the covid pandemic. Well, we have quite a lot to say this time peter and thank you so much again for having us on cspan. You are also dear to our hearts. I look at sheila at home a lot. You have helped us really improve our business by the things you do. We have really had to have an experience of backandforth, open close, up and down that is been happening with everybody across the country. Because we take little step forward and then we have to back up a little bit. And i think that is the mode of the day as they would say. And so when we shut down we pivoted right away to online sales. But it took a little while for that to happen. So we quickly moved ourselves to online sales and began to sell through the online website. In addition to that we also have added, people have added phone calls, emails, instagram, and facebook requests as well which was really a big surprise for u us. And allison has really managed all of the online sales which means that we are sending out books from the store directly to people. Then we kind of move towards having people pick up at the door because the governor did lift some of our restrictions. And allowed for curbside we called door pickup because our curb is full of bicycles and cars and people. We dont want have anything out on the curb. So we called door pickup. So with that we are able to take and people by of their credit card or if they wish to pick up from the online sales we do tha that. Its really caused a different kind of complication in the way we do business. Its exciting because relearning something every day. That is kind of whats happening between. And thats your daughter the coowner Allison Jones turner who is now joined us. Allison what is been your experience since we talked to last in may we have been grateful the publishers view Virtual Events and participation for Virtual Events that its really helped our sales. Guest the American Booksellers Association and our regional association, great lakes independent Book Association has had regular zoom meetings or activities where all of us talk to each other across the squares as i say. And we are finding that many of us are experiencing the same things even though it may vary a little bit from store to store and from place to place. And that has been very helpful. And i think very encouraging. Annan lighting for all of us. I think even though we have been separated by distance live really connected to each other through the work that we do. Do the ideas we have into the customers we share im grateful to the independent books association. Host you been able to reopen your door shook . Guest we did for men and then we did and prayed that we did to get in that we didnt. We havent flung them white open to the public. Because i am scared. Im a little afraid. We have come to as we progress through the summer is that i knew we have many people coming in from the south. From the southern part of the United States during this time of year. First of all because the climate. Second of all because of family over the years people have often come to family reunions and all of that. I felt really uncomfortable about being to open. And now we are finding upticks in cases in michigan as well. Not to the degree is in the south. But i thought well we would just have to have short pickup hours on the weekend. And kind of keep our doors closed. And people pick up we do welcome them to browse around if theyd like. Theyre very good about that we have our masks and our sanitation station right at the door. We are really learning as we go on taking baby steps and looking to see how this door responds and our customers respond. Janet and allison we talk to you last on may 5. That was prior to the killing of george floyd in minneapolis. The how did that affect you . That affected us in different ways. We have a lot of compassion for the family and for our community in particular that resists Police Italian police violence. And so when the marchers came by our store, we cheered them on we also, i think in all of the ways that we could offer information to those who are interested in learning about prison abolition, the role of the police, and just all of those issues. We also were able to benefit really from the fact that we have primarily Nonfiction Book store. And we have had copies of all of those but i called the big five books that got very popular all the sudden. Until we were able to sell quite a few books to people and people call dennis to see if we actually had some of the books they were taking on such a life of their own after that happene happened. We also said we had contact with other booksellers so our hearts were going out to the bookstores right there in minneapolis. That kind of community sensitivity has not only come to us here in detroit but also across the country. Have you worried that you might have to close down it all, janet . I dont even go there. [laughter] i really dont. When it first happened i knew instinctively that we would not close. And the instinct told me that if we close you have to work hard to reopen. So i did not want to do that. And unfortunately we are positioned wellin the community as well as from the business side to create an online business. Which has really carried a spirit in addition to what we are also part of the Neighborhood Organization called midtown detroit inc. They really helped us find grants and funds to help us get our legs studied up again. Because it was a shock initially. Juju close because of fear of building . L because of the covid pandemic. Just starting in march with the pandemic was at its worst here all retail was closed. So we didnt have a choice. Have been teetering with the reopening part for our doors. We had to close with everyone else. Specs so whats happened is her online sales, our phone calls which we get all the time from our wonderful customers and people that we dont know that here about us in one way or another. I think i have to say this quite a uptick in interest in books by black authors or books about the whole issue of race and racism in the country, we just got the wonderful new book today by isabel wilkerson. So this idea is really coming into fruition for people her wedding to know i didnt know this will a lot of us didnt know things. But the pandemic has caused us to pause, to wait a minute, to think and to begin to respond to new and different ways. So consider closing in that way. But we have changed a great deal in terms of how we do business and how the Business Needs to be done during this time. Host as a Small Business that you accept any stimulus from the federal government they were offered to the Small Business administration . Guest yes we toyed with that for a minute but i could never get my arms around the use of the ppp. The protection plan. I try to couple times but really did not get through. Finally came to me and i said this really is not for us. In the meantime i start a couple applications but they got bundled up or something. and now, i dont want this to be real Common Knowledge but we did get money from a Charitable Organization and i was able to get back some of it because i know we been able to move along pretty well through now. I dont know how long it will last, i dont know if this online fail will be calm the way people do for a long time but for the moment, we were able to get back some of that. I felt good about that because i know there are other stores struggling in a new and different way Allison Jones turneonnes tur you know about Online Retail and have you been shipping across the u. S. . We been blessed with orders all over the country and learning about shipping and handling and even some canadian bills because we are very close to canada. Canada is south of us. We depend so much on alyson because shes quick at it. It really has made a big difference as to how we do business with people. Someone said to me, ive had an opportunity to have several radio and Television Interviews and one of the reports said, janet likes to talk to people at the store, now shes transferred to the phones. Im the phone answer. The upfront person to answer the phone and take those orders. I tried to be as considerate about people on the phone, many times they are rushing and sometimes feeling frightful and afraid. This gives me a chance to calm them down and say, lets see what this book will do. Weve done a lot of our Community Work really by telephone. As you know, Janet Webster jones, i met you a few times and never known you to be shy. Back that was my younger years. [laughter] if people are interested in contacting you, whats the best way . I think the best way is on source booksellers. Com you can communicate with us to our email or if you are looking to purchase a book to booksellers online and our social media we are short booksellers on facebook and instagram and twitter we are source ck a Janet Webster jones, when did you open your store . We began selling books in november 1988 but i count the year as 1989. We been in business for 30 years now and weve had several different ways of doing the business. This one has made a course way of doing business in the book industry. We started this vendor is going to where people had events and then we were in the collective of womenowned businesses and shared space and we came here to our book and water that was just up and now we are in the online business. Its challenging to grow in new and different ways and i appreciate it. Mother and daughter, owners of source booksellers, Janet Webster jones and alyson allisonjones turner. Thank you so much. Goodbye. Booktv recently spoke with republican senator joni ernst of iowa about her life and career. Heres a portion of the interview. I grew up in southwest iowa in a very rural part of the state and the perseverance, dedication, the hard work that my parents taught me really has carried me through so many different challenges in my lifetime, opportunities in my lifetime and i wanted to tell a story that could be uplifting certainly. People will face challenges throughout their lifetime but we all should understand that those challenges dont necessarily have to define us. You can watch the rest of her interview by visiting our website booktv. Org and searching her name in the box at the top of the page. Hi everyone, im sarah mathers, publishing manager at abid like to welcome yo