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Small Canby bookstore survives two-month closure thanks to creative idea

The Book Nook is selling a 'Boredom Buster Bundle,' a mixed surprise of books delivered for free.

CANBY, Ore — Hidden at the corner of 2nd and Grant Street in downtown Canby you’ll find The Book Nook. The locally owned independent book store offers used and new books as well as gifts from local artists.

Like many other businesses, owner Megan Waterman closed in March for an undetermined amount of time because of the coronavirus outbreak.

"When we first shut down, it was a little bit of a shock,” Waterman explained. “The idea of all the hard work we put in for two and a half years being wiped out was scary.”

Waterman wasn’t ready close the chapter on her business, so she came up with an idea adults and kids stuck at home could enjoy: The Boredom Buster Bundle.

The idea is simple - you go on The Book Nook website, answer a few questions about your interests, then Waterman shops around her store for three to four books just for you. Then the items are delivered for free to your door.

Customer Kayla DeShazer is a mother of four, and loved the books Waterman hand-picked for her kids.

“My daughter loves unicorns, so she picked a book for unicorns and that’s not something that she would typically pick, and she ended up loving it. So it was great that we could get that experience and a book that we wouldn’t normally get into our hands.”

Locally, the bundles have been delivered to Canby, Aurora and Wilsonville but have also been shipped to Hawaii, Alaska and Tennessee. Waterman says The Book Nook is still managing about fifty percent of its normal revenue, "But because of the those sales and that support, we’ve been able to pay our bills so whenever it was time to reopen we were comfortable."

The book store reopened last Saturday when Clackamas County entered Phase 1 of its gradual reopening.

“I did a lot of rearranging in the store, wanted to get a feel of how the customers moved through the store, are they able to socially distance from each other?”

Boredom Buster Bundles are still an option for any book lover who can’t make it to Waterman's store in-person.

RELATED: Washington County approved for Phase 1 of reopening

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RELATED: Clackamas County reopening sees huge demand for some businesses, slower start for others

 

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