It's been two weeks since we last sent a newsletter, and that seems like forever, in pandemic-time.  Like many other NH retailers, we are closed to the public until May 4, at least. We've been doing tremendous volume in online and phone orders, shipping and doing curbside pick-up. We are so grateful for the support this shows from the community.  Your support means that we can keep our people employed and here with us when we get to the other side. And we will get to the other side of this.

We've been doing curbside pick-up, but will phase out this service after this weekend. The reason? We know many of you want to put together gift baskets for Easter, but there are not any urgent gift occasions after that. (Passover will continue next week, until Thursday, so we will make exceptions as necessary.) The pandemic in New Hampshire is projected to peak in the next few weeks, so it's vitally important that everyone stay home and not gather in public. We'll continue our shipping program. We've gotten out over 1,000 orders in the last few weeks, and we're becoming pretty efficient at it.  Order from us today!  Here's our website: www.gibsonsbookstore.com.

Please note: around the country, publisher and distributor warehouses have instituted new procedures to keep their workers safe. This necessarily means that deliveries are slower than we are used to. We urge everyone to put aside all notions of immediate gratification and accept the idea that good things are worth waiting for.  Remember, getting a package a day or two late might mean a life was saved. I don't know how else to say it.  This is true for books and everything else.

We will resume curbside service as an intermediate phase when the crisis seems to be abating. Stay tuned.

If you can't think of a book to buy, try our gift cards, also available as online only gift codes. They'll still be good when this crisis is over. We need your continuing support.

Here is an updated version of our earlier statement of operations:

We want you to know what we are doing during this developing crisis. The health and safety of the public and of our booksellers is of primary importance.We're following the dictates and advice of responsible medical and state authorities.

1) We have reduced our hours. Gibson's will be closed to the public, but open for phone and online inquiries, Tues-Sat., 10 AM-4 PM.  Curbside pickups continue this week during those hours, and will continue next week if that was how you placed your order. But starting next week (April 12), new orders will be ship-only.

2) All of our public events, including book club meetings, have been cancelled or postponed, through events scheduled in April. We'll be assessing later events as we move closer to them--we're in close contact with those writers and publishers now.

3) Some of our events will occur online! We're working to host our David Allen Sibley event on the web, for instance. Please watch for details, either via newsletter or Facebook.

4) We encourage everyone to shop our inventory from home, via our website (www.gibsonsbookstore.com), or just email or call to ask what we have in stock, or could order for you.  We offer 99 cent shipping on all orders over $10. Just call 603-224-0562 or email gibsons@gibsonsbookstore.com to arrange any of these services. 

5) Please note, though we are happy to offer 99-cent shipping through this crisis, that's us subsidizing the shipping, at a loss. If you can afford it, we encourage you to choose "media mail" ($3.50 for the first book, 50 cents for each additional book) when you check out.

6) Call us for recommendations! Our non-book inventory is not generally featured on our website, but we have one of the best collections of toys and games in the area. Call us up to talk it over!

7) We also encourage everyone to buy our gift cards (which are also available as online gift codes).  These are essentially IOUs that we will satisfy when things get back to normal, but for now they provide essential cashflow for when we need it the most.  Again--support local businesses!

Let's all stay smart, stay safe, and stay healthy. We can get through this if we all work responsibly together!

--Michael Herrmann and all your friends at Gibson's Bookstore