Ellwood Thompson’s Blog

Chop Suey Books is announcing our 6th Annual Month of Independents,a 31 day sale organized to support local and independently owned bookstores.The idea is simple: customers who bring in a receipt dated in the month of Julyfrom one of the bookstores listed below will get a 20% discount on used booksat Chop Suey. If you bring in receipts from 3 of the listed stores, you will receivea 30% discount! The only requirement is that you spend at least $10 atthe other store.This sale is designed for us to send our customers to their “competitors,” an ideathat seems to run counter to a capitalist business model. On the contrary, we seethis incentive to shop other businesses as something that will support Chop SueyBooks and the Richmond reading community in the long run. First, it will ensurethat our customers are rewarded for continuing to support small, independentbusinesses instead of heading to the big, faceless box stores. In turn, we hopethat this strengthens Richmond’s identity as a town with great bookstores whoencourage not only literacy, but a diversity of reading tastes.Chop Suey Books is proud of being a for-profit bookstore who’s business modelis decidedly not focused on profit. Not only do they encourage our customers to shopat our “competitors” shops, but we are integrally involved in Books On Wheels, anon-profit that gives away free books and fixes bikes for no charge. As such, ourcommitment to the community is our driving principle, and in turn, it is only throughthe support of Richmond residents and our loyal customers that we continue to existas a store. Shop at one of these great stores, and bring them the receipt!Aquarian Bookshop, Black Swan Books, Book People, The Book Room, Carytown Books, Creatures & Crooks, Ex Libris Books, Fountain Books, Midlothian Book Exchange, Narnia, Owens & Ramsey, Phoenix Rising, Richmond Book Shop, Stories, Velocity Comics, Whitings Old Paper.