Learned Owl Saves my Sanity – AGAIN

If you are a parent, you’ll be able to relate.

“Mom, did I tell you I need to bring a copy of Treasure Island to school tomorrow?” 

Okay, let me set the stage.  It is snowing in blizzard proportions, it is 6pm on President’s Day and we’ve had all weekend to shop for the book.  NOW she tells me?  I was just starting supper.  I was thinking about a glass of wine and maybe a fire in the fireplace.  NOW? 

I start by scouring the shelves of books we have and realize that the copy I am SURE WE HAVE SOMEWHERE can’t be found.  So I call the local bookstore, The Learned Owl.  As the phone is ringing, I tell my daughter – it is after 6pm on a holiday – they aren’t open.

“Good evening, thank you for calling the Learned Owl.”

YOU ARE OPEN???  Do you have Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson? 

“For Mr. Standley’s 7th grade English class?  Yes we do.  We’ll be here until 8pm.”

Now I wish I could say that this is the first time this has happened, but sadly – it is apparently the only way both of my children operate because I’ve lived this same event at least 10 times in the last six years.  And EVERY SINGLE TIME The Learned Owl has been there for me. 

They partner with the teachers in our school system and have all of the books at great prices.  Sure they are small.  Perhaps they don’t have all of the books you’ll find at the mega-book stores.  They don’t sell coffee and you won’t find a guitar player performing on a Friday night. 

But they serve their community BEAUTIFULLY. 

Not only do they partner with the English teachers to stock the latest required reading, they also work with the music/drama department and carry tickets to all of the school events at a pre-order rate.  They sponsor book signings for local authors as well as nationally acclaimed authors. 

They are first in line for community actitives to lead, sponsor and/or participate.  Our town boasted the biggest Harry Potter celebrations thanks to Liz Murphy, the owner of the Learned Owl and her leadership of bringing together all of the other local businesses to make it a town event.

In this economy, so many small businesses are saying they can’t compete with the big box stores or Wal-Mart and yet here is a local shop that serves its community brilliantly.

Thanks to the Learned Owl – it was just a short 20 minutes before I was back to my dinner and glass of wine and my daughter had a brand new copy of Treasure Island in her backpack!

Do you serve your local community as well?  So often we try to reach the global community (be bigger than our britches, my grandma would say) when we can do so much more within our own backyard.