Susan Allen
(3/15) Eleven-year-olds Eliza Schmidt of
Fairfield and Rose Mercandetti of Emmitsburg are probably the youngest business
managers in town. Together they operate The Book Nook, a small used bookstore
located inside the Emmitsburg Library, on behalf of the Friends of the
Emmitsburg Library. They volunteered to take over its management in late fall
of 2006, and part of the project is “to allow the girls to learn how to run a
business,” says Eliza’s father, Brett Schmidt. Each girl is home-schooled and
uses the library’s resources for her studies.
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Rose Mercandetti and Eliza Schmidt, both of Emmitsburg, run The Book Nook for
the Friends of the Emmitsburg Library. The homeschooled girls run all aspects
of the operation from pricing to inventory to advertising |
One of the girls’ first tasks was to name
the bookstore and establish its “brand.” Eliza created the double-owl logo (the
owls’ eyes form the “o’s” in Book Nook) using Corel Draw 12 computer software.
She and Rose painted it, and supervised mounting the sign on the center wall of
the bookstore alcove. They use the same owl motif on bookmarks that advertise
membership in the Friends organization and give information about the
bookstore. They also painted arrows that point library patrons to the store and
draw attention to free materials inside.
Organizing the merchandise was a big job.
“It took us all day the first day we started,” according to Rose, “trying to
straighten everything out,” but now they spend just a couple of hours each week
putting their shelves in order. Nearly everything in the store has been donated
to the library. After the library staff selects out items suitable for their
collection, the leftovers are consigned to Mercandetti and Schmidt. They set
the prices, which range from ten cents to two dollars. Their inventory includes
books and magazines, films in both VHS and DVD format, and music cassettes and
CDs.
Some of the items they sell are
“de-accessed” or duplicates from the library’s holdings. Those are shelved
separately and proceeds from their sale are returned to the central library.
The bookstore is self-service, and actual sales are handled by the library
staff. The librarians enjoy the young entrepreneurs’ enthusiasm and the posters
and seasonal decorations they add to the Book Nook’s décor. They have also seen
sales increase since the girls took over management of the store.
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