> Congrats, Chuck.
>
> So who comes by? A hard core of regulars, or do you get drop-ins?
It's a mixture, but more tilted towards walk-ins and irregular visitors. We have one regular who buys lots of books and magazines, including the Monthly Review (which AK has stopped sending us for some reason).
Our new space has a storefront, so we are more visible from the street. The street we are located on has more foot traffic, but most of the storefronts on our block and nearby blocks are empty. There has been a recent resurgence of new galleries, businesses and storefront churches, but the block hasn't returned to the retail activity level of the 1990s.
There are several homeless programs in the neighborhood, including a nearby Catholic Worker house. We get lots of homeless visitors who ask about books and ask for change for the bus.
One disappointment has been a lack of visits and support from the local progressive community. I don't know if this is due racist fears about our neighborhood or our project being typecast as "the anarchist bookstore." Some local progressives are big supporters of the project, but many others have been curiously absent.
We do carry a wide range of books and magazines. We even have conservative crap, which I usually price at $2 and put on the discount shelf to hopefully get rid of the stuff. ;-)
Thanks for the congrats.
Chuck