SHELTERING IN PLACE
Bookstore offers free delivery
As many people begin settling into social distancing and spending more time then ever at home, reading can be the perfect escape — especially if your new favourite book can be delivered to your door for free.
Saskatoon bookstore Turning the Tide is doing just that, offering free delivery on any order in the city while residents are self-isolating or social distancing. The company also hopes to expand free delivery service to Regina residents soon.
“We know people are going to be looking for books to keep them occupied during the shutdown,” said Turning the Tide owner Peter Garden. “There is nothing stopping us from getting books to people and we wanted to make that cost the same as if you were to walk into the bookstore.”
With rent to pay and staff depending on wages, Garden has chosen to keep the store open for as long as possible. In-store business has dipped significantly, but he doesn’t want to encourage people to go out — even in the name of great literature — so he figured a free delivery option would be a smart way to balance the needs of the community with the demands of running a business, he said.
He noted he’s lucky to own a business that can use creative options, like free delivery, to keep revenue flowing, when many other businesses that are already operating under razor-thin margins don’t have that same ability.
The free delivery service was announced on social media over the weekend, and it wasn’t long before orders started rolling in. Garden said he’s not expecting them to stop anytime soon.
“People are just settling in and trying to figure out their lives with all these changes, and so I’m assuming lots of folks aren’t thinking about what they are going to be reading quite yet,” he said.
For those who haven’t figured out their reading lists quite yet, Garden suggests Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson; he also says you can’t go wrong with cookbooks, gardening books or anything else on CBC’S Canada Reads list.
So far people seem happy with the service — he is regularly greeted with smiles and has received numerous compliments online and in-person, he said. In the end, he’s just happy to help.
“Let’s do whatever we can to look out for each other in the community,” Garden said.
“There’s lots of vulnerable folks who may not be visible to everyone, so let’s try to take care of one another and not leave anyone behind.”
Customers can shop the online webstore at turning.ca or place orders over the phone at 306-9553070.