This is a tale about Powell's Books, and how I went from a curious supporter to a lifelong fan of a terrific independent book store in Portland, Oregon.
I've heard about Powell's for many years. In almost every conversation I have with a friend or acquaintance about Portland, they say, "Have you been to Powell's?!?" before describing the store's grandeur. Many of my touring musician friends tell me it's a required stop for them any time they roll through Portland. Being a book lover myself, I've always wanted to go to see what the fuss is about.
Knowing I don't have any trips to Portland planned any time soon, I figured I could satisfy my curiosity in the meantime by joining Powell's subscription club a few months ago through Powells.com. I got my second shipment last week and wrote a blog post about it, complete with photos of each item that came in the subscription box.
Among the comments to that post was a note from Beth, offering to send me some "thank you swag". Firstly, all bloggers love to get comments, especially positive comments. But to be contacted by the person/company you're writing about is pretty incredible. This has happened to me a few times over the years I've been blogging, and it's always a great feeling.
In our email conversation, Beth referred to parts of my post (proving she actually read it!) and asked me specifically what goodies I might want from the Powell's souvenir shop. I even saw that Brockman over at the Powell's blog had linked to my post.
And today I got my Powell's swag in the mail!
I can't wait to fill up this travel mug with Blue Bottle coffee.
My phone insists on making the back of the shirt look purple, which it is not. It's brown and yellow, actually, like the photo above.
I will wear/sip from my Powell's swag with pride, and will always have my little story to tell about them. I applaud Powell's for speaking to me, just one of their many customers, in a friendly, personable way and taking the extra steps to do something nice for me. Plus, any company or person who treats bloggers well is one of the good guys in my book. They have a new fan for life.
Even if you don't live in Portland, Oregon, Powells.com will take care of all your bookish needs!
Let's get meta:
- My post about Powell's Indiespensable book subscription club.
- Powell's blog post about my blog post.
- And now, today I post about the whole story and Twitter it.
- You can follow Powell's on Twitter.
- Finally, anyone who knows what I do for a living will understand just how meta this all is.