Happy new year, y'all! 2018 was a year of big change for Foggy Pine Books and we couldn't have done it without your support--from painting walls and helping move to the new location to shopping with us all year long and sharing our store with friends, family, even strangers. We are deeply grateful, as well, to the other businesses & non-profits who supported and worked with us this past year: Hatchet Coffee, Out of Your Mind, SAGA, and more. This community of giving, creative, thoughtful book lovers is precisely what we'd hoped to foster in Boone. Thank you for everything. Now, keep reading to find out what 2019 will bring and how you can be involved!

Are self improvement books not your style but you resolved to read more in 2019? Check out the "Best of 2018" list that our booksellers made for you! We had Mary & Saide list their favorite books that were released in 2018 & then compiled them on out website for you to browse. You can also check out the "Staff Picks" section in the bookstore which is on the bestseller shelf.

​If you like to pick out your own books but would like to challenge yourself to read outside the box, consider doing the Foggy Pine Reading Challenge! Our booksellers created this challenge to help our community read things they might not read otherwise. If you decide to do this challenge and complete it, bring us your filled out challenge list to get a FREE book! Check out the webpage for details. 

Moving on to store announcements--we do have a few updates about our event schedule. First, the Young Adult Book Club is currently on hiatus. It didn't get a lot of interest or engagement last year so we're taking a break this winter to develop an excellent reading list and a marketing strategy that will bring this group to the members of our community who need it most.

In addition to this hiatus, the Foggy Pine Storytime is also on hold indefinitely. We spent a lot of time picking stories and creating activities for kids but the event rarely brought anyone in. We tried moving the days & times but there was no change. We still do the Playhouse Storytime on the first Wednesday of every month at 11am, however, and will be considering a renewal of the Foggy Pine Storytime later this year.

​Finally, we are also putting a hold on the Swap Shop that we partner with Noble Kava to bring to the community. The Swap Shop generated a lot of interest but we're taking a break during the winter to catalog all the items, make donations to local charities, and get ready to come back this spring--just in time for spring cleaning!

Not everything is leaving our even calendar though. We still have the Foggy Pine and Hatchet Coffee Book Clubs, the Foggy Minds Open Mic that we partner with Out of Your Mind to bring to you, the Watauga Witches community group, and all the awesome literary events we host throughout the year, like--TRIO, the Queer Arts Series, Indie Bookstore Day, Banned Books Week, and more! We're also excited to offer new programs this year. We are currently developing a book subscription service and a book club discount program. The most current news about these developments will come through our newsletter, which offers, in addition to exclusive news, the first announcements of sales and a coupon for our readers. You can sign up for it here, but we'll also make announcements on our social media pages: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, as well as this blog.

Lastly, we just have some reminders for you. Don't forget while you're Kon Mari-ing your house and getting rid of all your books that Foggy Pine Books will be happy to take them off your hands! Read up about our used book program here, then call us to make an appointment for your book collection. You'll get credit for other used books in the store so you can keep reading without investing a lot of money or space in your newly organized home!

​Or maybe you didn't use the Kon Mari method but you're still supposed to host your book club meeting this month? Don't worry, we have you covered there too! Rent out our conference room to get a clean, cozy space for up to 12 people to meet. We have store parking, a comfy couch to sit on, a table to work at, and coffee available to all. If your meeting is during business hours, you can make your appointment online here. If you would like to meet outside of business hours, give us a call and we'll make the arrangements together. If you have any questions about the rental space or would like to check view it, please reach out to speak with Saide or Mary.

That's it for all our biggest updates at the beginning of 2019. We'll be posting on this blog several times throughout the year but the best way to get news about Foggy Pine Books is to sign up for the newsletter. If you sign up before the end of January, we will email you a special coupon to use on your next purchase!

Thank you again, Boone! We look forward to seeing you at our events this year and can't wait to see what great tings 2019 brings for us.

Happy New Year! You know what a new year means, right? Awesome new books! There are some books coming out in January that we're very excited about. I'll tell you more about them in another post this week. If you haven't checked out our reviews section, stay tuned for updates on books you won't want to miss! First though, I have updates about the bookstore!

Right now, we are hosting Noble Kava at the bookstore until they are able to move into their new location at Winkler Square. They will be running a booth in the store every day and will have kava, kratom brewskis & bulk, and kava candy/chocolate available for purchase. They are able to accept both cash and credit cards for purchases. The only thing we ask of Noble Kava patrons is that they please be respectful of the bookstore space. This is a drop-in booth and we do not have the space for people to hang out and socialize. Please be concious of the waste that you create and be sure to throw away empties or take with you any product that you've purchased. We also do not allow vaping inside the bookstore so please refrain from using your vape while purchasing product. If you are a bookstore patron and have never tried kava or kratom, feel free to talk to the staff member manning the booth. They will be happy to help you out in any way that they can. 

I also want to talk about the new book club program that we are offering. We have already posted about it in the book club section of the site but we want to make sure as many people know about this offer as possible. Foggy Pine book club members already receive 15% off our book club books. We would love to extend that offer to other local book clubs. All we need is a book list and the number of members in your club. We know that not everyone will purchase their book from us but we will keep a few books in stock for those members that do decide to shop local and support their communities. So, send a representative in or email Mary at foggypinebooks@gmail.com to start saving money on your book club's selections! If you are a member of the Foggy Pine book club, please click the book club link to RSVP for this month's meeting on Saturday, January 21st at 7:30pm. 

Finally, I want to tell you about the start-of-the-year sale we're having! During the month of January, we will be offering a 15% discount on all self-improvement books. Anything in that genre we don't have, we'll be happy to order for you for the same discount.

That's all for today, friends! We hope to see you in the store sometime soon and look forward to braving this new year with our loyal customers. Stay tuned this week for more info about the best books coming out in January!