NEWS END OF WEEK 3 – POST FIRE - 19 JUNE 2020

This has been a very long week – I can hardly remember the beginning of it. Our storage room in the basement of the Beatty Building is now empty – most of the accumulation of 28 years has gone into a dumpster.

All of the books were removed on Tuesday – every book and puzzle, and toy and stationery items – everything gone.

Alan has taken down all of the condemned bookshelves, that he made and installed so long ago, and we have a crew coming in on Friday to heave them into a dumpster.

There is someone coming from a Fine Arts restoration company to take away, assess, and possibly restore, all of the furniture and vintage items that the extension on our Insurance policy for Fine Arts will apparently cover. We hope to save much of this.

On Wednesday afternoon we were told we would be issued the full amount of our contents coverage – which of course is less that it should have been, if we had realized it included all contents, not only inventory. But, by sacrificing the bookshelves we can invest in enough stock to re-build.

After the day is done on Friday the destruction part of the aftermath of the fire will be over, and we will not return to the Beatty Building except to plan what Parry Sound Books will look like there in the future. It will be a different look but we are sure that we can retain the charm and, of course, the selection of books that made our reputation.

The restoration will begin immediately and we will return to what we once were, in a new way.

In the meantime, I am working to serve customers at 41 Church Street, in a limited amount of space and limited hours. I am taking advantage of the days I am not in the “store” to plan for the future, and to keep myself well, physically and mentally, so that I can do the work that needs to be done.

We are receiving new books every day and building a selection of the books we believe you will enjoy reading this summer.

The first page of the Summer Newsletter has had a final proof and should be posted this coming week. By the end of another week we should be able to post page two, and print as usual.

Once again, and again, thank you to all of those who have shown their support in so many ways in the past weeks. It is truly what has kept us going each day, and allows us to think that there is a future for Parry Sound Books, as we plan to re-open in the Beatty Building when that time comes.

Thank You! Charlotte