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One of the Okanagan's largest independent bookstores, Mosaic Books, has joined a North American push to support local and take a shot at one of the biggest businesses on the planet at the same time.
New signs in the Mosaic bookstore display windows along Bernard Avenue in Kelowna show signs with slogans like "buy books from people who want to sell books, not colonize the moon," and "don't box us out."
The signs are part of the #BoxedOut campaign that started in the fall of 2020 by the American Booksellers Association. The campaign is designed to market indie bookstores and speak to the critical choice between shopping indie and shopping Amazon.
Mosaic bookstore manager Alicia Neill says they are also members (because there is no Canadian equivalent) Saturday was Canadian Independent Bookstore Day.
"We thought it was something that worked perfectly for our brand. So we wanted to put it out there and make a statement," says Neill.
It looks like the signs resonated with at least some people.
Tim Hiltz tells Castanet that he and his husband walk by the store almost every day and they agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment of the signs.
"It's a very simple display but it's very telling. We support them," Hiltz says.
Neill says, "we thought it was something that worked perfectly for our brand so we wanted to put it out there and make a statement. A funny one at least."
Neill says Mosaic Books has actually weathered the pandemic quite well, "we're actually in a very lucky situation. We've seen increases over the past year."
The case for other bookstores is not so positive, The Bookstore in Penticton says this past year has seen a "devastating lack of sales" as COVID-19 travel restrictions limit their customer base.
Neill says the store plans to keep the display ads up in the front windows for the rest of the week at least, "I don't think anybody has (an issue) with us making fun of a trillion-dollar company. I'm not worried about backlash."
