The Scoop from Brad & Lissa

We’ve commented often in this space about our staff of expert booksellers, who curate an inventory of more than 60,000 books and engage customers in conversations about new titles, old favorites, and a whole range of literary tastes and preferences. They’re familiar faces to those who frequent the store. But this week we want to celebrate some unsung heroes at P&P—staff members who work behind the scenes and are equally important to the store’s operations.

Meet P&P’s “receivers.”

Downstairs in a windowless room with concrete floors (and occasional loud music) is where our crackerjack receiving team handles receiving and shipping. Led by Adam Waterreus, our receivers get a daily workout unloading boxes from delivery trucks in the morning. The boxes can number as many as 150 a day during the holiday season. Unpacking the books, the receivers enter each title into the store’s inventory system, attach price tags to each copy, and then deliver the books to the floor to be displayed and shelved.

That’s not all. They also pack up and ship books to customers and assemble the copies that need to be returned to publishers. It’s a strenuous job but one that requires great attention to detail.

Our receivers are an exceptionally creative group as well. Adam is an expert on graphic novels, writes fiction himself, and manages store maintenance and computer technology. (He also has a very mild-mannered German shepherd named Gina who occasionally patrols the floor.) Veteran receiver Leeza has a side gig at P&P authoring some of the store’s social media messages. She’s expert as well in graphic and Web design and is helping us revamp P&P’s Web site.

Frans, like Adam, is a graphic novel buff and helps with maintenance. But he’s an artist at heart: His apartment doubles as an art studio, and his work can be seen on P&P’s gift card, which shows an illustration of the storefront. Mark not only receives but also assists in buying and displaying “sidelines”—non-book items such as cards, calendars, journals, mugs, t-shirts, and other fun gifts we sell at P&P. As a self-proclaimed “shopaholic” with a background in design, Mark brings a creative and whimsical spirit to the bookselling world. Check out his humorous blurbs about new sidelines in the store’s weekly emails to customers. Last but not least, ace receiver Anders is a student of foreign policy, specifically the Middle East, and an amateur videographer, who is spearheading P&P’s new effort to videotape our author events. We’ll miss having him here full-time when he heads off to grad school in the fall.

No matter what job they’re doing, our receivers add immeasurably to the personal service that customers have come to expect at P&P, even if much of their work remains out of public view. Simply put, the store could not survive without these dedicated and enterprising staff members.

-- Brad and Lissa