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Category: news
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QuimBrew Available For Pre-order!!!
Pre-order QuimBrew by Marz Community Brewing & Quimby’s Bookstore with an awesome label by the amazing Chicago artist Laura Park. Order it from The Beer Temple, and your shipment will come with the Quimby’s oral history zine!
It’s the 25th anniversary of Quimby’s Bookstore, and Marz Community Brewing Co made a beer to celebrate this milestone. Quimbrew is a pale wheat ale with rooibos tea packaged in 500 ML bottle with label art work designed by Laura Park.
This special edition beer is available for pre-purchase at The Beer Temple and comes with the 132 page zine: Ever Evolving Bastion of Freakdom: A Quimby’s Bookstore History in Words and Pictures.
Ever Evolving…is an oral history of the notorious and glorious Quimby’s Bookstore, in the tradition of Gillian McCain and Legs McNeil’s Please Kill Me. The story of the early days of Quimby’s up through today. Pictures, graphics, juice, from employees, shoppers, consignors and artists that have frequented the store’s hallowed doors. This special “ashcan edition” is a limited print run zine to celebrate the store’s silver jubilee, and was created to accompany the Marz Community Brewing Quimbrew beer pre-purchase.
Please note! This pre-order needs to be done at the Beer Temple website here, not at Quimby’s.
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New Stuff This Week
Signal 05 a Journal of International Political Graphics and Culture ed. by Josh MacPhee (PM Press) $14.95 – Dedicated to documenting and sharing compelling graphics, art projects, and cultural movements of international resistance and liberation struggles.
My Damage: The Story of A Punk Rock Survivor by Keith Morris with Jim Ruland (Da Capo Press) $24.99 – Over the course of his forty-year career with Black Flag, the Circle Jerks, and OFF!, vocalist Keith Morris battled diabetes, drug and alcohol addiction, and the record industry…and he’s still going strong.
*ZINES*
Library Excavations #3 Periodical Business by Marc Fischer (Half Letter Press) $6.00 – From the publisher’s website, written by Marc Fischer: “The Chicago Public Library’s Harold Washington Library Center is home to a vast collection of bound business periodicals. The many shelves are filled with titles that will be foreign to industry outsiders. Some date back to the late 1800s. These are primarily publications sent directly to business executives and their company offices, or to institutional libraries, rather than newsstands. The beauty of a public library is that visitors with zero credentials can enjoy decades’ worth of these insider publications, without ever improving our work wardrobes or falsifying our credentials. This booklet is also an appreciation of the binderies that collate and sew these magazines into indestructible bound volumes. The foil stamped titles on the hard covers have a leveling effect, allowing us to consider Modern Power Systems alongside Quick Frozen Foods, as though power plants and pizza are equally important. These photos were taken in July and August 2016. I hope that they will entice others to explore these periodicals, and interrogate the value systems, ideologies, and visual pleasures they contain.”
2 Atomic Elbow thingies:
Atomic Elbow #18 by Robert Newsome $5.00
Atomic Elbow Professional Wrestling Fanzine, The Second Four Issues $10.00 – Collects issues #5-#8!Kimchi #1 by Seth Ginsburg $2.00
Pill Bottles Make Terrible Roller Skates photo zine by Clarisse Casalino $8.00
This Cook Book is Made for Jesus by Susan Cianciolo $10.00
Power Profiles vol #1 by Klon J. Waldrip $5.00
I Don’t Give A Shit About Your Star Sign by Franky Mariachi $8.00
Nightcore by Matthew Moen $6.00
Arty zines from Draw Down Books!
Lady Parts by Kristen Liu-Wong $14.00 – A zine of fierce females and sci-fi warrior women by American artist Kristen Liu-Wong.
Face Only A Mother Could Love by Will Bryant $10.00
Working It Out by Justyna Szczepankiewicz $14.00
Dead Ringer by Daniel Zender $14.00
Who Claims by Tim Lahan $14.002 zines by Nichole:
A Visitor In Myself #5 Win 16 $2.00
Pieces #13 On Being A Romantic Asexual $3.00 – Goes into Nichole’s experience of living as a romantic asexual. A little asexuality 101, mostly focuses on growing up as a gray-a in a sexual world, navigating relationships, dating site ignorance, desexualizing touch, common phrases of invalidation, and using self-transformative psychodrama to process it all. Recommended.*COMICS & MINIS*
Donald Trump is the Antichrist by CJ & Troy Davis $3.50 – Jack Chick style! Perhaps the best way to describe this is the review of it on the publisher’s website from um, cultural critic spectral_ev who comments: “I have read many a Chick Tract but none so great as this.” You don’t need to know much more than that, that it’s awesome. -LM
New Flyer by Tim Brown $9.00
Island #10 $7.99
*GRAPHIC NOVELS*
Koyama Press graphic novels!:
Hot or Not: 20th-Century Male Artists by Jessica Campbell $10.00 – The history of twentieth-century art is filled with men, but one key component has always been missing: which of these men are boneable, and which are not. Local comics artist Jessica Campbell has created the definitive resource on the subject in this hilarious rundown of male artist hotness and notness. With scratchy-off stuff on the cover!
The Collected Cat Rackham by Steve Wolfhard $19.95
Exits by Daryl Seitchik $15.00March (Trilogy Slipcase Set) by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin & Nate Powell (Top Shelf) $49.99 – By and about congressman John Lewis, a leader in the American Civil Rights Movement.
Sprawling Heart by Sab Meynert (2D Cloud) $9.95
*ART & DESIGN BOOKS*
Cleon Peterson by Christopher Sleboda and Kathleen Sleboda (Draw Down Books) $24.95 – Compellingly gory beheading and riots in this first monograph from this artist.
Avies Dream: An Afro Femenist Coloring Book by Makeda Lewis (Feminist Press) $13.95
*MUSIC BOOKS*
Don’t Suck Don’t Die: Giving Up Vic Chesnutt by Kristin Hersh (U of Texas Press) $14.95 – A quadriplegic who could play only simple chords on his guitar, Chesnutt recorded seventeen critically acclaimed albums before his death in 2009. Everybody from Madonna to Fugazi have covered his songs. Kristin Hersh from Throwing Muses writes about being friends with him. Now in soft cover.
David Bowie and Philosophy: Rebel, Rebel by Theodore Ammon (Open Court) $19.95 – Among the topics explored in David Bowie and Philosophy are the nature of Bowie as an institution and a cult; Bowie’s work in many platforms, including movies and TV; Bowie’s spanning of low and high art; his relation to Andy Warhol; the influence of Buddhism and Kabuki theater; the recurring theme of Bowie as a space alien; the dystopian element in Bowie’s thinking; the role of fashion in Bowie’s creativity; the aesthetics of theatrical rock and glam rock; and Bowie’s public identification with bisexuality and his influence within the LGBTQ community.
*FICTION BOOKS*
Black Wave by Michelle Tea (Feminist Press) $18.95 – It’s the end of the world! In a bookstore!
Jason Stevans and the Mayan Apocalypse by Matt Goralka $10.99
*OUTER LIMITS*
Dreaming Wide Awake: Lucid Dreaming, Shamanic Healing, and Psychedelics by David Jay Brown $19.95
*MAGAZINES*
Boneshaker #43-500 A Bicycling Almanac $8.00 – Not based in Chicago, but there are Chicago-specific things in here! All old-timey and penny-farthingy. Tally ho!
School #3 Women and Japanese Culture $10.00
*LIT MAGS*
The Point #12 Sum 16 $12.00 – This issue: What is poetry for?
Black Fox Literary Magazine #14 Five Year Anniversary Issue $14.00
Parody vol 5 #1 $5.00 – The Weird Al of lit journals!
*FOR THE KIDDIES*
Burts Way Home by John Martz (Koyama Press) $17.95
Ape and Armadillo Take Over the World by James Sturm (Toon Books) $12.95
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Wicker Park & West Town Lit Fest – On & Off Site!
Quimby’s is proud to be participating in the Wicker Park and West Town Lit Fest! This year it runs September 15th-18th. And it kicks off at Quimby’s on Thurs, September 15th, which is our 25th anniversary! Founder Steven Svymbersky will be here with slides and video to talk about the mayhem that was the beginning of Quimby’s two and a half decades ago. And we’ve got surprise commemorative swag we’re rolling out! More details about the Quimby’s event here.
Lit Fest last year was only one day. Perhaps you recall that we celebrated it by giving people a free mini-comic and Chicago-based food puns then served them shots of Chicago-based Malort, demanding we post pictures on our Instagram of their face afterwards?:
Well guess what? Now Lit Fest is FOUR DAYS!
So now…
Wicker Park & West Town Lit Fest’s Second Year Celebrates Neighborhoods’ Literary Past and Present
Join partners from the West Town and Wicker Park neighborhoods for a weekend of programming that will entertain and educate all ages. The weekend has a full calendar of activities planned. Highlights of the weekend include our celebration to kick it off…
…and there’s stuff elsewhere too, besides Quimby’s! Check out this stuff elsewhere (see www.wwlitfest.com for the details of when and where):
*a tribute to Chicago literary legend Nelson Algren
*a community book swap at the Wicker Park farmer’s market
*a special edition of Chicago Story Slam at Subterranean music hall
*workshops, author readings, comic book signings, children’s story time and much more!
A calendar of events for each day is available on the official fest website www.wwlitfest.com.
Weekend updates and photos will be available on the official Facebook Page facebook.com/wpwtlitfest
Follow the fest with the hashtag #wwlitfestParticipating member’s locations:
826CHI, 1276 N Milwaukee Ave 826chi.org
BookClub, 1211 N. Wood St bookclubchicago.net
Chicago Publishers Resource Center, 858 N. Ashland Ave chiprc.org
Guild Literary Complex, guildcomplex.org
Impossible Industries, 1750 W North Ave impossibleInd.com
Myopic Books, 1564 N Milwaukee Ave myopicbookstore.com
Quimby’s Bookstore, 1854 W. North Ave quimbys.com
Volumes Bookcafe, 1474 N. Milwaukee Ave www.volumesbooks.com
Young Chicago Authors, 1180 N Milwaukee Ave youngchicagoauthors.orgLit Fest planning partners include: Quimby’s Bookstore, Volumes Bookcafe, Chicago Publishers Resource Center, Young Chicago Authors, BookClub, 826CHI, Impossible Industries, Myopic Books, and Guild Literary Complex. Other neighborhood partners include Reckless Records, Subterranean, Wicker Park Farmer’s Market, and Chicago Public Library.
Read Local & Shop Small! Help us fight the big box on-line stores!
Event flyer designed by Susie Kirkwood
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Quimby's 25th Anniversary Celebration With Founder Steven Svymbersky 9/15!
Don’t miss the Quimby’s Bookstore 25th Anniversary Event 9/15: Founder Steven Svymbersky Shares the Mayhem of Underground Press and the Beginnings of Quimby’s Bookstore!
Quimby’s Bookstore opened on September 15th, 1991, a tiny store at Damen and Evergreen, serving up weird, saucy and aberrant DIY zines, books and comics to a Wicker Park that was a very different place than it is now. Two and a half decades later, the store continues to offer subversive printed matter in an environment that fosters a creative artistic community that employees jokingly call, “a tourist destination for cool people” as well as events, all with an inclusive yet snarky DIY punk aesthetic.
Quimby’s is proud to welcome back founder Steven Svymbersky to the store on the occasion of the store’s 25th anniversary. Svymbersky will present a history of zines and underground comics as well as sharing memories of his years as a zine publisher and the beginnings of Quimby’s Bookstore.
Quimby’s has a variety of things planned to celebrate our silver jubilee, including: an exclusive Chris Ware print celebrating our anniversary, the release of an printed store history with stories and graphics, a commemorative t-shirt by artist Gabby Schulz, an artisanal Marz Community Brewing Quimby’s beer with a specially designed label by Chicago artist Laura Park and more surprises.
This event also kicks off Wicker Park & West Town Lit Fest’s second year, which celebrates the neighborhoods’ literary past and present. Events around Wicker Park and West Town include a story slam, book swap, workshops, author readings and signings and more.
For more info: info(at)quimbys(dot)com
Invite your friends with the Facebook invite!
Thurs, Sep 15th, 7pm Quimby’s Bookstore Chicago, IL quimbys.com
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New Stuff This Week
The Rise, The Fall, and The Rise by Brix Smith Start $18.95 – American Brix Smith Start spent ten years in The Fall with Mark E. Smith while being married to him, which ended in a violent disintegration. Growing up in the Hollywood Hills in the ’60s in a dilapidated pink mansion her life has taken her from luxury to destitution, from the cover of the NME to waitressing in California, via the industrial wasteland of Manchester in the 1980s.*ZINES*
The Difference Between #5 How Some Things are Similar Yet Different by Billy McCall, with illustrations by Jaime Tillotson $2.00
Soon Everyone Will Know $15.00
See You at the Buck by Rob Brulinski $10.00
Just Make Pictures Zine #8 Memories of a Dream by Michael Jarecki $4.00
Good Riddance: A Zine About Stuff by Megan Kirby and Rosamund Lannin $3.00
Sub/Verse #6 by Chloe Graham $5.00
zines by George Porteus $7.00 each
Naked Mole Rats Drawings
Mountain LiesDreams in Cryogenic Fugue by Chris Johnson $10.00
*COMICS & MINIS*
Stockholme Is Sauceome by Sarah Becan $10.00
Corpus Distorta by Grant Reynolds $7.00
Enter to Exit by George Porteus $7.00
Comics by Amara Leipzig:
Night Blanket $6.00
Fifth Window $7.00
Other Side by Amara Leipzig 2015 $2.00Dream of Dobermans Sprinting Across the Asphalt by Yewon Kwon $7.00
Succinct Scary Stories by Jonas and Rebecca Peloquin $3.00
*GRAPHIC NOVELS*
Story of My Tits by Jennifer Hayden (Top Shelf) $29.99
Northlanders vol 1 The Anglo Saxon Saga by Brian Wood and friends $29.99
18 Days TPB vol 2 Heroes and Legends by Grant Morrison & friends $14.99
Tiny Splendor zines, comics & graphic novels:
Anime Fan Club by Kenneth Srivijitiakar & Max Stadnik $12.00
Catabunga #2 $4.00
Land Around Us by Bijou Karman, Juliette Toma & Vivian Shih $10.00
Ugly Girl Gang #2 & #3 by Tuesday Bassen(Tiny Splendor) $7.00 each
Die Homer by Tyler J. Hutchison (Tiny Splendor) $10.00
Many Ways of the Potato by Sanaa Khan $2.00
Urge to Regurge by Sanaa Khan $2.00*ART BOOKS*
Understanding the Sky by Dave Eggers (McSweeneys) $24.00 – Mr. Eggers rode a lightweight plane. Here’s a poem-essay-photo book thingy about it.
*MUSIC BOOKS*
A Lover Sings: Selected Lyrics by Billy Bragg $18.95
*FICTION*
Bye Bye Blondie by Virgine Despentes (Feminst Press) $17.95
Unnoticeables by Robert Brockway $14.99
*ESSAYS*
Bukowski in A Sundress: Confessions from A Writing Life by Kim Addonzio $16.00
*SCIENCE!*
Being a Beast: Adventures Across the Species Divide by Charles Foster $28.00
*FOOD BOOKS*
Famous Nathan: A Family Saga of Coney Island, the American Dream, and the Search for the Perfect Hot Dog by Lloyd Handwerker $26.99
*MAGAZINES*
Mojo #272 July 2016 Prince and Bob Dylan $10.99
Hi Fructose #40 New Contemporary Art Magazine $7.95
RFD #166 Sum 16 $9.95
Paper Sum 16 $10.00
*CHAP BOOKS & LIT JOURNALS*
Plastic Pajaros by Melissa Lozada Olivia $7.00
One Day I will be Louder Than all the Bruises on Your Knees by Elaine Hsiang & Tiffany Mallery $5.00
The First Line vol 18 #2 Sum 16 $4.00
*FOR THE KIDDIES*
Anna and Froga Out and About by Anouk Ricard (D&Q) $15.95
various issues of childrens mag Brain Bug $10.00 each
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Offsite & More: CAKE Kick Off Events & Tabling Exhibition …AND a QUIMBY'S 25TH ANNIVERSARY PANEL!
Quimby’s is proud to co-sponsor The Chicago Alternative Comics Expo [CAKE], a weekend-long celebration of independent comics, inspired by Chicago’s rich legacy as home to many of underground and alternative comics’ most talented artists– past, present and future. Featuring comics for sale, workshops, exhibitions, panel discussions and more, CAKE is dedicated to fostering community and dialogue amongst independent artists, small presses, publishers and readers. The Fifth Annual CAKE tabling exhibition will take place on June 11th-12th at the Center on Halsted (more info below). Special guests include Chester Brown, Tyrell Cannon, Ezra Clayton Daniels, Sammy Harkham, Cathy G Johnson, Patrick Kyle, Laura Park, Trina Robbins, and Leslie Stein.
There are all sorts of awesome CAKE-related things happening that weekend in other places that weekend too! Here are just a few:
Thurs, June 9th, 7pm David Alvarado & Tyrell Cannon at Sulzer Library at 4455 N. Lincoln Ave (NOT at Quimby’s)
Fri, June 10th, noon-1:30pm Chester Brown at Graham Crackers Comics Downtown, 77 E Madison St. (NOT at Quimby’s) He’ll be signing and discussing his new graphic novel Mary Wept at the Foot of Jesus.
Fri, June 10th, 7pm YES, THIS IS AT QUIMBY’S: CAKE Presents Kramer’s Ergot 9 Signing, with Sammy Harkham, Andy Burkholder, Anya Davidson, Kevin Huizenga, Patrick Kyle, John Pham, and Lale Westvind. This event is also sponsored by Revolution Brewery, and will have refreshments provided while supplies last!
Sat, June 11th & Sun, June 12th 11am-6pm Tabling exhibition at the Center on Halsted, 3656 N Halsted Ave. (NOT at Quimby’s) Workshops and panels and all that fun stuff!
AND OH!!! Don’t miss the Quimby’s 25th Anniversary Panel at CAKE!
11:30–12:30 A 25th Anniversary Celebration of Quimby’s!
All Panels are located on the 3rd Floor Hoover-Leppen Theatre at the Center on Halsted
Ok, so a lot of things happened in 1991: with George H. W. Bush still in office, the Gulf War came to an end, the indie comics scene was still recovering from the so-called “black and white implosion,” Superman had about a year left to live, and Nirvana released Nevermind. Meanwhile, in Chicago, Steven Svymbersky opened a little shop on Damen Avenue that, he said, would “carry every cool—bizarre—strange—dope—queer—surreal—weird publication ever written and published,” a place where you could discover, he added, “something you never even knew could exist.” A quarter of a century later, Quimby’s, stuffed with comics and zines and poetry and novels and magazines and newspapers and other paper things that don’t even have a name yet, remains one of the premier bookshops in North America. Jake Austen, editor and publisher of the legendary Chicago music and comics zine Roctober, will moderate a conversation with zinemaker Liz Mason and cartoonists Gabby Schulz (a.k.a. Ken Dahl) and CAKE Special Guest Laura Park (Do Not Disturb My Waking Dream) about the history of Quimby’s and its legacy of strangeness and delight. Who’s bringing the cake? This panel is sponsored by The Center for Cartoon Studies.
For more info about CAKE: cakechicago.com & Max Morris cakeexpo(at)gmail(dot)com.
This year’s banner by Chicago’s own Krystal DiFronzo.
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Quimby's March Newsletter out now!
Click here to see the monthly newsletter of Quimby’s news, store events and notable new items! Sign up to get it in your inbox at quimbys.com.
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Quimby's Welcomes The Pirate Book launch: Nicolas Maigret & Maria Roszkowska 3/24
The Pirate Book offers a broad view on media piracy as well as a variety of comparative perspectives on recent issues and historical facts regarding piracy. It contains a compilation of texts on grassroots situations whose stories describe strategies developed to share, distribute and experience cultural content outside of the confines of local economies, politics or laws. These stories recount the experiences of individuals from India, Cuba, Brazil, Mexico, Mali and China. The book is structured in four parts and begins with a collection of stories on piracy dating back to the invention of the printing press and expanding to broader issues (historical and modern antipiracy technologies, geographically specific issues, as well as the rules of the Warez scene, its charters, structure and visual culture…).The Pirate Book, a compilation of stories about sharing, distributing and experiencing cultural contents outside the boundaries of local economies, politics, or laws.
Nicolas Maigret is an artist and curator based in Paris, his works have been presented in international exhibitions and festivals such as Transmediale (Berlin), File (Sao Paulo), Museum of Art and Design (New York), Chaos Communication Congress (Hamburg), China Museum of Digital Arts (Beijing), The Pirate Bay 10th Anniversary (Stockholm). Maria Roszkowska is a Polish graphic designer based in Paris. Between 2010 and 2014 she joined Intégral Ruedi Baur, a cultural graphic design studio in France. In 2013 she designed and coordinated Don’t Brand my public space, a 3 years research on the issue of cities applying branding strategies.
Published by Aksioma – Institute for Contemporary Art, Ljubljana Co-published by Pavillon Vendôme Art Center, Clichy, Kunsthal Aarhus, and Abandon Normal Devices
For more info: thepiratebook.net | http://peripheriques.free.fr | http://printityourself.org
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8/1: Caseen Gaines presents We Don’t Need Roads: The Making of the Back to the Future Trilogy!
Great Scott! Come celebrate the 30th anniversary of Back to the Future along with award-winning author Caseen Gaines. He is returning to Quimby’s Bookstore to discuss and sign copies of his brand-new book, We Don’t Need Roads: The Making of the Back to the Future Trilogy, which has been featured in Vanity Fair, The Hollywood Reporter, People Magazine, Vulture, and positively reviewed by NPR and Library Journal.
We Don’t Need Roads includes original interviews with Zemeckis, Gale, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Huey Lewis, and over fifty others who contributed to one of the most popular and profitable film trilogies of all time. It’s the ultimate read for anyone who has ever wanted to ride a hoverboard, hang from the top of a clock tower, travel through the space-time continuum, or find out what really happened to Eric Stoltz after the first six weeks of filming.
Complete with rare and previously unreleased photographs, fans of the timeless can learn all they didn’t know about Back to the Future – by those who caught lightning 30 years ago.
“Caseen Gaines has written a very compelling and enjoyable history of our trilogy. Reading it was like going back in time. And – Great Scott – there were even a few anecdotes that I’d never heard!” – Bob Gale, co-creator, co-producer, and co-writer of the Back to the Future trilogy
“The most enlightening and informative book I’ve read since Grays Sports Almanac. Every true fan of the Holy Trilogy should own a copy. It’s your density.” – Ernest Cline, bestselling author of Ready Player One
Invite your friends with the Facebook post for this event!
For press inquiries, contact Mary Pomponio, mpomponio(at)penguinrandomhouse(dot)com
Saturday, August 1, 2015 at 7:00pm
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Please Excuse Our Mess: Quimby’s is Upgrading!
Hello dear lovers of all things printed. The staff at Quimby’s wants to give you an update about the goings on at the store.
DID YOU KNOW that we’ve used the same computer operating system since 1999? Wow, yeah, I know.
But things are quickly changing here at Quimby’s. We have brand new computers and a brand new system to ring people up, check in merchandise, monitor sales and all the other Quimbly things we do here at the store.
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? It means we have a lot of files to move over and a lot of work to do, as the entire staff needs to be trained to use the new system.
For you, dear customer, it means it may take us a bit longer to ring you up, answer your questions or fulfill your mail order.
And, dear consigner, it means it’s going to take us a while to get your new items out into the store and to pay you out for titles sold. BUT FEAR NOT. We have all your info on hand. It’s just going to take us a hot minute to transition.
PLEASE BE PATIENT with us as we weather this exciting new phase of Quimby’s. Think of it as Quimby’s 2.0. New and improved.
SOME THINGS TO CONSIDER: If you’re a consigner looking to check in, get back in touch with us in July, maybe even mid-month. Have new stuff to send to the store? You’re more than welcome to still snail mail and bring stuff by in-person. But, hey, if you’re able to sit on it for a bit and give us a chance to get caught up, we’d sure appreciate it.
We’ll still be the same Quimby’s you remembered, just a bit faster, at least once all of this is through. No, no, we don’t have a self checkout now and we don’t accept bitcoin or anything. Let’s be real, OK?
All of these changes will help us serve you better as you shop, give you a better experience with consignment and, ultimately, make the store even more weirdly awesome, just as you like it.
Thanks for being gentle with us. We appreciate it!
<3 Your Favorite Quimbsters