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Category: store news
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Take the #MyChicagoBookstore Challenge on Independent Bookstore Day 4/29
On Saturday, April 29th Quimby’s Bookstore, along with two dozen independent bookstores all over the Chicago area, are collaborating to make this year’s Independent Bookstore Day (IBD) an event that celebrates the vibrancy of Chicagoland as a dream destination for book lovers. Each store creates its own unique events and Quimby’s is no exception.
Quimby’s is celebrating IBD in two ways. First, we welcome co-authors Steven Nodine and Eric Beaumont will celebrate the release of Brick Through the Window: An Oral History of Punk Rock, New Wave & Noise in Milwaukee, 1964-1984, celebrating our midwest sister city Milwaukee (because hey, let’s show some major metropolises the love on this one-day party). More info on that event at 7pm here.
Secondly, Quimby’s will collaborate with at least 24 stores, jointly sponsoring the #MyChicagoBookstore Challenge, which encourages book lovers to indulge in bookstore tourism by visiting 10 or more stores on that one day.
To begin their trip, readers can pick up a #MyChicagoBookstore carabiner and their first “luggage tag” from the store of their choice (from any of the independent bookstores listed below) with an initial purchase of $25 or more. Get it? “Luggage Tag,” as in Chicago being a dream destination for book lovers? As in, where books take you, somewhere?! SO CLEVER.
Bookstore visits throughout the day (no purchase required) enable them to collect an additional tag at each subsequent bookstore. The payoff comes for visits at the following levels:
- Visit TEN stores and get 10% off at all bookstores listed below for the ENTIRE YEAR!
- Visit FIFTEEN stores and get 15% off at all bookstores listed below for the ENTIRE YEAR!
Also, readers are encouraged to post a snapshot of themselves and their Independent Bookstore Day haul, and enter to win more prizes!
On Twitter: Use #CHIBD17 or @chibookstore
The #MyChicagoBookstore Challenge is being sponsored by the Chicagoland Independent Bookstore Allliance (ChIBA), an association formed last year to raise awareness about the vitality of the area’s indie stores. ChIBA also maintains a Facebook page–#MyChicagoBookstore—where all member stores can post readings and other literary events to create one central “billboard” for literary culture in the greater Chicago area.
#MyChicagoBookstore Luggage Tag Challenge Participating Stores:Quimby’s Bookstore 1854 W. North Ave, Chicago
57th Street Books 1301 E. 57th St., Chicago
Anderson’s Bookshop (three stores): 5112 Main St., Downers Grove, 26 S. La Grange Rd., La Grange, 123 W. Jefferson Ave., Naperville
The Book Bin 151 Church St., Northbrook
The Book Cellar 4736-38 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago
The Book Stall Chestnut Court, 811 Elm St., Winnetka
The Book Table 1045 Lake St., Oak Park
Bookends & Beginnings 1712 Sherman Ave., Alley #1, Evanston
Bookie’s 2419 W. 103rd St., Chicago
Centuries and Sleuths 7419 Madison St., Forest Park
Magic Tree Bookstore 141 N. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park
Newberry Library Bookshop 60 W. Walton St., Chicago
Open Books (two stores): 905 W. 19th St., Chicago (Pilsen), 651 W. Lake St., Chicago (West Loop)
Powell’s Books Chicago 1501 E. 57th St., Chicago
Read It & Eat 2142 N. Halsted St., Chicago
RoscoeBooks 2142 W. Roscoe St., Chicago
Sandmeyer’s Bookstore 714 S. Dearborn St., Chicago
Seminary Co-op Bookstore 5751 S. Woodlawn Ave., Chicago
Volumes Bookcafe 1474 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago
Wicker Park Secret Agent Supply Co./826CHI 1276 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago
Women & Children First 5233 N. Clark St., Chicago
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In New York? GRAND OPENING QUIMBY’S BOOKSTORE NYC, 2/4/17!
GRAND OPENING
QUIMBY’S BOOKSTORE NYC
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 4th, 2017
7:00 – 10:00
At 7:00 PM, Steven Svymbersky will give a short slide show talk on the history of zines followed by champagne and hors d’oeuvres.
This event is also the opening for the first major survey of works by sculptor and collage artist, Eric Kirsammer.
Quimby’s Bookstore NYC
536 Metropolitan Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11211
quimbysbookstorenyc(at)gmail(dot)com
quimbysbookstorenyc can be found on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter & Tumblr
Quimby’s Bookstore NYC joins Desert Island Comics on Metropolitan Ave in Williamsburg to bring you every cool, queer, sick, rad, aberrant, dope, weird, impossible publication available, something you never knew existed but that now you need.
Steven Svymbersky originally opened Quimby’s Bookstore in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood in 1991. That store recently celebrated their 25th anniversary. Quimby’s specializes in zines, alternative magazines and underground books. Subject matter includes LGBTQ, Anarchism, Tattooing, Creative Resistance, Drugs, Minority and Women’s Issues, Taxidermy, Occult, Punk Rock, Cycling, Urban Farming, Vegetarianism, Morbid Anatomy, as well as the more outré artists working in fiction and photography.
In December 2016, Svymbersky opened the second Quimby’s location next door to Desert Island Comics (Best Comics Resource, Village Voice 2016). Desert Island has been on Metropolitan Ave over eight years. Founder, Gabe Fowler is also the publisher of the comics anthology Resist!/Smoke Signals and every year in November organizes New York’s largest underground comics convention, Comics Art Brooklyn.
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Quimby's Bookstore NYC ALMOST OPEN!
It’s true! It’s true! Quimby’s Bookstore in New York is almost open!!!!! And your zines are wanted there!!! Here are words from Steven Svymbersky, who wants them from you to sell there!! Words form him below, as well as the consignment form. Yeah!!!QUIMBY’S ANNOUNCEMENT
Quimby’s Bookstore NYC is ready to start receiving your zines and books on consignment. There are two important things you need to know before sending me your publications:
1. The trademark “Quimby’s” and the trademarked logo are used with the permission of the mark’s owner, Chicago Comics Inc., which owns and operates Quimby’s. Neither the Chicago-based Quimby’s Bookstore or Chicago Comics are in any way responsible for transactions made with Quimby’s Bookstore NYC, a wholly independent company and sole proprietorship of Steven Svymbersky.
2. Quimby’s Bookstore NYC will not accept/sell graphic novels, comic books, comic-related art, zines,books or novelties. Quimby’s Bookstore NYC is located next door to Desert Island Comics, a retailer of all the finest comics and graphic art publications. To sell your comics/graphic arts we encourage you to contact Gabe Fowler at desertislandbrooklyn@gmail.com for more information on how to consign your comics and graphic arts publications.
For any comics publishers that may be disappointed that there is not a new store to sell their wares, you need to know that there was no way I was going to be able to afford enough space in New York to carry all the publications that the much larger store in Chicago can handle. Had I moved somewhere farther from Desert Island and carried comics I would have had to make very hard decisions about what publications I could take and I would have had to turn a lot of publishers away. Finding this space next door to the best comic book store in New York is a huge blessing. Now fans can find all the great alternative publications they want in one easy to reach location. And between the two stores we can be all-inclusive. Gabe Fowler has been completely supportive and encouraging to my opening next door and in the spirit of true collaboration I do not want to compete with Desert Island in any way.
If you want to sell your graphic novels, comics and graphic arts publications and novelties you can write to Gabe Fowler at desertislandbrooklyn@gmail.com.
If you have non-comics or graphic arts zines, books or novelties, you can write to me, Steven Svymbersky at quimbysbookstorenyc@gmail.com.
We are excited to provide a one-stop location for every amazing publication out there. Send us yours and if you’re in New York be sure to come and visit us at:
Desert island Comics, 540 Metropolitan Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11211
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Quimby’s Bookstore NYC, 536 Metropolitan Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11211 (Consignment form for zines below!)Steven Svymbersky
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Quimby's Bookstore is Coming to New York!
Since 1991 Quimby’s Bookstore has been selling zines and alternative literature in Chicago and now the founder, Steven Svymbersky is going to open a second store in New York! (No worries, the Chicago store isn’t going anywhere!) The first step is to find the right location. We are looking for a space with somewhere between 600-900 sq. ft. not too distant from a train stop. All neighborhoods are up for consideration. If you have any information or suggestions please contact Steven at ssvymberksy(at)gmail(dot)com.
Once a location is found it won’t take long for the store to open and then all the zines and small press publications will be accepted on consignment and events can be scheduled. Looking forward to promoting alternative and underground Lit and Art in New York city very soon!
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John Olson Reads From Life Is a Rip-Off with Alan Hoffman 10/8
From American Tapes to Wolf Eyes, John Olson is one of the most influential musicians of the past two decades, the obvious bridge between free jazz and noise music. Wikipedia lists over 75 projects with which Olson worked and over 100 Wolf Eyes’ recordings. Olson is now a discerning and sharp-witted author too: LIFE IS A RIP OFF, published by Jack White’s imprint Third Man Records, is a collection of surprisingly untraditional record reviews which Olson wrote over the course of 365 days. He will read from his book on Saturday October 8, accompanied by some of his many instruments.
Local writer-performance artist Alan Hoffman will open for him and debut his novella AUDITIONS about internet-porn casting-couch videos.
LIFE IS A RIP OFF: THE COMPLETE BOOK is 12 months of record reviews—one record a day, every day, for one year. Yes, John “Inzane” Olson aka Inzane Johnny of the bandWolf Eyes aka American Tapes did that. And he reviewed everything from death metal demo cassettes to the Staples Singers’ gospel. Enter into the OLZONE and find out about music you’ve never known, bands from places that you’ve never heard, and then read his review of KANSAS. Reading LRIP will make you re-realize why blues is relevant, why every punk band in America matters, why jazz is good for the heart, and metal will always ride by your side.
“To write music op-ed this good, you have to tap the primordial sap sack, to butterfly stroke the ancient ooze of tune begatment, cave dwell with the knuckle draggers, scratch symbols into the dirt with the freaks and make it rain. He do and it did.” — Henry Rollins
“[Life is a Rip Off] is the best way [John Olson] can add another cubist layer to the sound and visuality he’s already presented for the last twenty or so years. He’s sharing something the people who don’t know him personally don’t get enough of—his textual, syntactical brain, stained as it is with dollar-store spray paint.” — Ben Hell Hall, Detroit artist.
“When John agreed to write a record review a day, back in 20xx, I wasn’t too keen on the idea. Not because I didn’t think he could do it – but that I knew he would do it, even if it became a years-long all-encompassing obsessive task.” — Tovah Olson, The Dead Machines.
“[John Olson] didn’t just introduce me to different worlds, the man introduced me to entire universes.” — Bryan Ramirez, Killertrees Records
“Wolf Eyes . . . sounds like a crumbling Velvet Underground bootleg that’s been burned to ashes.” — NPR, Sept 2015
As always, this event at Quimby’s is free.
More info:
The Facebook invite for this event. Invite your friends!
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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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February Newsletter
Don’t miss our monthly newsletter! If you sign up at quimbys.com to get it. it will come straight to your inbox with Quimby’s announcements, store event listings, a list of noteworthy new items etc. Wanna see our February newsletter ? Click on the image below!
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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
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Quimby's Bookstore November News & Stuff
Didn’t get the Quimby’s Bookstore November News & Stuff e-newsletter? Click here to see it.Then click here at quimbys.com to sign up so you never miss one.
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12 Weeks of Quimbas!
It’s almost that time of year again, when all the good little girls and boys anxiously wait to find their stockings filled the brim with zines, books and oddities. In honor of all things bright and cheery, this year Quimby’s is giving a special gift to you: Quimbas. Yes, that’s right, Christmas with a Quimb’.
And what could possibly be in store for you and your’s? Each week all November and December we’re giving a special gift to our little Quimblings. After all, you’ve been so very good this year!
On Friday, November 8, Gene Gregoritis reads from Fishhook, a “literary anthology comprised entirely of status updates.” In honor of Gregoritis’ love for Facebook, we’ll be giving away FREE GRAB BAGS to any customer who can prove that they shared that day’s event and tagged Quimby’s Bookstore. Social media: truly the gift that keeps on giving. Please note: customers must be in the store to pick up their grab bags.
Come back on Tuesday, November 12 for Anya Davidson’s reading and signing of School Spirits. If you don’t feel “spirited” enough afterward, take a nibble of a free Krampus Candy Cane. But don’t gobble too quickly, little fellow. There’s a special Krampus mystery missive wrapped on that sweet treat.
Got a jam-packed schedule of eating, drinking and merriment? Well, fine friend, you’ll surely want to take advantage of our sale on 2014 planners from November 25 through December 1! Take 14% off any planner to help kick your 14th year of the new millennium. Oh yeah! *Note: Customer must be in the store for this discount, and mail orders are not eligible for discount.
Dec 6th Fri, 6-10pm – Celebrate Krampusnacht with GlitterGuts (arty Chicago photographers) here at Quimby’s. Get your picture taken with the Krampus, known to punish children during the Yule season for their misbehavior. Creep out friends and family with photos of you getting reprimanded by this traditional Germanic holiday beast. We’re here to help!
Stay tuned for more merry making in December.