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We've had some great turnouts for our Video Game Challenges so far this month! We've given away several hundred dollars in Bookmans gift certificates, hundreds of goodie bags, and some really amazing trophies. But most importantly, everyone has been having a great time. Check out the Video Game Challenge events coming to a store near you this weekend!
Thanks to our great customers in Flagstaff, we had a great turn-out at our first buy and sell at the Chamber of Commerce this last Saturday. Although we had to cancel Sunday’s event due to the snow, we still had boxes and boxes of great merchandise to take back to the warehouse. At this rate, we’ll have enough merchandise to fill our new store in no time! We were so surprised by the amount of traffic and great merchandise we were offered that we are going to revise our whole system next weekend, with more room to pull through the lot, and more employees available to make buying and selling go faster and smoother. Saturday was a fun party, complete with snacks, drinks, balloon sculpting, face-painting, and great local music, all day!
As you may know, May is video game month here at Bookmans, so we decided to ask our employees: "What was your first video game?" Since we have a wide range of ages and interests among our employees, we got lots of different answers. Check them out below:
Join Tucson Values Teachers and the Educational Enrichment Foundation for a city-wide celebration of K-12 teachers' invaluable contributions to Tucson. On Friday, May 7, head down to Toole Avenue between Hotel Congress and Maynard's Market to toast to teachers!
At Bookmans, we believe that the fun of learning should continue all year long and we know how hard it can be to find reasonably priced entertainment for your kids throughout the long, hot days of summer. That’s why every year we offer 10 weeks of FREE Summer Kids Events at all of our Bookmans locations throughout Arizona.
Got crazy good gaming skills? Like to challenge friends, relatives, and strangers? Well, here's your chance! Come to our video game challenges this month at the Bookmans nearest you, and you could win fantastic and amazing prizes -- trophies, $100 gift cards, goody bags, and more! Test your skills against other players and compete to win these (and more) awesome prizes! Check out the schedule for each store below:
Bookmans Flagstaff will be at the Coconino Center for the Arts tomorrow, and back at the Chamber of Commerce on Sunday! Tomorrow, May 8, from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., we will be selling and buying used books, music, movies, video games and more at the Coconino Center for the Arts, located at 2300 N. Fort Valley Road (Rte. 180) in Flagstaff.
As a premium sponsor of the Recycled Art Exhibition, we are delighted to set-up camp in the gallery, and provide folks a chance to buy and sell while they peruse the gorgeous artwork. There will also be artist demos and workshops tomorrow, scheduled as follows:
11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Learn to make small sculptures using inner tubes, with artist Rebecca Borowski
Last weekend was another huge success for Bookmans in Flagstaff, with lots of folks coming-out for our buying and selling events at the Coconino Center for the Arts Saturday, and the Chamber of Commerce on Sunday. We got loads of quality stuff to help restock our inventory on both days, and also sold some great discount books, DVDs and video games.
My fellow Tucsonans,
I am writing you once more about the upcoming vote for the pawn/secondhand tax. I know that today in study session the Chief of Police will give you his recommendation that you enact this ordinance. As clearly as possible I want to say this is bad law based on flawed logic. The justification for this new tax, on a certain segment of our community, is that we cause more work for our public servants and therefore should pay some of those costs. If this rational were carried to its logical conclusion then any of us that cause "extra work" would have to pay for that burden. Should neighborhoods that have more crime and require more visits from our police pay higher taxes? How about areas of town with old houses paying more because the fire department has more calls to that area? This is not the way things are done in our society. Or perhaps those who already pay more taxes do deserve a faster response time? This is not the way it is supposed to work. We all expect and deserve an equal amount of service regardless of our contribution to the governments coffers. I am asking you to really consider the message you are sending with this law if it passes. Tying any governmental service to how much you pay is bad law and bad precedence.
Please consider a minor flat increase in the business license tax across the board to help our police department provide the services that all businesses need regardless of our particular chosen professions.
Thank you,
Bob Oldfather
CEO and Founder, Bookmans
In 1998, Tucson Audubon Society acquired a 20-acre homestead northwest of Tucson at the intersection of Thornydale and Hardy Roads. This land was donated to Tucson Audubon by Mrs. Orpha Mason, who came to Tucson as an independent young woman in 1934. She valued the Ironwood-Saguaro forest that surrounded her home but that was rapidly diminishing as Tucson grew through the 80s and 90s. Her instruction to Tucson Audubon was to use her property as an Ironwood-Saguaro nature preserve and environmental education center for the public.
It can be hard to entertain kids during the long summer months when they're out of school, so once again we're offering 10 weeks of free summer kids events at our stores. These events are fun, educational, and most importantly, free!
This year, the fun starts the first week of June and concludes the first week of August with our famous back-to-school party. With magicians, arts & crafts, science and animal education programs, music, parties and more – this is going to be a summer your kids will never forget. Each store has a different schedule for the summer, so be sure to check out the PDF flyers for Tucson, Phoenix, and Flagstaff to find out what’s happening at the Bookmans nearest you.
In Tucson, we're kicking off the first week of summer events with a Pirates of the Sonoran Desert adventure! Come search for hidden treasure and "walk the plank"in this fun-filled interactive pirate adventure.
In Phoenix, the great Arizona puppet theatre presents "Jack and the Beanstalk," a humorous version of the classic tale of a boy, a bean and a giant. In Mesa, the Phoenix Zoo presents: Animal Kingdom! Experience the wide variety of the animal kingdom and discover the amazing characteristics of the animal world!
In Flagstaff, Tony Norris' Old-Time Kids' Music Show and Wild West Entertainment will have a kid-centric hoedown with balloon animals, prizes, games, fun and more.
We hope to see you there!
This weekend in Flagstaff is expected to be a gorgeous sunny seventy degrees, and Bookmans will be downtown again, buying and selling! As you've likely come to expect, from now until the end of September, there will be exciting events happening every weekend in historic downtown. For those of you coming to buy or sell books at the Chamber of Commerce on Saturday morning, please keep in mind that some downtown streets will be closed for the 4th Annual “Armed Forces Day Parade” from 10:00 a.m. to noon. If you do come out to support the vets, you can also walk on over to our tent off of Route 66 and Beaver Street!
This weekend we have several of our video game challenge events happening, both for kids and adults. You can compete to win awesome prizes, like a trophy, $100 Bookmans gift certificate, $50 Bookmans gift certificates, goody bags, and more! So here's to a little friendly competition... check out the list of the video game challenge events we have planned:
Today, only two Flagstaff Bookmans employees drove to work at our warehouse. Everyone else either rode their bikes, walked, or took the bus. Why is that? Because May 16 through 21 is Bike to Work Week! We have another secret though: Almost all Flagstaff employees bike, walk or bus to work every day. Collectively, we only own about five cars between all twenty-nine Flagstaff Bookmans employees, and many are no strangers to public transportation. Still, Bike to Work Week is a great opportunity for a folks from many Flagstaff workplaces who have been considering bike commuting to give it a try. If nothing else, it may give a few individuals the courage to ride to work more often.
We're introducing important changes to our new educator's discount program, Project: Educate. Starting today, eligible educators have the choice to bring in either a recent pay stub (within the last 30 days) that states your job description or title, OR a signed and dated letter verifying your eligibility on your school/employer's letterhead.
For complete details on eligibility for Project: Educate, please check out our requirements page. To sign up for Project: Educate, please go to our sign-up page.
Support Kids Need to Read while ghost hunting with the West Coast Ghost and Paranormal Society (GAPS) and the Phoenix Comicon at the Orpheum Theatre in Phoenix this Saturday! You'll learn about West Coast GAPS and their paranormal investigations, get hands-on instruction using the ghost hunting equipment, and conduct an investigation of the Orpheum Theatre.
You can even win a complete customized ghost hunting package and a night of ghost hunting in one of the most haunted places in Arizona! A portion of all the ticket sales will be donated to Kids Need to Read.
Tomorrow, Saturday May 22nd at the Orpheum Theater, Bookmans in Flagstaff will be hosting their awesome annual Video Game Challenge on the BIG screen, and will also be buying and selling! You don't have to be participating in the Video Game Challenge to stop by; all are welcome.
If you are bringing merchandise to sell, please keep in mind that parking is limited downtown, and that it's not possible to stop on Aspen Street, so you may want to bring only what you can carry. We'll also be selling lots of great stuff, focusing on discount video games. Entry to the contest is free, and winners will receive great prizes.
Beginning next week, all of our markets will be hosting free summer kids events, and Bookmans in Flagstaff is no exception. The Flagstaff kids' events will be held every Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. in the Orpheum Theater downtown on Aspen Street, and we have a lots of great stuff planned, including Chuck Cheesman's famous kids' show, lots of arts and crafts, and educational programs like the worm box program from Willow Bend and the Raptor Show from the Arboretum! There will also be snacks, drinks, music and great prizes. See the entire schedule below.
Free Events from 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Wednesdays at the Orpheum Theater in Downtown Flagstaff
June 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd, and 30th
July 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th
August 4th
Bookmans is proud to participate in the 2010 Phoenix Comicon again this year. For the fourth year in a row, we'll will be spinning the prize wheel for amazing shwag, so stop by booth 212 and spin it to win a limited edition 2010 Bookmans Phoenix Comicon t-shirt, and maybe some other fun and fabulous prizes as well. When you aren't hanging out in the exhibit hall, Phoenix Comicon has a plethora of other events going on, from the Zombie Walk on Friday to the First Annual Kids Need to Read Geek Prom (presented by us!) on Saturday night. Or maybe you just want to meet celebrities--you can find famous names, from Genie Francis to James Marters, Jonathan Frakes to Ray Park and the local cast and crew of PROBED: Signals, the all new sci-fi web series. Are you a true comic book aficionado?
Steven Rosato, show director of Book Expo America (BEA), announced today that they will be restoring the previous three-day format at BEA 2011, after trying out a two-day format this year. However, it will remain a mid-week festival, another new change this year. Announcing this change on The Bean, the official blog of the BEA, Rosato had this to say:
For the next two Saturdays from ten in the morning until four in the afternoon, Bookmans will be in the Chamber of Commerce parking lot on the corner of Beaver Street and Route 66 in downtown Flagstaff, buying and selling. If you are bringing stuff to sell us, please pull in off of Route 66, pull all the way forward in the lot, and our employees will be right with you to help unload your vehicle. We will then ask you to park in one of the nearby city lots , or you can just go do whatever you'd wish and return a little later when your deal is done! See here for our revised schedule.