This weekend Type Books celebrates five years at its original location in Trinity Bellwoods. Five years in which the Type gang have welcomed scores of neighbours into their house of books. Neighbours with whom they’ve shared the same strip of Queen W., the same park, the same early-morning coffee-and-croissant line-ups. They’ve shared stories (they like stories), the weather, the economic climate. The weather may finally be getting warmer, but the forecast for indie bookstores remains a bit drizzly. Neighbours, however, can make for nice umbrellas. (Neighbours like us, we’re just down the street.) To mark their fifth Type is staging a full-day of readings at the store this Saturday. They’ve also provided us with this numerical reflection on the store’s comings and goings. Type Books at Five: A Statistical Self-Portrait Bookstores in Trinity Bellwoods 2005: 0 …in 2006: 1 …in 2009: 2 …in 2011: 1 Staff at opening: 4 Staff at 5-year anniversary: 12 Orders placed: 4,604 Shipments received: 9,571 Average weekly deliveries: 17.5 Weekly window cleaning costs 2006: $5.25 The same in 2011: $6.00 Break-ins: 2 High-speed shoplifter pursuits: 1 Oscar-winning actors served: 2 (Natalie Portman, Julia Roberts) Notorious bike-hoarding felons as neighbours: 1 Percentage of total KENK: A Graphic Portrait print run sold by Type: 12 Weekly White Squirrel beverages consumed: 40 Floods: 1 David Markson titles currently in the “Plotless Fiction” section: 5 Percentage of customers who never pick up their special orders: 20 PINKO buttons sold after 2010 mayoral election: 575 Cash register code for Type’s now-vintage Virginia Johnson tote bags: 5 Staff members with published books: 3 “I don’t know the title but the cover is blue” riddles successfully solved: 85% Magazines sold: 9,828 Gifts wrapped: 748 Year Indigo’s Kobo e-reader launched: 2010 Year Type had its highest Christmas sales to date: 2010 Chance that Clafouti will be sold out of pain au chocolat before you get there: 50/50 Chance that the 501 streetcar will go by 2 minutes too soon (or 10 mins too late): 60/40 Satisfaction gained from reading a good book in the park on a nice day: ?
