Bargain Books in Gulfport

When I heard about books for as low as .25 cents a pop, I grabbed my cash and headed to the Gulfport Library's Giant Book Sale on Saturday April 2nd! Did you go? I'm sure you did, it was a packed house when I stopped by at 1:30. I heard from organizers that when the sale began at 10 a.m., dozens of people were already waiting for the doors to open. I was impressed by the turnout, but I was more impressed by the selection and amount of donated items.

There were rows and rows of paperback, hardcover, romance, cookbooks, poetry, biographies, autobiographies and more. I believe I counted at least 17 different selections. 

Phyllis Plotnick with the Friends of the Gulfport Library made a great point. She said this wouldn't have been possible without the thousands of donations people happily gave to the library for the sale. Throughout my shopping and talking at the event, I met Phyllis Plotnick, Lynne Brown, Annie Shuri, Phyllis Rosenblum, Sherry Billhimer, Jan Dutton and Jo Schneidt with the Friends of the Gulfport Library. All of them were excited, energized and happy to be sharing their love of reading with everyone who walked in those doors.

I ran into Daniel Hodge, Suzie King and Council member Sam Henderson as well. Perhaps, everyone in Gulfport really did stop by?

Resident Barbara Wolfe came back twice! Wolfe showed me two of her four bags of books, "I've got a whole bookshelf." Wolfe, a self-proclaimed avid reader, said the sale was awesome. "I absolutely, I just think Gulfport is fantastic."

I also chatted with Annie Shuri about the library and the Friends of the Gulfport Library organization. Shuri said the group existed a few years back, but eventually dissolved. So, this is a new group with some members from the original "Friends" as well. Like, Jo Schneidt. Schneidt said she was part of the original "Friends" when she left the city in 1999. She came back in 2001 and the group was no more. Now, she's excited to get people involved in their mission today, which is to help the library and encourage people to read. 

Schneidt helped sign up 18 new annual memberships for the Friends of the Gulfport Library, which cost $10 an adult, $5 a child and $75 a business. She also has about a dozen filled applications as home, bringing the grand total to 30 new members! And I heard other members and even Suzie King handing out more applications to get people involved. 

While at the event, I was also able to get a quick overview of the library. Annie Shuri said that people could buy used books at the library anytime! There's a corner in the back with used books, vhs tapes and audio books for sale. All the proceeds go directly to the Gulfport Library. So, if anyone missed the sale on Saturday, they can swing by another time.

When I wandered back into the big "sale" room I heard a wonderful surprise at 2 p.m. Organizers announced that for the last hour of the sale, books would cost $1 a foot! And they had the ruler to prove it!

That meant, instead of spending about $6 to $8 on my stack of cookbooks and autobiographies, I only needed a buck!

"This is happy hour. For book lovers, this is happy hour, believe me!" Lynne Brown said.

That's when I saw people come up to the cash register with boxes, not handfuls, BOXES of books! The room was buzzing with chatter. It was fun and wonderful to see people of all ages picking up book after book.

Finally, the hand on the clock made it to 3 p.m. and the sale began to wind down. Organizers had to close the doors to allow current customers to finish their shopping, but keep new people from coming in. After all, volunteers had been there since at least 10 a.m. and not all the books had to go. Anything that didn't sell will be donated to the library and sold year-round and some will go to Goodwill.

After all that hard work the grand total is . . . $2,329.87! WOW! And that was tallied before I left, there were still a handful of people finishing up.

All in all, it was a wonderful community event and a success for the library and the Friends of the Gulfport Library.