Making the Grade

When Lori Squires bought B Is for Books & Beyond in Bolton, Conn., in March 2001, she realized, "We had to do a lot of promotion to let people know we're here. We're in a little plaza in a small town. It's a great store—the previous owner had it for five-and-a-half years—but nobody knows we're here." At the suggestion of an ad rep, Squires decided to tie in good report cards and summer reading. Just ending its second year, the Report Card Reward program has been so successful that Squires is considering making it year-round. The way it works: she offers store credit for end-of-the-year grades A through C—$1, 75 cents and 50 cents a grade from high to low. Since the idea is to encourage reading, Squires said, and since younger children don't receive letter grades, "we do a flat rate for kindergarten and preschool of $3, and we make a big deal out of it. The first year, we wrote down everybody's name and the dollar amount they earned. This year, we stamped the report cards so we know we already looked at that one. The Report Card Reward program gave people a reason to check us out, and we've gotten a lot of repeat business."