Seattle's Secret Garden Discounts 30 at 30

by Bridget Kinsella, PW Daily -- Publishers Weekly, 4/23/2007

Beginning with a party this past Saturday, Secret Garden Books will celebrate its 30th anniversary by featuring a favorite book at the store at a 30% discount for an entire week and picking a new book to discount each week for 30 weeks. Naturally, Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden is the first title in the program.

In addition, any customer who was born in 1977—the same year as the store—will receive a 30% discount on every book bought there for a year. "We think it's a good age, and we want to attract new customers," said owner Christy McDanold about the promotion.

Secret Garden Books was opened by Nancy White Carlstrom, author of the Jesse Bear books, and has had three owners. When McDanold bought the store in 2000 and opened it in its present 2600-sq.-ft. location, she added adult titles to the inventory. Now she said sales are "50-50" between children's and adult books.

One constant at Secret Garden has been the "talking bricks" in the floor. Secret Garden has loose bricks on its concrete floor that make a tinkling sound when customers walk on them. "We've started a tradition of having authors sign them," said McDanold.