Latest Update On Our Status

We are so grateful for the support you have all shown us during these difficult months. We miss seeing you and would like nothing better than to be able to open our doors again, even if on a limited basis. Right now, unfortunately, we feel that the health risks to our community and our employees continue to outweigh the social and economic benefits, so we are still closed to foot traffic.

A single customer running into our store to pick up a book or card or cup of coffee and interacting with our staff for 5 or 10 minutes may seem like a pretty low risk, especially if everyone is wearing a mask. Over the course of a day, however, those small transactions add up to  4-6 hours of exposure and contact with dozens of people, putting our staff and their family members at much greater risk. Right now, we do not feel the rate of infection is low enough to make this a safe time to reopen.

We will continue to follow the progress here in Massachusetts and Middlesex County closely. We hope that the numbers will continue to improve and we will be able to open our doors again soon. 

In the meantime, here’s what we are doing:

  • We are taking orders online and offering curbside pickup or shipping. Curbside pickup hours are:

    • Monday through Friday: 12-6pm

    • Saturday: 12-4pm

    • Sunday: We are closed.

  • The Black Bear Café is now open for pick-up 7:00 am – 2:00 pm, with outdoor seating. The food menu is limited right now, but you can still get most of your favorite drinks and some snacks/pastries. We hope to bring sandwiches back in soon.

  • We feature a pop-up sidewalk store every Wednesday through Saturday, 10:00 - 2:00pm in front of our store, and will soon be offering an outdoor “counter service” for books that are in-stock. (More on that to come.)

  • We are continuing to streamline and improve our curbside pick-up turnaround time and process.

Thanks so much for your support. We miss seeing all of you in person. We hope to find a way to re-open safely soon, so please keep checking back here and our in our weekly newsletter for updates.

Thanks for your understanding.

Health & happiness to you all,

Kathy & Chris

 

Things to know:

  • All orders must still be placed online, via our website.
  • We continue to offer shipping via USPS Priority Mail, USPS Media Mail, and UPS Ground, but "Curbside Pickup" is now also offered under Shipping. 
  • All pickup orders must be picked up from the table at our back entrance, accessible from the parking lot on Claflin Street.

Looking for ways to support the store while our doors are closed?