by Iris
As booksellers at ABC, certain days of the year are more important than others. Thanksgiving is one of those days, and the last Saturday before Christmas. And then there’s the first Monday of February: inventory day!
Inventory checking, also known as stocktaking, is “the physical verification of the quantities and condition of items held in an inventory or warehouse.” This is a very lofty way of saying that for one day each year we keep our doors closed (in Amsterdam and The Hague, at least; our Leidschendam store will be open from 1pm onwards) and count every single book in the store. By hand. And it’s not just a matter of figuring out how many books are on our shelves, either; we register every single one of them by origin and price. In short, it’s a day with a whole lot of numbers.
If you follow us on social media (which you totally should!), you’ve probably seen photos of it in previous years. Our booksellers head into the store in pairs: one person calls out the numbers, the other tallies them on a clipboard. Both positions have their challenges: the caller gets a bit of a workout, stepping on and off stools, stretching for high shelves and yoga-posing on the floor to reach everything. The person tallying usually ends up with a sore hand and cramped shoulders from hunching over.
But it’s not all bad: inventory is one of the very few days of the year that pretty much all staff is present at the same time. We all get to hang out together! And it’s a comfy day, too. Since there’s no need to look particularly presentable for customers’ sakes, people will show up in sweatpants and fluffy socks (and by people, I most definitely mean myself). Plus we pause for a big, catered lunch halfway through the day, and some colleagues bring baked goods to share.
As for what you might notice as we approach February 2nd — well, hopefully not too much! There might be more booksellers than usual camped out in the aisles, going through every single tome. If you’ve already spotted this and have been wondering what the hell we’re up to, manually checking every single book, you’re probably safe to assume that you witnessed some inventory prep. There will also be more downpriced books on the shelves and especially upstairs, so definitely have a look. You might find some great deals!
