The bundles and boxes of books are back at the former Bon-Ton building at Park City Center.
After their very successful sale a year ago, the dozens of volunteers of the Friends of the Lancaster Public Library are moving more than a quarter-million used books, along with thousands of other items such as CDs, DVDs and vinyl records, into the former department store space.
The annual sale, which raised $108,000 last year for the Lancaster Public Library, will run Monday through Wednesday.
Pat Ditzler, book operations chair for the friends group, says the Bon-Ton space worked out very well for the book sale last year, after the group’s usual sale venue at the Franklin & Marshall College Alumni Sports & Fitness Center could not be used because of the pandemic.
The 80,000 square feet of space in the former department store building allows volunteers to put a lot of space between the sale tables.
“The place is so huge, we didn’t have a problem with (social distancing) last year,” Ditzler says.
While the used books are the big draw for the three-day sale, Ditzler says, the friends are selling an extra-large number of CDs and DVDs this year.
“I asked for two more tables (than last year) for the CDs and DVDs,” Ditzler says. “We’ve got a lot.
“One thing we’re doing differently this year is that we’ll have a table of puzzles and games,” Ditzler says.
Those puzzles and games would normally be sold at the friends group’s annual garage sale at its Book ReSort warehouse on Marshall Street, which isn’t being held this year.
There will be a few other garage sale-type items interspersed with the books in certain categories, Ditzler says, such as Christmas decorations, blank journals and boxes of yoga cards.
“There will be some little oddball things they come across as they’re shopping,” she says.
For some reason, Ditzler adds, the friends got a lot of donations of foreign language books, so there will be plenty of those on the sales tables this year.
As usual, there will be two color-coded sides to the sale; one side has more expensive, individually priced books, while the other contains standard-priced books at 50 cents for paperbacks and $2 for hardcovers.
With Lancaster County still at a “high” COVID-19 transmission level, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, safety precautions will be in place again this year at the sale.
All volunteers and everyone coming to the book sale must wear a mask over their mouth and nose, Ditzler says.
Again this year, the entrance to the sale will be through the front doors off the parking lot, facing Harrisburg Pike, Ditzler says, which formerly opened onto the Bon-Ton shoe department.
After passing through the area where volunteers will be counting and taking payment for the books, shoppers will exit through the door on the side that faces Boscov’s.
Once you’ve read through the stack of books you’ll buy at next week’s sale, you can donate them back so they’ll raise money at a future sale.
As of Sept. 1, Ditzler says, people can again start bringing donations of books, CDs, DVDs, vinyl records, games and more to the Book ReSort at 225 N. Marshall St. The warehouse accepts donations Mondays and Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to noon.
• What: Friends of the Lancaster Public Library’s annual Big Book Sale to benefit the Lancaster Public Library.
• When: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday.
• Where: The former Bon-Ton department store building, Park City Center, Lancaster.
• Details: More than 250,000 used books will be for sale, along with thousands of other items such as used books, vinyl records, CDs, DVDs, jigsaw puzzles and more. Paperbacks start at 50 cents; hardbacks at $2. Wednesday is half-price day.
• COVID-19: Face masks that cover the mouth and nose must be worn by everyone coming to the sale.
• Information: lanc.news/FriendsBookSales.
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