Light of Islam

I’m getting close to being ready.  I’ve been agonizing over what to do with the front room and finally decided to just put more of the Target bookcases in there.  The guy who owns the barbershop next door came and took a look at the store and said I need many books in the front room.  He liked the wall to wall bookcases in the browsing room.  My stepson is willing to assemble more bookcases, so I’m going to go for it.  I’ll pick those up tomorrow and hopefully he can build them by the end of the week.  I have two relatively big book orders on their way.  I ordered the sign today (smaller letters than the one I linked to in an earlier post).  I am attempting to get internet and phone service, but Comcast is a very strange company.  Hopefully that will happen tomorrow. 

I’m just about done with the application for the wealthy donors group.  That’s due by Friday.

I still need to get new business cards and some kind of promotional material.  I’m thinking a large postcard instead of another brochure.  I can’t believe I haven’t designed it yet, but I’ve been struggling against feelings of being overwhelmed.  Now that I’m finalizing everything I feel more energetic.  Perhaps I will open for real at the end of next week after I get both book orders in and get the suckers shelved. 

Of course there is the grand opening to plan.  I was planning that for August 16 and 17 mostly because my husband has the grand opening of his local political club’s headquarters on the 23rd.  I’m feeling now, though, that I may need to just go ahead and have mine on the 23rd and 24th.  Yes, I’m almost sure I’ll do that, although I haven’t discussed it with my husband yet.  I’d really like to do it later, but Ramadan will start August 31/September 1.  I’d almost like to have a real grand opening after Ramadan, but I guess I need the event to get the word out.

My back is hanging in there.  I just have to avoid too much strenuous reaching and lifting. 

So I’m getting there!  And feeling more energy!  Photos tomorrow – I think you’ll be pleased with the progress.

[And by the way, tonight I was Best Speaker at the JSC Toastmaster meeting for the second week in a row.  I'm awesome ]

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Light of Islam is a nonprofit bookstore whose mission is to provide the Houston-area community with accurate and accessible information about Islam and Muslims. Find out more at http://www.light-of-islam.org/.

My back is still really bothering me so I made the decision to stay home and rest as much as I can, take some Flexeril and ice and heat my back.  I got inspired and wrote up the core of my application to the Houston donors group and wrote a blog post for the Chronicle, believe it or not.  I’ve done some reading too.  Hopefully tomorrow I’ll feel better.

As promised…with commentary.

This is the classroom now – tables and chairs included!  I got these folding tables so we can have different configurations depending on the activity.  I can’t recall if I wrote about it before, but it was a real pain finding them, strangely enough.  Finally got them at an Office Depot up the road from the store.

The browsing room is coming along.  I am going to be adding one more of those tall bookcases so they extend all the way to the wall.  (I’m definitely doing this design as I go…)

Here is another view of the browsing room.

This photo includes a glimpse of the classroom across the hall to the right to give a sense of how it’s laid out – how it looks when you walk in. 

This is the coffee table “display” by the window in the browsing room.

I’m going to get 2-3 more of these bookcases and put them back to back or something.  The front room will have the cash wrap, these bookcases, an information table, a display table, and the tall bookshelf that’s already in there.

Hopefully I’ll make a dent in the book shelving tomorrow – I threw my 47-year-old back out and it has been really painful.  I’m going to have to get better, though, because I’m making one more large book order today or tomorrow.

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Light of Islam is a nonprofit bookstore whose mission is to provide the Houston-area community with accurate and accessible information about Islam and Muslims. Find out more at www.light-of-islam.org/.

This is the mock-up the sign company sent me to show what the lettering of their sign would look like.  I’ve asked him to show me a design with smaller letters, but it looks cool, doesn’t it?

light-of-islam-bookstore-sign

I know I promised photos to show the latest development but I forgot the camera and haven’t been back to the store since I left a couple hours ago.  I have to be there tomorrow morning because the HVAC guy is coming to figure out why the right side of the store is SO HOT.  The AC doesn’t get the temp lower than about 82 degrees.  I got so tired this afternoon shelving books in the browsing room in that heat.  I was waiting and waiting for UPS with my big book order and Fed Ex with my chairs.  I took one of my armless chairs and put it in the front room and started reading and got so sleepy.  I went back to the browsing room and dozed in one of the armchairs.  Then I tried out the coffee machine for the first time and fortunately it works.

It’s coming along.  I may need just one more medium sized book order to fill the place.  I think I should get some Spanish-language books.  All I have is a few Spanish Qur’an translations.  I still need to figure out how to properly deck out the front room…

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Light of Islam is a nonprofit bookstore whose mission is to provide the Houston-area community with accurate and accessible information about Islam and Muslims. Find out more at http://www.light-of-islam.org/.

It’s amazing to see the thing I have been talking about for so long become real.  Today my very industrious stepson put together the last of my bookcases and moved them into the browsing room.  He also made the excellent suggestion to put the coffee table and two armless chairs at the window, which I NEVER would have thought to do just because my brain doesn’t work that way.  It looked really good and then I realized that it doubles as a display.  (The windows are semi-opaque and reflective, so it’s hard to see things that aren’t right up against the window.)  Now when you walk past it’s quite obvious what is in there. 

I got both orders from Baker and Taylor and the smaller of the two big orders from islamicbookstore.com.  The larger is scheduled to arrive on Monday.  I’m also expecting a small shipment from the University of California Press.  I don’t think I’ve ordered enough yet.  It’s hard to imagine how massive an undertaking it is to fill a store, even a small one like LOI.  (The total selling space is around 600 sq ft.)  More fun tomorrow…still haven’t bought the tables from Office Depot, but the chairs are scheduled to be delivered from Sam’s Club.  Hopefully the HVAC people will be by tomorrow to check on the faulty AC situation.  I think I still need one more five-shelf bookcase.  I’m picking up a large chair or small love seat (not sure which) from a friend and supporter tomorrow evening.  It’s all coming together.  Pictures tomorrow.  I think you’ll be amazed at how it looks.

Light of Islam is a nonprofit bookstore whose mission is to provide the Houston-area community with accurate and accessible information about Islam and Muslims. Find out more at http://www.light-of-islam.org/.

I got to the store about 9:30 this morning and stayed long enough to receive my first book shipment (which was just one box) and attempt to do some work without a computer or desk or chair.  I finally left because I was just too antsy and it was hot in there – I have a call in to maintenance to find out what the deal is.  There is a thermostat for each side of the space and one side is much, much hotter than the other – unfortunate especially because those rooms are the browsing room and the classroom, the places where people probably need to be the most comfortable.  Hopefully it will get straightened out without my having to spend a lot more in electric bills by turning up the AC. 

Speaking of which, I finally got the electric in LOI’s name today – a process that took like a full half hour.  Nothing is simple, it seems.  I still don’t know what I’m going to do about internet and phone.  That’s a long story, but suffice it to say it should NOT be so difficult, and I’ve put that decision at a lower priority than others.  I decided this morning that the most important things right now are furniture and books – and by the time all the books are in I need to have all the furniture I need and have it in the right places.  Which, like everything else, is not as easy as you might think.  At any rate, I finally found the tables I want for the classroom at the Office Depot on NASA Road 1.  I ordered 20 folding chairs from Sam’s Club and they are scheduled to be delivered on Friday.  I still need to get at least 2 more bookcases, 2-3 tables of different sizes, a desk and a chair.  And the cash wrap, but I still don’t know what to do about that.

I got really frustrated today.  I’m upset with myself – after all the planning I am not as ready as I should be.  It’s like I knew mostly what I needed or want to do, but thought it would all come out of the air by magic.  I didn’t think, for instance, about the fact that I can’t carry all the furniture or assemble it all.  I am just not ready for prime time and I am upset.

Sitting in the store today making phone calls and waiting for the delivery made me feel sad, almost homesick for the environment I’ve been in for four and a half years.  Working from home got me unused to a lot of things, among them wearing real street clothes rather than pajamas or sweats, having to bring breakfast/lunch instead of having a whole kitchen available, and wearing a head scarf all day long, which makes the heat in there worse for me.  I had that same feeling you get when you’re away from home – kind of out of place and missing familiar surroundings.  I finally left the store about 1:00, got home and raced to my computer.  After dhuhr I’m off to Target to get the rest of my furniture, and possibly to Office Depot to pay for my tables (my husband and I will have to pick them up later, since they won’t fit in my car).  I have some other shopping to do as well.  It feels so good to be out and about.  If I get enough done I can go to JSC Toastmasters tonight.  Yesterday was my last Boeing TM meeting, which was sad.

Bottom line is that despite all the planning I’m still overwhelmed by the process of opening a store.  I guess I’ll cut myself some slack…this is first time opening a bookstore after all

Light of Islam is a nonprofit bookstore whose mission is to provide the Houston-area community with accurate and accessible information about Islam and Muslims. Find out more at http://www.light-of-islam.org/.

Today I passed the building, electrical and fire marshal inspections and tomorrow will go to city hall and get my certificate of occupancy.  Then I’m legal to operate!  The process was super simple.

I’m really tired.  Tomorrow my first book shipment will be in (now that I’ve straightened out an address issue with UPS).  Off to bed.

I was thinking today that maybe I should open either Friday afternoon or Monday – or Tuesday.  I haven’t decided on my hours yet.  I think I will open at 3 p.m. on Friday so as to avoid conflict with jumuah, and I’m thinking about being closed on Monday.  The rest of the days I think I’ll be open 11-8 or 12-8. 

At any rate, once I have my big book orders in I should be able to open my doors for business, I would think.  I’d be missing a lot of things but nothing that would keep me from functioning.

I’ll be getting an estimate on the exterior sign tomorrow.  I still haven’t switched utilities to my name yet.  And I think I’m going to order tables and chairs for the classroom from Sam’s Club online and have them delivered.  That may take 2-3 weeks, but I’ll take my chances.

In many ways I feel overwhelmed.  I just keep making lists and trying to plow ahead.  I plan for tomorrow to be the first day I actually spend the day in the store rather than darting in and out.  The first shipment of books is scheduled to arrive Wednesday, but according to the UPS web site one of them has already arrived in Houston, so I don’t know if I’ll get that tomorrow.

Light of Islam is a nonprofit bookstore whose mission is to provide the Houston-area community with accurate and accessible information about Islam and Muslims. Find out more at http://www.light-of-islam.org/.

It’s coming along, bit by bit…

This is the “browsing room” (still haven’t quite pinned down what to call each of the two front rooms) – you can see the chairs still have tags on them.  I’ve shelved all the 170 books I have in stock just to see what the bookcases look like with actual books in them.

This is a view from inside the browsing room looking into the hallway.  That chair looks comfy, doesn’t it?  Just like I promised.  And the coffeemaker and hot water dispenser (for tea) are ready as promised as well

These are the accent chairs (if that’s what they’re called), coffee table and side table in a completely random configuration.

A view to show where the windows are – as you can see, the mini-blinds need a bit of straightening.

The front room – the brown bookcase was $20 from a thrift shop, and the black one to the left was $30 at Target and assembled for free by my expert team (husband and stepson).  The “Light of Islam Bookstore” sign on the floor is from the MAS convention.  It was the marker for my booth and I was sooooo excited to see it - it was the first time Light of Islam seemed really tangible.  I am going to tape it in the window with a sign that says “Coming soon.”

The front room looking to the right – another perfectly assembled bookcase.

All you need to open a bookstore – a bookcase, some books, a couple hammers, a display rack, Starbucks and water.

The storage closet is coming along nicely.  (BTW, I assembled the vacuum cleaner.)

My office – for now the room where all the discarded boxes await the dumpster.

The classroom…still nothing more than a place to temporarily store stuff.

It’s so awesome that it’s real!  And with the browsing room shaping up it almost feels like someone’s home – the browsing room is like a living room.  Masha Allah so far, so good!