Not Just for Restaurants: Barrett Bookstore Now Offers Curbside Pickup, Free Delivery Service

Barrett Bookstore has announced that it’s started a curbside pickup service for books that you can order from the store website. Or don’t go to the curbside: The store now also has free delivery to addresses in Darien and Rowayton.

The store joins lots of Darien restaurants now offering delivery, take-out and curbside service (and remember, it’s becoming a lot easier to park downtown). While authorities are urging you to keep your social distance, COVID-19 is hitting the world economy like an asteroid smacking the planet, you can still support some Darien stores without going inside.

• Editor’s note: A slew of bookstores around the country are doing what Barrett Bookstore is doing with curbside pickup and deliveries. See these news articles, many of them published just today.

Here’s the full text of the announcement from the store’s emailed newsletter:

Dear Readers,

When we titled our last communication “In Like a Lion” we didn’t know just how true that would prove to be. Just a few short days later, we are facing an unprecedented situation and we’ve been wrestling, as all businesses have, with how to approach what comes next.

We are trying to balance being able to provide much requested relief in the form of books, puzzles, and games reading while ensuring we are doing the right thing for our community. To that end we’ve made several changes that we hope will allow us to bring you resources without sacrificing safety.

We are, for the time being, offering curbside pickup and free delivery in Darien and Rowayton. If you have questions, feel free to ring the store during business hours and we’d be happy to help. Details below on how to purchase on the website and request delivery/pickup.

If you show up and know what you want, please feel free to ask a staff member for assistance in securing the book and we will pull it from the shelf for you. As always, we’re also here to provide recommendations.

Minimums have been waived for credit card purchases and we also accept contactless methods of payment. This morning we installed an automatic button so you don’t need to grab door handles and we’ve doubled down on our cleaning regimen to ensure the store is clean as can be.

Don’t need hard copy books right now? Two other ways to support our work:

• The ever-amazing Libro.fm is running a special – for a limited period of time when you sign up you will get 2 books for the price of one AND they will send all proceeds directly back to Barrett — this is a big deal! Sign up here.
• You can also purchase a gift card for yourself, friends, and family to be used now or in the future.

Finally, we will aim to keep you posted on what’s going on in the wider literary world with updates on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.