If you follow Biblio on Instagram or Twitter, you might have noticed that we’ve been making use of a favorite new hashtag to describe ourselves, our booksellers, and bookshops around the globe: #fiercelyindie
It’s true, and we’re proud of it. Biblio has been independently owned since our creation in 2003. We were built by an independent bookseller who wanted an alternative to Amazon and the other big online retailers who didn’t seem to care about the bookseller and customer relationship.
Despite opportunities to consolidate or sell our business to larger competitors over the years, we have chosen to remain independent so that we can continue our original mission of supporting booksellers around the globe without compromise.
Biblio is a family and employee-owned business that is run by a small, dedicated team from our headquarters in Asheville, North Carolina. We don’t have any huge warehouses or call centers – every call and email is answered by a real person. #fiercelyindie
Being #fiercelyindie means that we provide our employees with a living wage and benefits package. We offer time off for employees to volunteer every month, we support our employees seeking continuing education, and we have claimed a road that we tidy up a few times a year in downtown Asheville through GreenWorks.
Being #fiercelyindie means that we can choose to put our profit where our hearts are – spreading the love of books and reading around the globe. We have helped BiblioWorks to build over 16 libraries throughout rural South America and continue to increase customer donations to literacy and arts charities through our “Round Up For Reading” program in our shopping cart.
Biblio began the Ecosend program in 2007. Even a single book shipment can leave a huge carbon footprint and we are responsible for helping to negate that impact as best we can. Biblio has partnered with NativeEnergy, who calculates our total carbon footprint based on the number of books shipped through sales on all Biblio sites each month. We then purchase investments in an equivalent amount of Native American, farmer-owned, community-based renewable energy projects that create social, economic, and environmental benefits.
Biblio covers all of these offsets as part of our own business expenses so there is no cost to either our customers or booksellers for choosing to shop with the most environmentally-friendly choice for customers when purchasing their books online. #fiercelyindie
So, while we aren’t trying to toot our own horn too much, we want to let people know what Biblio and its team care about. We will keep doing our best to help support independent booksellers, book collectors, and the world around us. Thank you for your help so that we can continue!
Amber is the marketing coordinator at Biblio. A lifelong love of the written word brought her to Biblio and she happily spends her days talking about books and delving into the wide world of antiquarian books.
Wow. I’m a recent customer but I say you can toot your own horn all you want. Your website is easy to use, your offerings are plentiful and varied, service is prompt and with the additional perk of carbon offsets…well that’s having my cake and eating it too. I am pleased too to find a convenient and responsible alternative to Amazon which I work to avoid using if at all possible.
Thanks again.