Swarthmore Campus & Community Store
B.E. Exon (right) with Director Paula Dale. Photo: Randall Exon
Director: Paula Dale
What do they do? The Swarthmore Campus & Community Store, part of Swarthmore College, operates as a full-service general bookstore, offering a curated selection of literary works as well as college textbooks. They also carry Swarthmore College apparel, gifts, greeting cards for all occasions, art and office supplies, candy, beverages, health and beauty items, and small tech accessories. The store specializes in interesting gifts — some made by groups that are fair-trade and/or give back to good causes.
How long has the business been in Swarthmore? Swarthmore College’s bookstore is many decades old, but it moved to its current location in 2016. The bookstore’s name was changed at that time to reflect that it serves the town of Swarthmore as well as the college.
How can people continue to support them during the shutdown? Although the bookstore is currently closed to protect its staff and the community, textbooks and Swarthmore-imprinted merchandise are available for order online at store.swarthmore.edu/home and can be picked up curbside or shipped. If you’d like to order something you don’t see online, email the bookstore at Store@Swarthmore.edu.
The store welcomes reviews on Google or Yelp, and a “follow” on Facebook and Instagram is always nice.
What’s a favorite item? “Love in the Time of Cholera,” by Gabriel García Márquez, which is the “One Book, One Swarthmore” selection for 2020. This program, sponsored by the Swarthmore Public Library, promotes literacy and community dialogue through discussion of a single book. Programming will be May 26-29.
How much? $16.95.
Note: For this item only, the store is offering free contactless delivery to any address with a 19081 zip code. Email your order to Store@Swarthmore.edu or leave a message at 610-328-7756. For those outside the 19081 zip code, curbside pickup is available.
A favorite moment as a merchant: The bookstore’s most recent children’s author event was a multi-sensory extravaganza featuring B. E. Exon (“Mrs. X” to her former Wallingford-Swarthmore kindergarten students). Music played as the children arrived, and Exon wore an appliquéd “story apron” of her own creation as she greeted them. Pointing to one appliquéd image after another, she told the story of how she became an author and illustrator, and how her book “Moxie and the Kite Bite’n Ash” came to be written. To the delight of the audience, she also brought out Arf-Arf the dog, who does not know he is a puppet. Then she read her book aloud. In the pause that followed, one small person was heard to say, “That’s a GOOD story!” The event ended with a festive bang — the “pop” of a confetti popper showering rainbow confetti.
