FAQs

What do you sell?

Books (for all ages)! Coffee! Ice cream, candy, newspapers, milkshakes, toasts, soup, salads, baked goods, sodas, drinks, house-made treats, snacks, gifts, toys, stationery, cards, and more more more!

Do you have seats? 

Sorry, we do not have seating and offer take out items only.

Can you special order books that you don’t carry?

Generally yes! Let us know the books you are looking for and we can order them for you. Just give us a couple of days. You can text us at 914.334.8019 for assistance.

Can you ship?

If you are looking to send a book, if you order through www.bookshop.org/shop/katonahreadingroom they give us a portion of the sales — super easy and supporting local!

What is your approach to take out containers and the environment?

Due to the local water protection laws, we can only use a limited amount of water per year.  The Board of Health and the Town of Bedford require us to use only disposable items. We take recycling seriously. The vast majority of our disposables end up in our single-stream recycling bins. We recycle double the amount that we throw away. And use as many compostable containers and solutions as we can find.

How do you calculate your prices? Why do items at your store cost more than chain stores?

We calculate our prices based on our own costs for products, staff, and over-head.  Because we purchase less than chains, we are charged higher wholesale prices.  And we buy REALLY great stuff, and hire REALLY wonderful people who deserve to be compensated for it.  We also only pay staff on the books.  And we pay our taxes.  It’s tough to be legit.

Why is “buy local” an important thing to do?

Local stores set the tone for the town, they increase property values, they pay local taxes, they employ local folks, and they support local charities. So if it helps, think of every item you buy going to support your local school or town infrastructure!

Can you give to my…(insert school name, non-profit, team, church, etc)?

We love to give to our community and although we wish we could support every cause in the area, we have to pick and choose or we’ll go out of business loving up all of the great organizations out there.  In order to be as fair as possible in our giving, we have a system… click here to read more about it and how to submit a request.

Author seeking to get your book on our shelves?

Thank you for your interest in getting your book on our shelves. Our policy is generally to sell only books we can get from our distributor — Ingram.  Our store is so small that we have to be able to order one book at a time, and our profits are so small that we have to be able to return books that do not sell within three months to make room for other titles. If you can get Ingram to carry it, let me know and we will see what we can do. If you’d like to give us an advanced copy to read and hope that we are sold on it, we love to read and if your books grabs a staff member’s attention, you’re golden. If you’d like to drop a book to us, feel free, but please only if you don’t expect to get it back. We can’t be responsible for returning books. We do not host author events at this time.

Didn’t cover your question? Email us at info@katonahreadingroom.com.