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2003 Annual Report of the St. Vartan Gift and Bookshop
The most promising event for the St. Vartan Gift and Bookshop in 2004 was the further development of its website—www.stvartanbookstore.com. The addition of new items on the website on a weekly basis is a continuing process. When the bookstore’s online business was launched (mid-Nov. 2003), it covered some 180 existing items for sale; by the end of 2004 it covered 598 items. From its inception to the end of 2004, the website generated 625 actual orders. Without negating the importance of online business, we probably need another year or two before we can achieve what the defunct bookstore catalogue generated in terms of sales.
With respect to the products we carry, we had pretty good choices of novelties in many categories, including many exclusive ones. For this year and next, we are working to produce gift items related to the 1600th anniversary of the invention of the Armenian alphabet. It is our intent to keep pace with new publications, music releases, and gift items, and to develop novelties for the bookstore.
The St. Vartan Bookstore has been open and operating on Sundays, as well as on Armenian feast days. Out-of-state and foreign customers have evidently appreciated having such a nice bookstore with such a large selection.
Gross Sales for 2004: A breakdown by product category:
- Category Total Sales
- Armenian Books $ 11,040.75
- Armenian Language 33,455.60
- Art Books 14,853.00
- Cookbooks 11,945.00
- Children’s Books 12,851.35
- Curriculum 19,254.50
- Dictionaries 5,672.60
- English Books 4,555.55
- English Books History 23,075.30
- English Books Literature 8,404.05
- Gift Items 42,978.66
- Jewelry 19,985.10
- Music Sheets 4,720.50
- Posters, Cards 2,677.30
- Religious Books 33,319.15
- Records, Cassettes, Videos 44,122.64
- Religious Education Books 3,180.55
- Religious Jewelry 160.00
- Non-inventory Items 210.00
Total $ 296,461.60
Personnel: The manager of the St. Vartan Book and Gift Shop is Nazareth Salbashian. A note of appreciation is due to Jake Goshert, of the Diocesan communications directorate, for regularly updating the website inventory.