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shop Ridgewood : North Jersey businesses boost social media sophistication

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AUGUST 19, 2015    LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2015, 8:56 AM
BY MELANIE ANZIDEI
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

With more and more potential customers flocking to Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and other social-media options, small businesses stand to benefit from having a more dynamic and engaging online presence.

Small businesses are becoming more sophisticated in their use of social media, picking and choosing what works best for them, while at the same time effectively gauging the return on their investment in social media.

For custom storage company California Closets, which opened a Ridgewood location in July, social media was one way it got the word out about its new storefront.

“Before, [social media] was a fun thing to do,” said Melanie Statlander, 37, marketing manager for the company’s North Jersey outlets. “Now, you really can promote your business.” Statlander directs social media messages now to target specific audiences. To announce the opening of the Ridgewood store, “I boosted a post only within a five-mile radius of Ridgewood,” she said.

The success of Statlander’s social media campaigns is measured by how many users actually come in and buy the company’s product. Recently, a customer said she found the company through Facebook.

“It’s good to reach people [through social media], but you want to reach the right people — your clients,” she said.

California Closets, which has more than 100 showrooms nationwide, has the advantage of a staff that can sustain an engaging social media presence. Though Statlander is responsible for the company’s North Jersey Facebook and Twitter pages — in addition to her other marketing duties, the company’s California-based corporate office has one person working solely on the company’s Instagram and Pinterest pages, which helps promote the company’s overall brand more aggressively and nationally.

For smaller businesses, having one employee committed to social media is not always an option.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/business/north-jersey-businesses-boost-social-media-sophistication-1.1394341

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Sidewalk sale comes up big for Ridgewood stores, shoppers

parking CBD fullhouse theridgewoodblog.net

AUGUST 14, 2015    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2015, 12:31 AM
BY MATTHEW SCHNEIDER
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

The response from downtown retailers and patrons makes it clear: last week’s Summer Sidewalk Sale was a success.

The sale, which took place on Aug. 6 through 8, involved Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce businesses, which set up their wares outside in the sunshine. This helped to draw in customers, as passersby browsed a store’s merchandise without actually entering the storefront.

“People who don’t normally go to your store will pass by, see merchandise out [on the sidewalk], buy stuff and come in and take a look at what you have,” said Victor Idy, owner of Victor’s clothing store. “You make a lot of customers that way. It softens up your store; it makes it more appealing to customers who might not have come in to come in.”

In addition to drawing new customers, the sidewalk sale attracts new visitors to downtown Ridgewood, noted Walter Boyer, co-owner of Bookends.

“I think what it does is it increases foot traffic to our town, which is obviously very important,” he said. “I think a lot of shoppers from neighboring towns come here, so we get a lot of exposure from not just Ridgewood residents, but from other neighboring towns who come to these types of events.”

https://www.northjersey.com/news/business/sidewalk-sale-comes-up-big-for-businesses-customers-1.1392395

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shop Ridgewood : Ridgewood’s business district stays on upswing

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AUGUST 12, 2015    LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12, 2015, 10:42 AM
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

A renaissance of sorts is taking place in downtown Ridgewood, one of many business districts to nearly bottom out during the recession born in the previous decade.

In late 2009, two years after the collapse of the once-robust housing market, The Ridgewood News identified roughly 40 vacant storefronts in the Central Business District (CBD), and a handful of others teetered financially. That was, however, as low as the times would go.

Fortunes began to change as merchants made smarter business decisions and consumer confidence grew.

“It felt like a whole different time back then, but you could sense a turnaround coming,” according to Joan Groome, executive director of the Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce.

Just one year after reaching basement numbers, the amount of downtown vacancies was slashed in half. Groome had accompanied the newspaper on a walking tour of the CBD in late summer of 2010 and counted just 20 empty storefronts.

She was back out there with The Ridgewood News last week, cutting through Tuesday morning humidity to evaluate the downtown business climate on the eve of this weekend’s Summer Sidewalk Sale. During the stroll, she remarked on the business district’s recovery and the community-wide effort to improve the CBD.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/business/downtown-ridgewood-stays-on-upswing-1.1391054

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MARK LEVIN BOOK SIGNING DRAWS OVERFLOW CROWD AT BOOKENDS IN RIDGEWOOD

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by WILLIAM BIGELOW9 Aug 2015

On Sunday, multiple New York Times bestselling author and syndicated radio host Mark Levin packed Bookends Bookstore in Ridgewood, New Jersey, with fans eager to get a signed copy of his latest book Plunder and Deceit.

The book has received widespread praise for its incisive look at the breakdown of our governmental system as well as the perverse mentality that government dependency has spawned for Americans who would never willingly impoverish their children yet do so in the name of statism.

According to one attendee at the Sunday book signing, Levin signed over 1000 books. Pictures showed large crowds lined up both inside and outside the store. Levin has packed events for the last several weeks—he is scheduled to speak at the Reagan Library on August 16 and, according to sources familiar with the event, the event sold out of all 1,500 tickets within minutes of tickets becoming available.

https://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2015/08/09/mark-levin-book-signing-draws-overflow-crowd/

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Mark Levin’s Visit to Bookends Revives old Controversy on eligibility requirements to run for or hold the office of President of the United States

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August 8,2015

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Mark Levin at Bookends Sunday, August 9th @ 10:00am
New York Times Bestselling author and syndicated talk-show host, Mark Levin, will sign his new book: Plunder & Deceit
Bookends, 211 E. Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ   07450   201-445-0726

“Mark was shown where he made a mistake in stating in [an end note] that delegates from Vermont belatedly attended the constitutional convention in Philadelphia in 1787. In reality, Vermont was not even a state until 1791. Before that it was a disputed territory between New Hampshire and New York. So Vermonters were not asked to nor were they qualified to attend the Philadelphia convention. He gave his challenger no credit for reading his book carefully and bringing this non-trivial mistake to his attention. He then refused to sign the book on the page where the [end note] appeared and showed distinct signs of impatience and annoyance when he opened the front of the book and began to sign it.”

Well, it’s now almost two years on from the August 18, 2013 booksigning event at Ridgewood’s Bookends bookstore at which a Ridgewood resident: 1) informed Mr. Levin that he had made the above-described end note error in his new book, “The Liberty Amendments,” and 2) asked him the following question when he was signing his copy of the new book: According to what possible definition of the Constitutional term Natural Born Citizen is your friend Ted Cruz eligible to run for or hold the office of President of the United States?

Fast forward to August, 2015, and Mark’s friend Ted Cruz is trailing badly to a GOP frontrunner (Donald Trump) who earlier this year squarely questioned Cruz’s eligibility to run for or hold the office of POTUS based on the indisputable fact that Cruz was born in 1970 in Alberta, Canada. So, the question posed by the Ridgewood, NJ resident to Mark Levin on August 18, 2013, and to which Levin reacted so very poorly by berating and slandering his interlocutor that very day at the Bookends booksigning event, and on August 19, 2013 and August 29, 2013 on his nationally syndicated radio program, remains both relevant and unanswered (that is, at least, if you were to ask his opponents in the race for the Republican Party nomination for President if the United States).

What else is happening in August, 2015? Well, among other things, Mark Levin has written a new book, “Plunder and Deceit”, which was released yesterday, August 4th. Many hardcover copies of this new book are on display and available for sale at Bookends in Ridgewood. Apparently, Levin is just as eager as he was two years ago to secure sufficiently high early sales numbers to land himself on the New York Times bestseller list, because he is once again scheduled to attend a summer booksigning event for his new book at Bookends in Ridgewood, this time on Sunday, August 9, 2015. (It seems the New York Times tracks book sales at a select few (perhaps ten?) bookstores in the Northeast Corridor to determine book placement on its various bestseller lists, and…who knew?…Bookends in Ridgewood is one of those select few bookstores!)

This commenter, curious to know if Mark Levin had “found the time” to look into the above-discussed problem with the erroneous end note in “The Liberty Amendments,” went to Bookends on the release date of “Plunder and Deceit” (yesterday, Tuesday, August 4, 2015) and found a copy of the paperback version of “The Liberty Amendments”, the first edition of which was published perhaps a year ago, well after Mr. Levin had been informed of the error in the original hardcover version.

So after all this, after recklessly abusing the Ridgewood resident who brought the mistake to his attention,: 1) did Levin and his publisher find, upon reflection, that he had in fact made the above-discussed mistake in his end note in the original hardcover version?, and 2) if the answer to question number 1 is ‘yes’, did Levin and his publisher make an appropriate correction to that end note in the subsequently-published paperback version?

As it turns out, the answers to those two questions are as follows: 1) Yes; and 2) No.

The footnote was changed to eliminate the earlier reference to the disputed territory of Vermont. So the Vermont reference was acknowledged as a mistake. This much is commendable. However, the context of the end note in question (i.e., the passage of the main text with which the end note is associated), required Levin and his publisher to insert in place of “Vermont” the name of the actual state (in addition to New Hampshire), delegates from which had not yet completed the trip to Philadelphia to attend the Constitutional Convention. This Levin and his publisher failed to do. Just how much spoonfeeding do they need to get this right?

So the end note in question remains screwed up, almost two years after “The Liberty Amendments” was released. Does anyone in the vast TheRidgewoodBlog readership know what original state Levin is still neglecting to recognize as one of the twelve (Rhode Island objected to the whole idea of the convention and never sent any delegates) that faithfully participated in the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention in 1787?

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Kilwins Celebrates their First Anniversary – Aug 8

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Kilwins Celebrates their First Anniversary – Aug 8

Kilwins Ridgewood
1st Anniversary Celebration!

In-store specials all day,
Saturday, August 8th, 2015 ONLY!

11am-12pm
Free single scoop of ice cream
(limit 1 per person, in a dish)

12pm-2pm
Free 2oz bag of fresh caramel corn
(first 200 customers)

2pm-4pm
$2.00 off a traditional caramel apple
(regularly $4.95)

4pm-6pm
Free upgrade to waffle cone
with any ice cream purchase

6pm-11pm
BOGO all fudge slices

Visit Us at 121 E Ridgewood Ave

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New signs point Ridgewood shoppers in right direction

street signs

file photo Boyd Loving

AUGUST 5, 2015    LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5, 2015, 2:28 PM
BY MARK KRULISH
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

New signs erected in the Central Business District (CBD) aim to inform pedestrians of the local businesses and restaurants that can be found on side streets of the village’s main drag.

Residents and visitors patronizing downtown Ridgewood can now use one of the four existing way-finding signs along East Ridgewood Avenue to help them identify places not easily visible from the main roadway.

These way-finding signs are currently situated at the corners of Oak Street, Chestnut Street, North Broad Street and, most recently, South Broad Street at East Ridgewood Avenue.

The concept of way-finding signs in the CBD was presented by Chamber of Commerce President Paul Vagianos to the Village Council in February and was given good reviews by members of the governing body.

“I think it makes a lot of sense to highlight the businesses on the side streets,” said Councilman Michael Sedon at that meeting. “I agree with your initial thinking. If you’re walking down the main thoroughfare, those businesses are right there in front of you.”

The purchase of a black with gold trim die-cast metal sign is open to all businesses located on a side street, regardless of chamber membership. Businesses located on East Ridgewood Avenue are not eligible to have a sign on the posts. The project also does not extend beyond the railroad tracks.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/business/new-signs-point-shoppers-to-stores-1.1386715

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Village of Ridgewood Summer Sidewalk Sale Days

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Summer Sidewalk Sale Days
Thu, August 06, 2015 – Sat, August 08, 2015
Time: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Location: Downtown Ridgewood, E Ridgewood Ave., Ridgewood, NJ 07450
Event Description

Participating Stores:
Alex and Ani 134 E. Ridgewood Ave
Anik 119 E. Ridgewood Ave
Beauty Plus Salon 25 E. Ridgewood Ave
Bookends 211 E. Ridgewood Ave
Brain Balance Allendale-by Park
B Witching 130 1/2 E. Ridgewood Ave
DoubleTake Consignment 189 E. Ridgewood Ave
Duxiana 63 E. Ridgewood Ave
Family Chiropractors of Ridgewood-E. Ridgewood
Femmebot 203 E. Ridgewood Ave
Fusion Academy Englewood-In front of the Park
Goldfish Swim School
Gypsy Warrior 125 E. Ridgewood Ave
Huntington Learning Center- In front of Park
Just Our Shoes/Mephisto 16 N. Walnut St
Kate Spade 202 E. Ridgewood Ave
Leapn’ Lizards-E. Ridgewood Ave.
Learning Express 111 E. Ridgewood Ave
Little Skye Children’s Store-171 E. Ridgewood Ave.
Loft 41 Jewelry Studio 41 E. Ridgewood Ave
Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt 171 E. Ridgewood Ave
Panico Salon & Spa 144 E. Ridgewood Ave
P. Smith & Co. 65 E. Ridgewood Ave
Persifor-by the Park
Park West Tavern
Pink Bungalow 185 E. Ridgewood Ave
RACEFASTER 211 E. Ridgewood Ave
Red Velvet Luxe 59 E Ridgewood Ave
Ridgewood Bootery 200 E. Ridgewood Ave
Serene Yoga Reiki & Massage- E. Ridgewood Ave.
Shoe Inn – 53 E. Ridgewood Ave.
Storm Guard Restoration by the Park
The Couture Baby 82 E. Ridgewood
Town & Country Apothecary 60 E. Ridgewood Ave
40 Day Reset – by Park

VINYASA YOGA BY EQUINOX
Equinox Paramus, the leaders in luxury fitness, bring you Vinyasa yoga with one of our renowned instructors before you hit the Ridgewood Sidewalk Sale. Participate in a more athletic approach to yoga characterized by flowing poses and sequences that are linked to the breath. Mats will be provided and all levels are welcome.
Van Neste Square
August 8
10 a.m. to 11 a.m.
RSVP to [email protected]

For more details, please call us at 201-445-2600 or email [email protected] www.experienceridgewood.com

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Tobacco Shop of Ridgewood celebrates its 35th anniversary in Ridgewood

Tobacco Shop of Ridgewood

August 2,2015

the staff of the Ridgewood blogRidgewood NJ, Imagine owning a shop that is so good , you get a Davidoff cigar special addition named after you ? The store is Tobacco Shop of Ridgewood, celebrates its 35th anniversary this year. Through the Davidoff Retailer Anniversary program, the company offers its Davidoff appointed merchants a chance at having a special cigar made for major anniversaries. Each year, the company creates a variety of blends in a specific size and lets the interested retailers choose which blend they would like. Last year, four stores participated in the program.

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And here it is the Davidoff Tobacconist of Ridgewood 35th Anniversary is a 6 x 52 toro with a Dominican wrapper, Ecuadorian Connecticut binder and Dominican fillers including San Vicente visos and piloto seco from different regions.The cigar was released on June 10. Pricing is set at $22 per cigar and the cigar will be limited to 300 boxes of 10.

Tobacco Shop of Ridgewood is also a Davidoff lounge and is owned by Barbara and Gary Kolesaire.Last year they opened a new cigar lounge on the third floor.
It is a private space for members only, the lounge is open Monday through Friday until 10 p.m.; Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Sunday from 12:30 to 7:30 p.m. A host or hostess is always on the premises to open the door to the lounge, which has a separate entrance from the shop.

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This year marked the second year in arow that Gary received an industry service award at Davidoff’s Golden Band Awards.

The Tobacco Shop of Ridgewood, 10 Chestnut Street, Ridgewood, New Jersey 07450
Phone: 201-447-2204 | Email: [email protected]
Hours: Monday – Saturday 10:00AM – 5:30PM and Thursday Night 6:30PM – 8:30PM

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Kings of Ridgewood to offer Zaro’s bakery Products

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July 28,2015

the staff of the Ridgeood blogRidgewood NJ, Kings Food Markets is proud to announce that Zaro’s bakery will be expanding their delicious bakery selection into each of our stores! Zaro’s products range from layer cakes to pastries, specializing in kosher baked goods including rugelach, challah and babka. Be sure to stop by your local Kings today and enjoy the new selection.

112 N Maple Ave, Ridgewood, NJ 07450
(201) 493-4924
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Shop Ridgewood : Summer Sidewalk Sale Days

RidgewoodSidewalkSale the Ridgewood blog

Summer Sidewalk Sale Days
Thu, August 06, 2015 – Sat, August 08, 2015
Time: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Location: Downtown Ridgewood, E Ridgewood Ave., Ridgewood, NJ 07450
Event Description

Participating Stores:
Alex and Ani 134 E. Ridgewood Ave
Anik 119 E. Ridgewood Ave
Beauty Plus Salon 25 E. Ridgewood Ave
Bookends 211 E. Ridgewood Ave
Brain Balance Allendale
B Witching 130 1/2 E. Ridgewood Ave
DoubleTake Consignment 189 E. Ridgewood Ave
Duxiana 63 E. Ridgewood Ave
Femmebot 203 E. Ridgewood Ave
Fusion Academy Englewood-In front of the Park
Goldfish Swim School
Gypsy Warrior 125 E. Ridgewood Ave
Huntington Learning Center- In front of Park
Just Our Shoes/Mephisto 16 N. Walnut St
kate spade 202 E. Ridgewood Ave
Learning Express 111 E. Ridgewood Ave
Loft 41 Jewelry Studio 41 E. Ridgewood Ave
Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt 171 E. Ridgewood Ave
Panico Salon & Spa 144 E. Ridgewood Ave
P. Smith & Co. 65 E. Ridgewood Ave
Park West Tavern
Pink Bungalow 185 E. Ridgewood Ave
RACEFASTER 211 E. Ridgewood Ave
Red Velvet Luxe 59 E Ridgewood Ave
Ridgewood Bootery 200 E. Ridgewood Ave
Storm Guard Restoration
Town & Country Apothecary 60 E. Ridgewood Ave

VINYASA YOGA BY EQUINOX
Equinox Paramus, the leaders in luxury fitness, bring you Vinyasa yoga with one of our renowned instructors before you hit the Ridgewood Sidewalk Sale. Participate in a more athletic approach to yoga characterized by flowing poses and sequences that are linked to the breath. Mats will be provided and all levels are welcome.
Van Neste Square
August 8
10 a.m. to 11 a.m.
RSVP to [email protected]

For more details, please call us at 201-445-2600 or email [email protected] www.experienceridgewood.com

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Bernadette Peters will be Signing her New Children’s Book ; Friends Forever at Bookends in Ridgewood July 15th

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Wednesday, July 15th @ 7:00
Starring on Broadway, in theaters and concert halls, and Cofounder of BROADWAY BARKS, a charity that finds homes for shelter animals, Bernadette Peters, will sign her new Children’s book:Stella and Charlie:  Friends Forever

Appearing authors will only autograph books purchased at Bookends and must have valid Bookends Receipt.

Availability & pricing for all autographed books subject to change.
First In Line Certificate use is the the discretion of Bookends. Blackout dates may apply.
Bookends cannot guarantee that the books that are Autographed will always be First Printings.
Autographed books purchased at Bookends are non-returnable.

While we try to ensure that all customers coming to Bookends’ signings will meet authors and get their books signed, we cannot guarantee that all attendees will meet the author or that all books will be signed.  We cannot control inclement weather, author travel schedules or authors who leave prematurely.

Bookends, 211 E. Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ   07450   201-445-0726

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Harper Lee’s ‘Go Set a Watchman’ in stock at Bookends July 13th

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Review: Harper Lee’s ‘Go Set a Watchman’ Gives Atticus Finch a Dark Side
By MICHIKO KAKUTANI

We remember Atticus Finch inHarper Lee’s 1960 classic, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” as that novel’s moral conscience: kind, wise, honorable, an avatar of integrity who used his gifts as a lawyer to defend a black man falsely accused of raping a white woman in a small Alabama town filled with prejudice and hatred in the 1930s. As indelibly played by Gregory Peck in the 1962 movie, he was the perfect man — the ideal father and a principled idealist, an enlightened, almost saintly believer in justice and fairness. In real life, people named their children after Atticus. People went to law school and became lawyers because of Atticus.

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/11/books/review-harper-lees-go-set-a-watchman-gives-atticus-finch-a-dark-side.html?_r=0

Monday July 13th or call for pre-order : Bookends, 211 E. Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ   07450   201-445-0726

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Corey Taylor will be appearing at Bookends in Ridgewood tonight

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Tonight Monday, July 6th @ 6:00pm , Founding Member of Slipknot and Stone Sour: Corey Taylor will sign his new book: You’re Making Me Hate You

Each Person attending must purchase one or more books.Books available July 6th

Appearing authors will only autograph books purchased at Bookends and must have valid Bookends Receipt.

Availability & pricing for all autographed books subject to change.
First In Line Certificate use is the the discretion of Bookends. Blackout dates may apply.
Bookends cannot guarantee that the books that are Autographed will always be First Printings.
Autographed books purchased at Bookends are non-returnable.

While we try to ensure that all customers coming to Bookends’ signings will meet authors and get their books signed, we cannot guarantee that all attendees will meet the author or that all books will be signed.  We cannot control inclement weather, author travel schedules or authors who leave prematurely.

Bookends, 211 E. Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ   07450   201-445-0726

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TODAY : Fox News Contributors, Mary Katherine Ham and Guy Ben at Bookends

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Mary Katherine Ham and Guy Benson
Saturday, June 13th @ 12:00noon
Fox News Contributors, Mary Katherine Ham  and Guy Ben will discuss and sign their book: End of Discussion
Books available June 9th

Appearing authors will only autograph books purchased at Bookends and must have valid Bookends Receipt.

Availability & pricing for all autographed books subject to change.
First In Line Certificate use is the the discretion of Bookends. Blackout dates may apply.
Bookends cannot guarantee that the books that are Autographed will always be First Printings.
Autographed books purchased at Bookends are non-returnable.

While we try to ensure that all customers coming to Bookends’ signings will meet authors and get their books signed, we cannot guarantee that all attendees will meet the author or that all books will be signed.  We cannot control inclement weather, author travel schedules or authors who leave prematurely.

Bookends, 211 E. Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ   07450   201-445-0726