We've been located in Torrance, CA for over 10 years now. Torrance is part of Los Angeles County, and is located off the Southern California coast between LAX and Long Beach airports, and near the intersection of the 405 and 110 freeways. We are always telling our patrons that 1) Torrance is NOT that far away (it's closer than France); and 2) it's a great place to visit, and an even better place to live.
The "visit our showroom" page on our website includes the range of Torrance and South Bay attractions near us, and long list of all the local restaurants we've tried and love. Whenever we travel, we are always stopping at bookstores... and counting on bookstore staff and owners to recommend near by eats and treats, so we try to return the favor for our patrons.
In addition to the amenities at our showroom (see the post on "SNB Stewardship"), a trip to Stuart Ng Books is an opportunity to experience the small town charms of Torrance, such as nearby Wilson Park.... with its shaded walking path, tree house, tennis courts, ball fields, duck pond and Farmer's Market on Tues and Saturdays... as well as the California Live Steamer train rides (http://www.southerncalifornialivesteamers.com/)
Torrance has lots of local shopping and restaurants, and the beautiful weather of the South Bay. We are close to all the attractions in Long Beach (aquarium, etc), and the equestrian events held almost every weekend in Palos Verdes.
Torrance is a family friendly, and business friendly, community. There are quite a number of companies here... including the home bakery for King's Hawaiian Bread and a headquarters for Toyota motor corp.... but most of the businesses are modest family run operations, like us (our current mayor owns a towing company based in Torrance). Torrance CitiCable 3 TV profiles local news, sporting, and community events.... and local businesses.
They visited our showroom on Friday 9/24 to interview Stuart. Since they also wanted to interview one of our artist-patrons, we invited David Colman who came by with his books, and his art supplies.
The crew taped David drawing on our new drawing board, and because David is also a drawing teacher, he gave an insightful tutorial while he was working.
Here's David's wonderful owl drawing... note how he made use of the toned paper background of the cardboard and added the punch of white highlights.
I ended up talking with the film crew about my favorite SNB subjects: Stuart Ng: Claire Wendling; and our map of the world (also because Mary didn't want to be on TV this time and Peggy wasn't in the office). This experience reminded me that there really isn't a "title" for my role at Stuart Ng Books... or the role of any spouse or partner of a small business owner. There are other spouses who blog about this dilemma.... we aren't necessarily co-owners or employees (though we can be)... but we often know a lot about the product or service, and we are called on to provide support in a wide range of roles at the business, in addition to the family and domestic duties that often fall to our jurisdiction. It is a balancing act to be working with your family. To make it work, you really need a good sense of humor and lots of patience.
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