Mission statement

Words' mission is to serve Maplewood and surrounding communities by offering a warm, intellectual atmosphere where men, women and children of all races, religions, ages, sexual orientation, political beliefs and abilities will be welcomed and feel comfortable. In particular, we are dedicated to the families in Maplewood that have a member with a developmental disability, and strive to help Maplewood become a model community of inclusion through our treatment of disabled customers and employees, especially those with autism. In addition, we hope to ensure that our community's love of books and reading is passed down to future generations. As a "for-profit" enterprise, we offer our customers high quality products and outstanding service at reasonable prices that will permit Words to be sustainable. 

Implementation Plan 

Implementing Words' mission will require a sustained effort by our principals and staff and will not be possible without continued support by our customers and the community. Accordingly, we present here to you, our stakeholders, a report on progress to date and a plans for the future. 

Expand space and book selection

Words purchased Goldfinch on November 1, 2008. Shortly thereafter, Words moved from the old location of 97A Baker Street to a much larger space at 179 Maplewood Avenue, opening there on January 20, 2009. Each of the eleven Goldfinch employees agreed to stay on and work for Words, and their hard work and dedication served to enable a smooth transition. Words has ordered approximately 5,000 new books to expand significantly the selections that we can offer in-store to our customers. We also have the ability to special order books for customers and generally have them in stock within two or three days (sometimes the books are available overnight; occasionally if the books are back ordered or out of stock at our distributors, it can take longer).

Create child-friendly atmosphere

Provide special needs sensitivity training to staff

• Create awareness about Words
• Cultivate an intellectual center
• Promote Maplewood Village
• Implement vocational training and employment for local developmentally disabled
• Offer superior customer service
• Provide products and services that appeal to a broad range of
• residents
• Advance technological sophistication
• Support sustainability initiatives and education

Social Enterprise - Columbia University School of Business 

Many of our ideas and practices have been inspired by the Social Enterprise program at Columbia University's Graduate School of Business. For more information, visit: http://www4.gsb.columbia.edu/socialenterprise/aboutimessage