Jill Lang (center), owner of Samizdat Bookstore and Teahouse in Central Park Square, recently received recognition for her business success from the Rotary Club of Los Alamos and Rotary District 5520. Los Alamos Club Rotarian and District 5520 Assistant Governor Laura Gonzales (left) presented Lang with the Rotary District 5520 award; Los Alamos Club President Tim Bullock (right) presented the Club’s award. Photo by Linda Hull
BY LINDA HULL
Rotary Club of Los Alamos
The Rotary Club of Los Alamos is pleased to announce that Jill Lang, owner of Samizdat Bookstore and Teahouse, is the 2023-2024 recipient of the Sonny Brown Small Business of the Year Award given by Rotary District 5520. The award, named after distinguished El Paso Rotarian Sonny Brown, is given annually by the District to recognize small, medium, large, and Rotary-owned businesses among its 64 clubs within its New Mexico and west Texas boundaries. Lang and her business were nominated by Linda Hull of the Rotary Club of Los Alamos.
The Sonny Brown Business Award in its four categories honors businesses that uphold Rotary standards of ethical business practices and support community activities. Until 2021, when Lang applied for the Business Accelerator Program offered by MainStreet and the Chamber of Commerce, Los Alamos had been without a bookstore for almost 10 years. Expressing the need for a bookstore in our community, Lang was accepted into the seven-week course for business start-ups.
She was one of four chosen from those who successfully completed the program, and was offered a local storefront on a six-week trial basis with lease and utilities funded by grants applied for and awarded to the Chamber of Commerce and MainStreet. These grants provide funding for all aspects of the Los Alamos Business Accelerator program, and also include advertising, insurance, WIFI, and developing logos.
Lang invests long hours in maintaining her inventory of books and board games for all ages, wooden logic puzzles, assorted gifts, one-of-a-kind greeting cards and other stationery goods. She and her staff also serve a variety of hot and iced teas—and boba tea, made with tapioca pearls, a popular drink among the many teens who frequent the store.
Samizdat Bookstore and Teahouse employs 10 part-time staff members, most of them students. Student employees are welcome to do homework during slow periods at the store and may take any time off needed for school functions or tests. As Lang says, “Being students is their first job.” Beyond the immediate youth staff, teens and pre-teens find Samizdat a welcome place to gather. After school, there is a steady line of students coming in to purchase boba tea, do homework, play board games, draw, socialize, and read.
Samizdat Bookstore and Teahouse regularly hosts book-signings for local authors and features a prominent section of books by local authors. The bookstore alsofeatures an abundant selection of books about the Manhattan Project. The bookstore has joined in supporting the local First Born Los Alamos Program,
which serves first-time families, providing many families with their first small
library. Samizdat donates to all of the local parent-teacher organizations, PAC-8,
the local roller derby, and the Navy Junior ROTC at the high school. Samizdat has
also donated to our local Rotary Club.
Last year Jill hosted a boardgame tournament for the community, arranged by a
student employee, and joined with STEAM, a neighboring business, to host The
Great Crypto Hunt, using a mathematical replica of the infamous German Enigma
machine, a World War II encryption device.
In April of this year, Lang began a six-month expansion of Samizdat to incorporate
food service and has partnered with many local organizations on “large-scale in-
person author events,” and for the first time, “Samizdat will have signed first-
edition copies of major releases available.” Some of these collaborations have
already been held at SALA with the New Mexico Consortium, at The Los Alamos
Nature Center with PEEC, and at Fuller Lodge with the Los Alamos Arts Council
Currently Samizdat is undergoing renovations; Lang hopes to reopen soon. She
and her staff are excited about the improvements the bookstore and teahouse are
undergoing, as they will expand the store’s services to the community. All of us in
Rotary congratulate Lang and Samizdat as she welcomes the community to join
her on her business journey!
Samizdat Bookstore and Teahouse is located a 174 Central Park Square. Following
completion of renovations, which includes new flooring, Samizdat will return to its
regular hours: Tuesday-Wednesday, 10-4; Thursday-Saturday, 10-6; Sunday and
Monday closed.