Your Favorite Independent Bookstore

[Mike]

I think most towns have at least one of these, or at least they should.

I grew up in a little place called Liverpool, right outside of Syracuse NY. Syracuse is known for many things, culture not being one of them. It frequently pops up on "worst of" lists annually - worst dating city, worst weather city, worst career city, most violent per capita, etc. It's helped shape me into the psycho I am today. But it is the home of an excellent independent bookstore called Books And Melodies.

This place is enormous, has two levels, and has been described lovingly, by many, as an "organized mess". It offers books, vinyl, cd's, dvd's, etc. And it's been featured in at least one movie I know of, called "Adult World", starring the always punchable John Cusack. The owner, John, was quite proud that one of his paintings was featured in the movie. What painting?, I asked him one day. And he presented me with a blurry piece of sh!t that looked like some paint by numbers thing. I couldn't even pretend to like it. I merely raised my eyebrows in feigned interest and walked out. A regret, honestly. He's a good dude.

Anyway, the place kind of saved my life in a way. During all my health crisis' it was always there, offering super cheap books and music and a way to pass time when I could do little else. It was my refuge for many years. It even bailed me out a few times when I was piss broke - I've sold more than one painstakingly put together book collection to John and collected enough $ to either pay a bill, buy the supplements that were keeping me alive, get food, or whatever. Selling those books always saddened me but I was grateful to be able to do it.

The last time I was there, several years ago, he still had this life-size cardboard James Dean I'd sold him in a pinch over 10 years ago...looking over the place in one of the basement corners.

Anyway, here's a few pics of the place. In the 3rd pic you can see how it stretches the entire length of the building on the first floor:
















Feel free to share some of your favorite independents.

[loungelizard]

Oh, you speak to my heart with this post, Mike What a great place! My dad and I used to spend pretty well every Saturday in shops like this, always ending up in a cafe to browse through our treasures ... the smell of old, musty paper takes me straight back to being 12 again.

If you're ever in the UK, you would love Hay-on Wye which is an hour's drive from where we live - it's a little market town just over the Welsh border and it's home to over 20 independent book shops (and there are Literary and Philosophy Festivals there every year too). Plus loads of great cafes and pubs of course

Heaven ...

[RunningDeer]

One of my favorite places was “Beyond Words BookShop”, in Northampton, MA. When I step through the door, the whiff of books made my heart pound and stomach jump. It consisted of two floors and every inch of space was packed with books. It was 80 miles away, so I’d spend hours there and purchased a lot of books to hold me over until my next trip.

Alas, it closed up shop in 2004. It was founded in 1978, and specialized in books on inner development.

“Despite the store's fiscal health, Jeff Krauth noted that the economics of independent bookselling did play a role in the decision to close. "We're working at least as hard as ever, and it's stressful," he said. "We didn't start a store to run a Web site, have events, get every penny out of co-op and watch what chain's opening next."

[Ernie Nemeth]

My bookstore is in downtown Toronto. It is called Seekers. It is below street level and easily missed as there is another larger bookstore just a few doors down. The proprietor is very well read and I can often ask him to review a book I might be interested in.

I go there maybe two or three times a year to buy my next supply of used books. I usually buy six to ten at a time. When I am done with them I take them down to the laundry room for others to enjoy. I usually read about thirty books a year, it used to be more but since the advent of the internet, I only read in the bathroom and a few pages before bed.

But this last year, with the stupid China Flu, I buy books from the local store nearby at full cost. Still, I have managed to read maybe fifteen books last year.

There was a time when I dreamed of having a library in my house so I would save my books but it became a hassle to transport them from apartment to apartment (I used to have a wall of boxes with all my stored and read books). I will never own my own home again so I just give them away now. It's all good. No need for a library with the internet at my fingertips...

[Mike]

Posted by RunningDeer (here)
One of my favorite places was “Beyond Words BookShop”, in Northampton, MA. When I step through the door, the whiff of books made my heart pound and stomach jump. It consisted of two floors and every inch of space was packed with books. It was 80 miles away, so I’d spend hours there and purchased a lot of books to hold me over until my next trip.

Alas, it’s closed up shop in 2004. It was founded in 1978, and specialized in books on inner development.

“Despite the store's fiscal health, Jeff Krauth noted that the economics of independent bookselling did play a role in the decision to close. "We're working at least as hard as ever, and it's stressful," he said. "We didn't start a store to run a Web site, have events, get every penny out of co-op and watch what chain's opening next."

I get that same wonderful feeling when walking into bookstores like that. And I love the smell of ink on paper. It's intoxicating. I will often stop reading a book just to smell the bloody thing. It's partially why I have so much difficulty reading books on the computer - there's no soul or meaningful ritual to it, it seems.

Shame about them closing. They are a labor of love, that's for sure. I always wondered how John kept Books And Melodies open. It's huge, and the rent must be an enormous burden. Or so I thought. His parents ran the place when he went on vacation once and were happy to tell anyone who walked in the door that they were financing the whole operation. John is a brooding, mysterious guy, and I imagine he would have been horrified to learn his parents were saying that.

Ernie I just googled Seekers and it looks like a really cool place. Any bookstore that is below street level is cool with me Bookstores are always better with a little mystery. I like that you bring your books to the laundry for others to read. Good stuff man. I always wanted a library of my own too, but Ive settled for a bookshelf or 2. I usually have around 70-80 books at a time. And then I sell them. Funny thing is, I usually wind up buying all those same books back.

loungelizard, that place looks absolutely lovely! It looks like a bookstore for hobbits or something. And isn't that how all independent bookstores should look ? I think so. Hay on Wye does sound like heaven! Musty books, cafe's and pubs...doesn't get any better than that.

[Hym]

Big Star Books and Music, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in the railyard district, across the street and up a little from the train station.

Used books on many subjects not available in other book stores because they buy and trade books, as well as CD's. Purchasing used books in good shape gives them, and in turn customers, an endless supply of books that otherwise may be very hard to find.

When people move and still value the content of those treasures of the imagination they've held onto, they know that someone will find that book they've donated or sold to a store like Big Star. It is also an honoring of the memory of loved ones to donate books they have left behind to stores like this one. With such an elderly citizen base as the city has, it is the best available recycling of knowledge and imagination around.

I've found many books there that are out of print and not even available online. For being such a seemingly small store, that looks like a quaint house with racks of books up on the front porch, we find a much larger library inside than it appears from the outside.

You've heard the testimony of those taken aboard craft, remembering that the interior occupies more space than the outside suggests. A good book store is like that..

It is also a treasure to turn friends onto the rare finds that can be shared, browsing the shelves of a good book store. I'm sure the owners see the signs of imagination lighting up when people enter the store. I do.

Many of us remember every book store and library we have ever been in, since childhood. Whether we know it or not, we have always evaluated the presence of many books in libraries that are of little use or value to us, all in contrast to our measure of the portion of great books written and most often found in really good book stores.

Great customer service that understands, like all quality book stores, that we can easily get lost reading one book after another, and they respect that. For those of us speed readers it still is a practice in discipline to set a time limit for being inside the store.

Reminds me of reading comic books off of the racks in stores as kid, soaking up as much as time would allow, and absorbing as much as possible when I couldn't afford to buy as much as I'd like. Since I have an ability to gain the essence of a book quickly, I have only bought those that take more time to appreciate. .

It is a dilemma for those who do not think ahead, that there are definitely some sources of information that need to be preserved in hard copy form, even as they may have digital duplicates. Some of us like to read when the artificial lights are out, the batteries spent and only candles and the sun waken us to such treasures....


When I worked in the L.A., California area and lived an hour plus away it was The Bodhi Tree Book Store, and many eclectic book stores in the vast L.A. area. The few conversations I've had in book stores have led to good opportunities. This is coming from me, rarely a reluctant conversationalist, except in book stores.