9 ms·

In my hometown, there is a long-standing bookstore that an elderly woman owns; she's been old since I was a child and she is old now. She rejoices when people c

In my hometown, there is a long-standing bookstore that an elderly woman owns; she's been old since I was a child and she is old now. She rejoices when people come into her shop and her first instinct is to approach you and ask if you'd like a (free) coffee or tea, not of great quality, but it's a precursor to her second habit: she has a conversation with her guests and through that time she is carefully studying you. After a few minutes she will give you a smile and say "I've got the perfect book for you", she'll retreat into her shop and come back to you with a book in hand and only ask for a dollar or two in return. She was the town's "book lady" or "just the bookstore everyone goes to" so it's obviously been a disappointment when that wasn't the case everywhere as I've moved on and visited other stores; but it's impressions like that, as a child and growing up with that you are left with an idea on how booksellers are supposed to be like because it's what you grew up with as the normal thing; but alas the world is large and I'm sure this author has his reasons. Edit: wanted to add an example of how fantastic this woman was at figuring people out; I remember going in around maybe ~8-10 years old and she picked 'Edward's Eyes' [1] for me; it had a profound impact on me as a child as it was so similar to my own life, even sharing the same first name as the narrator of the book. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/121419.Edward_s_Eyes https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/121419.Edward_s_Eyes

NomadicDev 4y ago
Oh my god, you grew up in a fairytale :O I love stories of little quirky & fable-like people who are known as "that X person", and they seem to be a master at whatever X is. Creates a real charming atmosphere wherever these people exist.
- lagrange77 4y ago
  I imagine some of us are those kind of X persons in other peoples lives, where X ∈{Computer, Science, Internet}.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
ei8ths 4y ago
that sounds like a great bookstore to go into. I love used bookstores, sadly they have been going away.
Lio 4y ago
Where ever you grew up sounds like a wonderful place. In my mind I'm constructing a sort of Twin Peaks[1] type town where I can take my newly acquired book to the good quality dinner. I have a similar sort of relationship with bike shops. You can tell a good one straight away and it's nothing like a chain store. My local one is in an ancient 4 story building with lots of back stairs and rooms. In the very top floor the owner keeps his own private collection, which if he's in the mood and you ask nicely he'll show you. When you're a kid independent shops like that, book shops, computer shops, bike shops, are magic (and they're still pretty good as an adult). 1. Without the murders and other worldly shenanigans obviously.
- SteveNuts 4y ago
  I feel this way about baseball card shops! I loved going to those as a kid
- jacquesm 4y ago
  I learned a ton about bikes in a store like that. Also how to quickly patch tires (this was my first 'real' job) and to spoke wheels. Great time and lots of respect for the old man and his son that kept that place alive for over 70 years. Unfortunately it's gone now.
- robbintt 4y ago
  There was something like this in Clifton, Cincinnati, Ohio, in the aughts.
  - elashri 4y ago
    sad that it is no longer. I would have been there by now.
- jqcoffey 4y ago
  The value of benevolence of shopkeepers to their younger patrons cannot be understated. As a young kid I learned how PCs were put together from the local clone shop on San Pablo Ave in El Cerrito. I bought a 286 with 512k ram and two floppies and got to watch it be assembled and tested. Later (1989ish) I spent every moment I could at a Macintosh shop on Shattuck Ave in Berkeley playing SimCity on a then unheard of 20” color monitor (at least I recall it being that large). Today I’m at Google and just prior I was at Apple. The link is not direct, but the latter does not exist without the former (there was also a C64 prior to the 286, though without the shopkeeper story), at least in my case.
digdugdirk 4y ago
Fascinating. Was she independently wealthy? Selling drugs on the side? I've always been curious about the financial aspects of businesses like this. I find they can often shed some interesting lights on ways to streamline operations/financials.
- treeman79 4y ago
  Probably owns the land, building etc. So long as property taxes are low it wouldn’t cost her much to stay there. My dad has been doing this with coins for a couple decades. Going over peoples collections with them explaining the history origins what they’re worth etc. I did the math once and he makes about two dollars per hour. But he loves it. Pro tip from his own words coins are a terrible investment.
  - Scoundreller 4y ago
    Stamps too. I buy 30-40 year old ones to use as postage and pay ~40% less than they paid back then. Maybe they had some winners that made those losers profitable, but I have my doubts.
- JumpCrisscross 4y ago
  > always been curious about the financial aspects of businesses like this I’m increasingly finding one of my favoured modes of leisure to be a book and a wine bar. Were I to open a wine bar in retirement, decades from now, I’d be fine running it at cost, counting the company and conversation as compensation enough. Swap that to a subsistence model in a low-cost locale, and the business still holds.
  - CoffeeOnWrite 4y ago
    Off topic but do you just love wine and pleasant social spaces, or is there something about the whole wine bar experience in particular that makes it special, especially compared to other kinds of bars and cafes?
    - 4y ago
gumby 4y ago
> She was the town's "book lady" or "just the bookstore everyone goes to" so it's obviously been a disappointment when that wasn't the case everywhere as I've moved on and visited other stores Palo Alto used to have seven (!) bookshops downtown; now there is but one but that survivor is indeed run by a pair of "book ladies" as you describe (except for the tea or coffee). I had a vacation house in a small town of about 2500 people that had a similar bookshop with a bunch of the usual staples and a somewhat esoteric mix of others. In a very deeply "red" area the owner also carried a lot of books that would definitely not appeal to that crowd, and they sold well. She eventually sold the business and it became a boring bookshop. One thing that matters to me is opinion. One day I decided I had to see what the fuss about Ayn Rand was all about. So I went into another favorite palo alto bookshop (now gone) and asked the owner where they were as I couldn't find them on the shelf. He got a funny look on his face and said, "Oh, we always keep a few around for thoooose people as he led me to the spot.
- inamberclad 4y ago
  I have great memories in the downtown Border's Books, reading through the stacks in the ornate former theater. Sadly, it's now a Blue Bottle cafe (not bad) and a coworking space (horrible) with corporate offices upstairs (sigh).
  - joedavison 4y ago
    The closing of that Borders was a tragic loss and the end of an era in Palo Alto.
    - gumby 4y ago
      The opening of that Borders was a tragic loss of an art house theatre (the New Varsity) and the arrival of a corporate behemoth that drove most of the rest of the bookshops (one next door!) out of business. The permit for that building required that it be possible to turn it back into a live/film theatre. A friend of mine and I looked into turning it into a nightclub but in the end it was too much of a hassle (and Palo Alto is no longer the kind of place that has nightclubs and porno theatres (not the New Varsity!) downtown).
willhinsa 4y ago
I’m experiencing nostalgia from your story of a childhood I never had. Thank you for the vivid picture you painted. It does bring to mind (to me anyway) the fantastic and charming movie about an old school booksellers running up against modernity, “You’ve Got Mail”. (1998)
a_c 4y ago
Would love to visit a good bookstore like you described in london. Anyone got recommendation?

NomadicDev 4y ago

Oh my god, you grew up in a fairytale :O I love stories of little quirky & fable-like people who are known as "that X person", and they seem to be a master at whatever X is. Creates a real charming atmosphere wherever these people exist.

lagrange77 4y ago
I imagine some of us are those kind of X persons in other peoples lives, where X ∈{Computer, Science, Internet}.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]

ei8ths 4y ago

that sounds like a great bookstore to go into. I love used bookstores, sadly they have been going away.

Lio 4y ago

Where ever you grew up sounds like a wonderful place. In my mind I'm constructing a sort of Twin Peaks[1] type town where I can take my newly acquired book to the good quality dinner. I have a similar sort of relationship with bike shops. You can tell a good one straight away and it's nothing like a chain store. My local one is in an ancient 4 story building with lots of back stairs and rooms. In the very top floor the owner keeps his own private collection, which if he's in the mood and you ask nicely he'll show you. When you're a kid independent shops like that, book shops, computer shops, bike shops, are magic (and they're still pretty good as an adult). 1. Without the murders and other worldly shenanigans obviously.

SteveNuts 4y ago
I feel this way about baseball card shops! I loved going to those as a kid
jacquesm 4y ago
I learned a ton about bikes in a store like that. Also how to quickly patch tires (this was my first 'real' job) and to spoke wheels. Great time and lots of respect for the old man and his son that kept that place alive for over 70 years. Unfortunately it's gone now.
robbintt 4y ago
There was something like this in Clifton, Cincinnati, Ohio, in the aughts.
- elashri 4y ago
  sad that it is no longer. I would have been there by now.
jqcoffey 4y ago
The value of benevolence of shopkeepers to their younger patrons cannot be understated. As a young kid I learned how PCs were put together from the local clone shop on San Pablo Ave in El Cerrito. I bought a 286 with 512k ram and two floppies and got to watch it be assembled and tested. Later (1989ish) I spent every moment I could at a Macintosh shop on Shattuck Ave in Berkeley playing SimCity on a then unheard of 20” color monitor (at least I recall it being that large). Today I’m at Google and just prior I was at Apple. The link is not direct, but the latter does not exist without the former (there was also a C64 prior to the 286, though without the shopkeeper story), at least in my case.

digdugdirk 4y ago

Fascinating. Was she independently wealthy? Selling drugs on the side? I've always been curious about the financial aspects of businesses like this. I find they can often shed some interesting lights on ways to streamline operations/financials.

treeman79 4y ago
Probably owns the land, building etc. So long as property taxes are low it wouldn’t cost her much to stay there. My dad has been doing this with coins for a couple decades. Going over peoples collections with them explaining the history origins what they’re worth etc. I did the math once and he makes about two dollars per hour. But he loves it. Pro tip from his own words coins are a terrible investment.
- Scoundreller 4y ago
  Stamps too. I buy 30-40 year old ones to use as postage and pay ~40% less than they paid back then. Maybe they had some winners that made those losers profitable, but I have my doubts.
JumpCrisscross 4y ago
> always been curious about the financial aspects of businesses like this I’m increasingly finding one of my favoured modes of leisure to be a book and a wine bar. Were I to open a wine bar in retirement, decades from now, I’d be fine running it at cost, counting the company and conversation as compensation enough. Swap that to a subsistence model in a low-cost locale, and the business still holds.
- CoffeeOnWrite 4y ago
  Off topic but do you just love wine and pleasant social spaces, or is there something about the whole wine bar experience in particular that makes it special, especially compared to other kinds of bars and cafes?
  - 4y ago

gumby 4y ago

> She was the town's "book lady" or "just the bookstore everyone goes to" so it's obviously been a disappointment when that wasn't the case everywhere as I've moved on and visited other stores Palo Alto used to have seven (!) bookshops downtown; now there is but one but that survivor is indeed run by a pair of "book ladies" as you describe (except for the tea or coffee). I had a vacation house in a small town of about 2500 people that had a similar bookshop with a bunch of the usual staples and a somewhat esoteric mix of others. In a very deeply "red" area the owner also carried a lot of books that would definitely not appeal to that crowd, and they sold well. She eventually sold the business and it became a boring bookshop. One thing that matters to me is opinion. One day I decided I had to see what the fuss about Ayn Rand was all about. So I went into another favorite palo alto bookshop (now gone) and asked the owner where they were as I couldn't find them on the shelf. He got a funny look on his face and said, "Oh, we always keep a few around for thoooose people as he led me to the spot.

inamberclad 4y ago
I have great memories in the downtown Border's Books, reading through the stacks in the ornate former theater. Sadly, it's now a Blue Bottle cafe (not bad) and a coworking space (horrible) with corporate offices upstairs (sigh).
- joedavison 4y ago
  The closing of that Borders was a tragic loss and the end of an era in Palo Alto.
  - gumby 4y ago
    The opening of that Borders was a tragic loss of an art house theatre (the New Varsity) and the arrival of a corporate behemoth that drove most of the rest of the bookshops (one next door!) out of business. The permit for that building required that it be possible to turn it back into a live/film theatre. A friend of mine and I looked into turning it into a nightclub but in the end it was too much of a hassle (and Palo Alto is no longer the kind of place that has nightclubs and porno theatres (not the New Varsity!) downtown).

willhinsa 4y ago

I’m experiencing nostalgia from your story of a childhood I never had. Thank you for the vivid picture you painted. It does bring to mind (to me anyway) the fantastic and charming movie about an old school booksellers running up against modernity, “You’ve Got Mail”. (1998)

a_c 4y ago

Would love to visit a good bookstore like you described in london. Anyone got recommendation?