Commitment to Community, Customer Service, & Lots of Good Luck Add Up to 30 Years for Bend, Oregon's Book Barn

The Book Barn in Bend, Oregon, recently celebrated its 30th anniversary.

Booksellers who have been fortunate enough to celebrate their store's 30th anniversary often credit elements as diverse as an extensive title base, a great staff, or maybe a hardwood-floored bookstore ambience. Linda Torres, co-owner of Book Barn in Bend, Oregon, which celebrated its 30th anniversary on August 1, cited another popular reason for hanging in there -- attentive and knowledgeable customer service. But Torres also honestly reported a variable that sometimes gets short shrift. "We've had lots of good luck," she noted.

The store's day-long anniversary featured local author readings, including one given by criminal defense attorney/novelist Phillip Margolin (Ties That Bind, HarperCollins). Customers thronged. Former Book Barn owners attended. Special sales happened all day long, with the category on sale changing on the hour. Gift certificates were won and spent. "It was a big deal," said Torres.

Like other older bookstores, Book Barn has long been a community nexus. The store often donates gift certificates to the swim team, football team, and other school-sponsored functions. And, in turn, the population of Bend, about 55,000, has supported the bookstore, which is the only independent in the city. As Bend changed from an economy primarily based on logging to one based on tourism, Book Barn maintained its following.

The 1,400-square-foot bookstore was founded by three women in 1973 and opened in a building across the street from its current location, which had been the Bend Dairy and, later, a wine store. The aesthetics of the wine store, with an exposed-brick wall and red-beamed ceiling "adapted easily" to the look of a bookstore said co-owner Chris Lovlien, so they didn't have to do much remodeling.

Both owners, said Torres, are part of a staff of "six middle-aged ladies." One of the ladies, Liz Main, is also a local mystery and romance novelist; all six divvy up the workweek. "It works out well," said Torres. "We have a good time."

Torres got her start as a part-timer at Book Barn. In 2000, she joined the staff and a year later, when one of the co-owners, Ann Hamilton, wanted to retire, she asked Torres if she was interested in buying. Torres' response was, "Okay. Cool." She hadn't considered being a proprietor, but "who wouldn't want to own a bookstore?" she said.

Lovlien had a similar entrée into bookstore ownership. A year and a half before she was an owner, she also worked at the store a few hours a week. When then-owner Sally Irbing planned to retire, Lovlien bought her share of the business. Of course, Lovlien was motivated to buy because of her bibliophilistic interests, but she also sought to alleviate her anxiety about "being on her way to becoming an empty nester. I was terrified," she said.

Lovlien told BTW that Book Barn owed its staying power to the fact that "current and previous owners all loved the concept of the independent bookstore and what that entails -- being a center of the community.

"Our commitment carries over to the customer base, even new customers when they're traveling [to Bend]. A great deal of our customers feel strongly about independents. I hear from them when they walk in the store, 'Thank Goodness we still have independent bookstores. We try to find them wherever we go.'"

Book Barn has been a Book Sense store since the program's inception in 1999. "We use the bestseller lists," noted Lovlien. "And the billboard 76 lists we display in our front windows. The fliers we distribute in different categories throughout the store." --Karen Schechner