Green River Books Owners Go With the Flow

It just seemed that Green River Books in Princeton, Illinois, which recently celebrated its one-year anniversary, was meant to be -- and that LuAnn Salz and her author husband, Trey Barker, were destined to own it. Though Salz and Barker had plans to move from Denver to the Princeton area to open an independent bookstore, it was through good luck -- and, of course, hard work -- that they happened upon their dream location for the store. Then, after deciding to name the store after a fictional town created by Barker, "a bunch of people said, 'You know, there's a Green River nearby here,'" said Salz, who noted that the coincidence seemed kind of freaky. "All the stars were aligned."

Going with the flow has been a way of life for the owners of Green River Books. Prior to living in Denver, they lived in Lubbock, Texas. "I grew up in Illinois, but my husband is from Texas," Salz explained, and noted that she worked as a book buyer for Western Merchandisers in Texas, while Trey worked as a theater technical director.
In 1992, on what is best described as a whim, they decided to sell their house and move to Denver. "We always lived by the seat of our pants," Salz said. Fortunately, she and her husband didn't have time to wonder whether it was the right decision. "We sold our house 10 minutes from the moment we put the ['For Sale'] sign up," she said. "A lady pulled up and said, I want to look at the house, and then said she wanted to buy it…. Selling the house gave us money to live [in Denver]."

In Denver, Salz went to work for Barnes & Noble as an assistant manager. In 1995, she entered the corporate world as an executive assistant in human resources for First Data Corporation. Throughout this time, however, she and Barker became dismayed as Denver became more and more "crowded," eventually deciding it was time to move again. Since her parents lived in Illinois, she and Barker visited, and, while there, scouted the area to see if it might be a nice place to live. When they wondered about where they might do some antique shopping, Salz's mother suggested they check out Princeton. "We thought, Wow! What a great town for our bookstore," she said. When the couple got back to Denver, "Trey [called] Princeton's Main Street Association, whose role it is to bring in businesses to Princeton."

The association suggested they come back to visit, and, in January 2002, Salz and Barker met with the head of the Main Street Association -- who brought to the meeting the local bank president, the mayor, the director of the Chamber of Commerce, and Pat Carlson, the owner of Rag-a-Muffin, a children's clothing store. "They make a huge effort to bring businesses into town," Salz explained.

As it turned out, half of Carlson's two-storefront building was vacant, Salz said, and she invited them to have a look at it. It was a beautiful three-room space located next to Rag-a-Muffin. "It had wooden wainscoting and hardwood floors," she said. "She told us that she had not been advertising the vacant store, but had been waiting for the right people. That was another good omen!" The only work that Salz and Barker had to do was knock down one of the walls. They signed a lease in March 2002 and opened on July 29, 2002.

Green River Books, which sells both new and used books, has been welcomed by the community of some 7,000-plus residents, which does not have another bookstore, chain or independent, in the vicinity. "The closest bookstore is Walden's, and that is 20 miles away," she said. "The nearest Barnes & Noble's is 55 miles away. We've had an incredibly positive reaction…. Business has been excellent … better than what I had been anticipating."

Though Princeton isn't a tourist town in the traditional sense, the uniqueness of its downtown stores brings in shoppers from out-of-town, including Chicago, which is about two hours away. As for local customers, Salz noted that more than a few are already extremely loyal to their new independent bookstore. "I even have a customer who went to Amazon.com to print out a list of books and then came here to ask me if I could order these books," she said with a laugh. "They didn't want to buy from Amazon."

Salz noted that, after opening the store, they joined Book Sense "right away. I wanted the branding recognition, and it has helped a lot. People see the signs in the window and say, 'Oh, you're an independent.' I use the shelf-talkers because people enjoy reading the comments, and I display the Book Sense bestsellers."

For the store's first anniversary, Green River Books held a celebration on the weekend of August 2 with free hot dogs and sodas. Over the weekend, they put a stack of "discount cards" near the entrance, which offered customers a discount anywhere from 10 percent to 25 percent -- depending on the card chosen. Additionally, there was a random drawing for a $50 gift certificate.

On Sunday, after the store closed at 4:00 p.m., Salz and Barker held an invitation-only reception. "We sent invites to our best supporters, either those who spent a lot of money, or those who talked us up or helped us in any way during the year," Salz noted. "About 40 people showed up." She added that one customer came up to her and said, "You let your customers know that you appreciate them." --David Grogan