Russ Lawrence on the Prospect of Starting a New Chapter as ABA President

American Booksellers Association bookstore members are currently casting ballots to elect 2006 - 2007 ABA Board directors and to ratify the ABA Nominating Committee's choice of Russ Lawrence of Chapter One Book Store in Hamilton, Montana, for a first term as ABA president, and of Gayle Shanks of Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, Arizona, for a one-year term as vice president.

BTW recently had a chance to talk to Lawrence about his bookstore, about his community's vote to implement a retail size cap, and about his focus if ratified as ABA president.

Russ Lawrence

In 1986, when Russ Lawrence and his wife, Jean Matthews, purchased Chapter One Book Store in the small town of Hamilton, Montana, the store "was the 'hallway' to the Roxy 2 Theater," said Lawrence. "It was 11 feet wide and 90 feet long." Twenty years and two moves later, Chapter One -- now situated in a "great corner location" downtown -- is much, much more than a hallway to a theater. It has grown in size and in services, and Lawrence and Matthews have worked hard to make it an indispensable part of the cultural life of the Hamilton area.

Speaking to Lawrence, one gets the impression that as a bookseller he is something of a "natural." But, surprisingly, that was not the case at all. He readily admits that, unlike many bookselling professionals, he had never dreamed of working or owning a bookstore. Though an avid reader with a profound love of books, he actually majored in forestry, but "I couldn't find a permanent job," he said. "Jean was an RN and I [in lieu of forestry work] worked as a correspondent to The Missoulian and a contributing editor for an aviation magazine." (Lawrence is a licensed pilot.)

The move to bookselling was prompted by an ad in the local paper, the Ravalli [County] Republic. "I saw an ad in the classifieds, 'Bookstore for Sale,'" he said. "The thought of being a bookseller had never crossed my mind, but my college roommate was a bookseller. I leaned on him heavily when considering buying the store."

Lawrence continued, "I had a love of books. I was always reading, but it took me years to figure out that it was in humanities where my heart truly lay. This self-knowledge was slow in coming, but when it came, it was a grand thing."

In the 20 years that Lawrence and Matthews have owned the store, Chapter One has not lacked for recognition. The bookstore has earned the Ravalli Republic Reader's Choice Award for Best Local Bookstore "for the last five or six years -- we retired that trophy," he said. The store also won recognition from the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce as Business of the Year in 2002.

Lawrence is also a bestselling local author. "I wrote the book on the Bitterroot Valley," he explained. "For years, I hoped someone would write the local history of the valley. So in 1999, I published a book, Montana's Bitterroot Valley. It has been a bestseller at Chapter One since then." He then let out a chuckle and added, "We call it the world's longest autograph signing."

When asked about Chapter One's focus, Lawrence did not hesitate: "Our focus is to be the cultural epicenter of the Bitterroot. We have labored long and hard to make life without Chapter One Book Store seem impossible in the community. We are participants and sponsors of all kind of community events." The store is very involved with local literacy groups, including the local chapter of Literacy Volunteers of America, LVA Bitterroot.

In addition, Lawrence is president of the Hamilton Players Community Theater. He and Matthews play in the Bitterroot Community Band ("Jean plays the flute and I play the euphonium"); Matthews also plays the penny whistle in an Irish music group; and the two organized and put together the summer music in the park series, "Tuesdays at 12 p.m."

There's no question that it's difficult for any independent business to survive. And while Lawrence and Matthews have certainly proved that an independent bookstore cannot only succeed, but also thrive, their greatest challenge may lie directly ahead in the name of Wal-Mart, which recently announced plans to bring one of its mega-stores to the area.

Lawrence wasn't caught sleeping when the retail giant announced its plans, however. Well before Wal-Mart made its announcement, he was working with town officials to place a size cap on new retail outlets. "In January of this year, the Bitterroot Good Neighbor Coalition wrote up a proposal for a retail size cap of 60,000 square feet," he reported. "We plopped that right on the desk of the County Planner, the head of the Planning Department for Hamilton.... The Ravalli County commissioners told [the Planner] to make it the number-one priority."

Three weeks ago, the proposed ordinance and regulation were finalized and on Wednesday, April 12, at hearing attended by approximately 1,400 people, the county commissioners approved the size cap in a vote of 3 - 0.

Lawrence said, "One of the things that has kept me plugging along is the number of successful outcomes that booksellers have engendered [in battles to keep chain stores out of their communities]. Those successful examples have been an inspiration."

If ratified as ABA president, Lawrence said, "One of the things that I want to do is to foster the sense of ABA unity. It's all us. It's so beautiful to me that the Book Sense program is set up so that the more individual stores participate, the more all stores benefit.

"When I think about the role of ABA president, it's pretty intimidating to look at the list of past ABA presidents, and I wouldn't venture to compare myself to them as a bookseller or community leader. But I think I stack up in my commitment to ABA as an organization and to its role to keep independent bookselling viable." --David Grogan