About Bookstores

Americans are staying healthier and living longer, which means, among other things, it's no longer unheard-of to have teenagers and octogenarians in the same workplace.

While recognizing that generalizations are by their nature only sometimes true, whether about age groups or other entities, BTW decided to ask independent booksellers what it's like to have such a diversity of generations in their bookstores.

In 1969, the Baum family opened Greetings & Readings book and card shop in a 1,800-square-foot space in a Towson, Maryland, strip mall.

This November will be a big month for Tulsa's Steve's Sundry, Books & Magazines and for Steve himself. The bookstore will turn 60 and its co-owner and founder, Steve Stephenson, will celebrate his 90th birthday. "We'll have an all-day affair," said Stephenson's daughter-in-law and store co-owner, Joanie Stephenson. "A live remote radio show will broadcast from the store and local authors will read.

In Grand Rapids, Michigan, infectious disease specialist Dr. Roni Devlin is working to spread the word about her new venture: Literary Life Bookstore & More. The general neighborhood bookstore, which opened on October 2, offers specialties reflecting Devlin's particular interests -- "Literature & Medicine" and tools for aspiring writers in a section called "The Write Place."

This week's cataclysmic fires in Southern California, which are estimated to have caused $1 billion in damages in San Diego County alone, have impacted business at independent bookstores in the area but have spared the stores themselves.

The American Booksellers Association welcomed nine new booksellers who opened for business last month. September openings included two stores specializing in Mind/Body/Spirit (Blue Lotus Treasures, LLC and East West Exchange Books, Gift and Practices); a store specializing in LGBT titles and offering coffee, videos, and art showings (Five15 Media, Mojo & More); another specializing in ethnic Poetry (Rebecca's); a bookstore in La Paz, Mexico (Allende Books); and one business selling books solely via the Internet, mail order, or on-site (Read About Me!

The opening words of Virginia Woolf's 1925 classic novel, Mrs. Dalloway, are inscribed on a wall in the three-year-old bookstore and garden shop founded by Marion Abbott and Ann Leyhe in Berkeley, California. The line -- "Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself" -- depicts the blending of the literary and garden arts in Mrs.

One night isn't going to be enough to celebrate the silver anniversary of South Florida's Books & Books, which has hosted thousands of locally and nationally known authors over its two and a half decades. So Books & Books' website suggests customers and friends "Save the Month" for the flood of anniversary celebrations throughout October.

It's a dilemma that every bookseller faces: Where do you shelve a book so that the right reader finds it?

Since 2001, the first weekend in October has marked the Amelia Island Book Festival in the town of Fernandina Beach, Florida. Dozens of authors mingle with thousands of readers at workshops, readings, and social events in the historic harbor town off Florida's northeast coast.

Last weekend, sales at Eso Won Books in Los Angeles were up 500 percent compared to a typical weekend, according to store co-owner James Fugate.

For the many fans of Stephen Colbert, there was cause for celebration this week, as his new book, I Am America (And So Can You!) (Grand Central), reached bookstore shelves nationwide.

Kansas City's I Love a Mystery and Atlanta's Outwrite Each Make Local "Best of" Lists

I Love a Mystery in Mission, Kansas, was recently chosen as "Best Mysterious Place (2007)" by the Kansas City Pitch as part of its annual Best of Kansas City 2007. In describing the bookstore, the Pitch wrote:

Over the course of its four decades, Oscar Wilde Bookshop has played a key, though shifting, role in the LGBT literary world. The store opened for business when there were few, if any, venues where gays and lesbians could find books reflecting their lives. It grew into a meeting place, and today is a destination bookstore with an international reputation. On November 27, Oscar Wilde celebrates its 40th anniversary.

Bookseller Zachary Steele had about a decade of bookselling experience before opening Wordsmiths Books in Decatur, Georgia, this past June. Now, four months into owning a bookstore, he reported, "We are so far running ahead of sales projections. The community has been supportive with increased attendance at our larger scale author events. We're doing really well."