All in the Family: The Sly Fox Turns 10

The Sly Fox Mystery & Children's Bookstore in Virden, Illinois, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this month, boasts some 86 years of family history. "This building that I'm in, my great-aunt opened a dress and hat shop here in 1922," Sly Fox owner George Rishel told BTW in a recent interview. "My mother took the shop over in 1979 and ran it until 1991."

The Sly Fox is more than Rishel's home away from home; it is literally and figuratively home. Rishel lives in the apartment upstairs, where his great-aunt and widowed grandmother used to reside. "This really is home," he said. "A block down the alley and I'm at my Mom's home, where she's lived since 1943."

Rishel, who purchased the building in 1992, rented the dress shop to someone else for seven years. After the dress shop closed, he decided to open a bookstore in the 1,200-square-foot space.

Though he always had an interest in books and reading, Rishel's first career was as a lawyer. In 1998, he opened The Sly Fox on a part-time basis, while continuing his day job as the staff attorney for the State of Illinois' Legislative Research Unit. After retiring in 2002, he became a full-time bookseller.

Now, 10 years after opening Sly Fox, George Rishel, who is 64 years old, said the longevity of his bookstore has surprised him a bit. Virden, population 3,500, is a small rural town, a bedroom community of Springfield, on Illinois Route 4 (part of historic Route 66). "I've found it a real challenge -- even 20 miles south from Springfield, we're still competing with big box stores because people work up there and shop there a lot," he said. "Getting people into the store has always been a struggle. If you go back to the 1980s and before, it was common to go downtown and walk from store to store. You don't see that anymore, people don't walk around -- even if it is less walking than if you go to a mall."

Over the years, the town lost a lot of retail business, and the downtown square now consists of hair salons, insurance agents, and doctor offices -- though there is a good hardware store, Rishel said -- and, of course, Sly Fox.

"Virden has an above average pull factor," he said, "but even this was hurt in the past year -- the coal mines have closed, and a couple of months ago the Ford dealership closed. Last fall, the grocery store closed." Escalating gas prices have also impacted the many people who commute 25 miles each way to Springfield to work.

"Despite all that, we're holding on," Rishel said. As for the secret to successfully weathering the vicissitudes of the past decade, he stated, "Perseverance! ... And maybe a little stubbornness."

In looking back on his bookselling career thus far, the most memorable event was Sly Fox's midnight party for the release of the last Harry Potter title, Rishel said. "If anything stands out, it was the excitement that we all felt. I don't think I'll ever see that kind of phenomenon again -- I mean, being 64, it would have to happen pretty soon," he said with a laugh. "We had close to 100 people that night. My nephew's wife and her friend helped me, and my seven-year-old grandnephew also came down ... and he helped with the countdown [to midnight]. It was nice to share that with them."

Leading up to the store's birthday celebration, Sly Fox will have a half-off sale on paperbacks, from July 5 through July 9. And on July 10, there will be cake and an American Girl doll drawing. "I don't have an exact day we opened," Rishel said. "It was around the Fourth of July -- the doors were open, and if someone strolled in and wanted a book, I would sell them one." But, since he wanted to pick a date to mark the occasion, he chose July 10 to coincide with his niece's fifth birthday.

For the future, Rishel said he might try to hone his inventory a little, take better advantage of the Route 66 tourist trade, and stock more books by authors from the region. He's already jumped on board the IndieBound train. "I just used the IndieBound logo on a press release, and I've got my 'Eat. Sleep. Read.' poster in the window." --David Grogan