It’s been a rough decade for most independent booksellers, beset on one side by Web-based retailers and on the other by ultra-mega-bookstores with pastry cases and enormous inventories. Most locally owned bookshops simply cashed out, turning a once diverse segment of the retail economy into a virtual monoculture.
Yet for serious readers, there remains something intangibly seductive in the appeal of a locally owned bookshop, something that goes beyond the cold math of unit price and availability. We asked y'all to tell us your favorites, and what we found were five local shops that have survived by providing one of the most basic human needs: Connection.
All Books
210 E 1st North Street
Summerville
Michelle List’s bookstore was already a downtown favorite before she bought it in
1995, but rising utility bills eventually convinced her to relocate to a cozy
house down a side street. The heart of its business remains List’s
knowledge of books – and her clients.
“We could change the name to ‘All
the Books We Really Liked,’ because if we’ve read it and we liked it,
we can sell it,” List said.
Customers become friends, sitting behind the counter
to drink coffee and talk with the staff, and List does the little
things – like delivering to shut-in customers for free – that keep
people loyal.
“The thing that’s really sad is there is more to books
than just the price stamped on them, and there are a lot of books that
nobody is going to hear about because there’s nobody to tell people
about them.”
Boomer's
420 King St.
Charleston
Writer Jonathan Sanchez began learning the used-book business when he
went to work at Boomer's in 1998. He and his wife bought the business
earlier this year, acquiring an inventory of roughly 40,000 books and a
lethargic cat named Purdy.
Today the shop is headed toward a name
change (“Blue Bicycle Books”) but retains the narrow, engulfed-by-books
ambiance that has been its trademark for 12 years. Boomer's serves as
something of a literary gathering place on the peninsula and its
inventory, Sanchez estimates, would stand 1,500 feet high if stacked.
“Not all businesses are thought of as ‘the little guys’ just because
they’re independent," he said. "I think we’ve gotten to the point that people
understand independent bookstores are not charity cases.”
Indigo Books
472 Freshfields Drive
Johns Island
Linda Malcolm and her husband Nat may serve a transitory, resort-based
clientele, but their shop has the feel of a place where longtime
neighbors congregate.
“I think it’s because we are chatty," Linda Malcolm said. "We love for
people to say ‘I don’t know what I want to read. What do you like?’”
The store has been around since 1995, the Malcolms have owned it since
1998, and they moved three miles to Freshfields when the retail complex
opened two years ago.
“We’ve got people that come from Mount Pleasant
to buy books here. (The mega stores) have got so many books on the
shelves that you don’t see the individual titles so well. Here’s it’s
like looking at someone’s library.”
Ravenous Reader
792 Folly Road
James Island
Pat Giacinto got into the book business on James Island in 1995 after examining her life and deciding to do what she loved. “I love books, and people can see that.”
Rising rents pushed her farther out Folly Road in 2006, but Ravenous Reader survived the move, even if it shook up the clientele’s routines a bit. Today it’s a shop with roughly 11,000 books in stock and a business based on personal service.
“I stock books that are worth reading. I like to think that I sift through the flotsam and the jetsam and keep the cream of the crop.” That’s not the only reason her regular customers keep coming back, either: “There are people who are committed to their community, and they want a well-rounded community. They feel that they should have something besides restaurants.”
The Scoop
7685 Northwoods Blvd
North Charleston
The Scoop stands out for several reasons, including free wi-fi and a drive-through window. The books on display are donations, and 25 percent of the store’s net profits benefit the Communities in Schools program.
“We’re not a musty, dusty, dog-jump-up-on-you bookstore,” said Susan Gates, one of two partners in the shop. There’s a coffee counter, ice cream, a menu of smoothies, a TV going in the background, and tables where customers can read or browse the Web.
Wrote one blog commenter: “The Scoop is great!...The people are really nice and the atmosphere is very inviting." (Photo: That's Kristine Schaffer of Summerville browsing the collection. She works nearby and is a store regular. --dc)
From our friends over at Boing Boing comes this sweet little idea: Write a poem, or a story, or whatever, using only the words that appear in the Dr. Seuss classic “The Cat in the Hat.” Ready, set... GO!
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