When I was a kid growing up in Morgantown, I loved going to bookstores. Some of my best memories are of Stilwell Book Shop, on the corner of Pleasant and Chestnut streets. I used to spend hours there, talking with the owner, Geoff, and talking myself in and out of buying something. But I remember lots of others – the Bargain Bookshelf, later just the Bookshelf, under the Suburban Lanes bowling alley; Wolf’s Head Books (later Abshire’s and Books Books Books), at the foot of the South High Street bridge; Trans-Atlantic on Fayette Street.
As a little kid, I even enjoyed the old Coles chain store at the Mountaineer Mall. Before that (yes, I remember when Morgantown didn’t have a mall), I used to love going to the Middletown Mall in Fairmont to check out the chain store there (was it Coles? Waldenbooks? something else?).
When I first moved to Charleston, I would spend at least one lunch hour a week in Trans-Allegheny Books on Capitol Street, with those fantastic spiral staircases.
With the exception of the Bookshelf in Morgantown (now relocated to Greenbag Road), all of those places are gone. For the past couple of decades, it’s become increasingly difficult for small, local bookstores to survive — as we saw again earlier this month with the demise of the physical location of Frog Creek Books at the Capitol Market in Charleston.
Amazon.com, of course, pioneered a completely different way to buy books. The rise of giant chains like Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million and Borders means local booksellers face the same economic pressures that other local merchants face from Wal-Mart, Target, Lowe’s and Home Depot. And the rising popularity of electronic books has frightened even those huge chains and led to doubts about their survival.
I’m not saying the new ways are all bad, or that I’ve never ordered a book online — just that local, independent bookstores have become harder and harder to find.
So here on WVBF:TB, we’re going to look at some local bookstores throughout West Virginia. I’ve already got a few lined up, and some more planned after that. If you’ve got any suggestions, let me know. We may find a few that we didn’t know anything about.
Look for the first installment in a few days.
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Amazon provides a vast selection of books and fast, efficient service at better prices than any bookstore. Why should I wait six weeks for a ‘special order,’ when Amazon can get the book to me in a few days? And I have absolutely no interest in going to a bookstore that doubles as a coffee shop and having to listen to the latte sippers’s prattle while I’m trying to find a book. Nostalgia is nice, but selection and service beat it every time.
I think that bookstore at Middletown Mall was James & Law.
I remember Stillwell’s too, having grown up in Morgantown BEFORE there were malls. I love going into small, independent bookstores no matter where I go or travel. I also am a fan of Barnes & Noble. After seeing “You’ve Got Mail” a zillion times, I try very hard to balance my purchases so that those lovely independent stores will remain a part of our lives. I look forward to your “bookstore articles.”
When I lived in Fairmont in the 70s & 80s, I loved Comics Paradise Plus on Walnut Street. I believe it’s still around, too.
After Taylors, one of my favourite independents is The Book Loft in Columbus, Ohio. It is in an old store with house above from the late 1800s. So you wind around and around through 32 rooms, but if you get lost they have a map. The joy of finding a book you didn’t know you needed is wonderful. http://www.bookloft.com/
If I have a favorite bookstore, it’s Foyle’s in London. Huge place, discreet, helpful staff, and customers who know they are there to buy books and not to blather. The only problem is that books are too heavy to pack very many of them. Then there’s the airfare.
Bobet News in Fairmont was fun. Other than The Bookshelf, I didn’t particularly care for the bookstores in Morgantown, though Stilwell’s was OK until it started selling food. The WVU bookstore was, and is, a joke, unless you want trinkets. Does anyone know what happened to the wall mosaic about books that used to be there? It was the best thing about the place.
I recall the halcyon days of Major’s Book Store in Charleston; I’ll never forget the excitement of going there one Saturday to pick up a book I’d ordered: “The Dunwich Horror and Others,” first collection of H.P.Lovecraft’s tales I ever owned. Then there was Moore’s on Capitol St; lots of stuff to be found there. And one day, just in exploring the area, I ran across the Arcade Book Store: I’d never seen so many books in one place, except the library. Not only the book store, but the Arcade itself is gone now. I still have most of the books I purchased at those places, all those decades ago — Amazon and its like are good things, but the thrill of the hunt vanished with the local book store. Glad we still have Taylor’s, at least…
You should check out Main Line Books in Elkins, WV. It is a woman-owned, independent bookstore.
When I attended WVU, Stillwell’s and Abshire’s were both in business. I spent uncounted hours at both, but I had a soft spot in my heart for Abshire’s. Abshire’s had an enormous slection of out of print books. I still have several sets of books and individual volumes purchased from Abshire’s over the years.
I am not convinced Amazon has been the death knell of the local bookstore. I think the death of the local bookstore (especially in WV) is due to a serious demograhic shift. Simply put, I don’t think WV has the population of readers it needs to sustain local bookstores. I am not going to pigeon hole WV and make it seem as if this is strictly a local problem; far from it. However, we have such a small and scattered population base to begin with, it should come as no great shock that small specialty businesses have a tougher time unless they find some sort of outlet (i.e. the internet) through which to sell their wares. Many small bookshops thrive through the use of bookfinder, and are able to manage a respecatble store front presence.
Sadly, I have to commit one final thought. Education is not a priority in this state, and that is certainly a factor. High school sports stars get front page coverage. Academic stars get a sixteenth of a column eight or ten pages back in a section. Sure, the powers that be pander to what should be our priority (education), but follow the trail of money and visible support, and things become more clear. Many high schools in this state have athlectic facilities that small colleges can only dream about, amidst our twenty five percent high school drop out rate. Truancy laws are only enforced sporadically, teachers are in many cases poorly qualified (and defended blindly by unions which are ruining public education) and administrators and politcians are too busy with smoke and mirrors to do anything meaningful.
If you don’t believe me, ponder this: as our university educated residents flee this state, and our bookshops close their doors, we still don’t seem to have a problem selling TVs, our local greasy-death-in-a-sack vendors find ways (the good ol’ boy network) to avoid telling the public how many days each gut bomb takes off the life of the consumer, and sporting goods stores seem to be doing a healthy business.
J Del Col – I know the lugging of books is a problem. You might see if Foyles have a program like Kenny’s Bookstore in Ireland. Kenny’s sets up a profile of you and looks at what is coming out or coming into the store for you. http://www.kennys.ie/
As a librarian I miss Moore’s a lot. They had all sorts of odd things that library patrons needed, but that we didn’t have.
Just got back from a few days in Chicago and had a chance to check out some of the bookstores in Hyde Park, including the Seminary Co-Op and Powell’s Books. Highly recommended.
Check out Words & Music Bookstore at Stratford Springs (Close to Oglebay) in Wheeling, WV.
[...] keeping with Greg’s lamentation on the decline of the independent bookstore, let me add my brief two cents that independent booksellers know what they are talking about when [...]
Kerri’s Korner Bookstore in Fairmont, WV. We carry new & used books in all categories. We currently have about 3,000 new titles and nearly 20,000 used titles on our shelves. We strive for great customer service which can make us different from the big bookstores. All of our staff are avid and knowledgeable readers. Check out our website: http://www.kerriskorner.net!!