My mother was in the hospital recently and while I was out there visiting, I had a chance once again to go to the little-hole-in-the-wall used bookstore called The Book Shop in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, where my sister and mother live. It always amazes me the difference between that bookstore and the one we have here.
The one here started out small like that one but it isn’t any longer and I have to admit that I miss that feeling. If you don’t know what I mean by hole-in-the-wall, let me explain. The one out there is in a small building with small rooms and books crammed on shelves from floor-to-ceilings in what’s basically organized chaos, yet it seems to have more books than the one in my town that appears to be in a larger building.
Of course, it may not in truth be larger. I mean I haven’t gotten down and measured the square footage. 😉 But I do know that the last time I was at the one here, I noticed that they didn’t have much of anything I wanted to buy. By that I mean that none of the authors that I routinely get. Very frustrating. Granted, that might simply mean that all the authors I like, everyone else likes and no one is turning them in for trade, but I ain’t buying it. Frankly, it looked more like some of the inventory had been there for ten years or more. Some of it, not all of it.
But the other store had a lot of authors that I get and more besides, so I have to wonder what’s what. The only problem is that I’m not even sure what questions to ask on this one so let me put it this way – what are the rest of you finding when you go to you local used bookstores? Books you want or not?