On a visit to Logee’s greenhouses in Connecticut, we happened across a bookstore called Wonderland. It was night, we were looking for a place to eat, so only glanced at the window and its shadows within, deciding we would make a trip back into town the next morning to check it out. We did. It was closed. Not because they weren’t open on Mondays or we were too early–they were out of business. There was stock within, but little, with fixtures laying around, rugs rolled up, giftware boxed. I was acutely disappointed. A bookstore with an Alice theme was so perfect for me, that to have it appear and then disappear was really sad. (And very Cheshire Cat-like) The window curtains were checkered, and I
Bookstore Profiles Archive
Fans far and wide, please accept my deepest, most sincere, heart-felt apologies. I had the very BEST of intentions of writing my final pre-opening post one week before Swan’s Fine Books opened its doors, and clearly fell down on the job. Let the side down, old chap, and all of that. We are now one week AFTER the opening, and in an effort to make amends, am offering this post regarding the store opening, thanks to my many wonderful mentors, and some stray thoughts… First, allow me to bring you all up to speed. The four thousand books alluded to in my last post turned out to be 5,000 books – yikes! But what lovely books they are! I was fortunate enough to meet
I saw Notting Hill a few years ago. I’m sure at this point everyone knows that Hugh Grant’s character is the owner of a travel bookstore. A store that sells only travel books. When I first saw Notting Hill I thought it was a hilarious idea. How could that possibly survive these days? I can see how it may have been a viable business at one point, since the staff would know all of their product really well. These days, it would be nice to have staff that would be that knowledgeable, but only selling product in that narrow a focus sadly seems to be just asking to go out of business. Then I found out that Toronto has a store dedicated only to Cookbooks.
Murphy’s Loft, Mullica Hill NJ. This was my third experience in this laid back book and ephemera store. I visited years ago, and then a few months back, right after the original owner retired, and her son (grandson?) took the reins. Unfortunately, his mother decided to rid herself of half the inventory, so he let it be known he was fine with trade ins, if I had them. Ha, is the pope catholic? (at least he was when the smoke cleared). It took me months to get myself in gear and bring the boxes piled up at my mother’s front door–yes there was still room to go in and out–barely. I had around 5 filled regular sized boxes, and a couple of bag pretty nice copies.
Warm weather and sun in North Carolina brought the completion of the Circle City Books wall mural last week. Onlookers and photographers were a constant presence as the final strokes were applied by artists Bailey Friedman (Number One Daughter) and her friend Emily Kerscher. Then, off into the sunset rode Bailey, jet-bound to New Zealand, for an indefinite adventure of indeterminate duration. But what she and Emily left behind was a sensation that scarcely goes an hour without being remarked upon by another newcomer who is just astonished to see such a sight in Pittsboro. Though the mural is finished, I’ve conceived of a plan to extend the process (some might say drag it out) for several more months. With an eye toward the good