This is the item to talk about your favorite bookstore, news about
bookstores, and whatever else about bookstores.

And, because I just went around and invited a number of Ann Arbor book-
sellers to join Grex, this is the place to tell us all about your
bookstore.

67 responses total.

There is a bookstore in Athens, Ohio called "the Story Shoppe".  They
carry used and rare books.  The owners regularly travel to bookshows, etc,
and find many new books.  They have lots of books that you can't find anywhere
else, and the husband is well versed in almost every topic.  If he doesn't
carry a particular book, he may be able to find it for you, or point you 
toward someone who can.  
btw- If anyone does stop in there, please tell them I said "hi" :)

I understand Barnes and Noble bought the bowling alley on
Northwestern Highway just south of Orchard Lake Road, and
will be opening a Borderesque megastore in it soon.  It will
put the other little bookstores in West Bloomfield and
Farmington right out of business.  I hope Book People on
Orchard Lake just north of Maple will survive somehow.

 I like Dawn Treader on Liberty. Good selection, nothing overpriced, and
they STILL DON'T HAVE FREAKY DEAKY, dammit. (oops.)

  A book has to really excite me before I'll spend 20 plus bucks for it.
Last one I bought was _The world is my home_ by James A. Michener. I'm
on page 6.

 I bought a McMurtry and a Henry Miller today at DT. 

The Dawn Treader on S. University is also pretty neat (the two stores
overlap, but also have specialties).  Dawn Treader is a used bookstore,
BTW.

 I have an interest in antiquarian books.  There is a pamphlet out listing
something like 18 Ann Arbor antiquarian book dealers.  Most have somewhat
unusual hours, selections that are the antithesis of best seller
collections (you can find some odd, odd reads), and very distinctive
locations.  You wouldn't know some of these people were in business unless
you specifically went looking for them, but a couple I have visited have
inventories to rival any mainstream bookstore, or almost.

  What's going on with the new Borders?  I've been away, and so don't know
if or when the opening happen s/ed.  I peeked in the window a few weeks
ago and have to admit I was underwhelmed.  It looked like a department
store with a fresh coat of paint.  But who knows?  It may be O.K.

If you ever make it to Denver, check out the Tattered Cover Bookstore...
it is (or was at one point) the largest privately owned (i.e. not part of a 
chain) bookstore in the country...it's in a four-story converted warehouse
and there are plenty of comfy chairs to plop down in and read a book.
They have something like 150,000 titles in stock.

On another note:  is it true that Ann Arbor has the most bookstores per capita
of any city in the U.S.?

Heh. Wouldn't surprise me.  Every time I walk down some downtown street
I haven't been down before, I find a used or new book shop.  As someone
mentioned, they're in some incredibly old/unique sites.  

The old Borders will be closing for one week, July 11th through 15th,
while the inventory is moved and organized.  The new Borders is 
scheduled to open July 16th but they aren't publishing anything 
firm yet in the event they don't quite make it in time.
But with Art Fair on the 20th there isn't a lot of room to be late.

The official opening celebration will be July 30th.  Jane Hamilton
will be there (author of _A Map of the World_ and _The Book of Ruth_.

I'll definitely check it out, but only after "The Day Of The Living Art
Fair" & crowds go away.

Art Scare...brrrrr...time to take a vacation

I undersand that because of the funneling effect of narrow streets and
tall buildings, the human tide can rise as much as 40 feet above street
level when the Art Fair coincides with a full moon and a strong northern
wind blowing into downtown!!!

You forgot the fact that the temp goes up around 10-20 degrees, and warm
art-fair-goers rise.

To get back to books, I really like the Afterwords store on Main St.
It sells only remaindered books, so everything in the store is discoun-
ted. I've gotten a lot of great bargains there.

 hear, hear!

I agree, it's a nice store.  No frills, but good prices.

I like the Little Professor Bookstore in Westgate Plaza at Stadium
and Jackson Road.  Pleasant atmosphere, pretty good selection, nice
for browsing.

When I'm in a highbrow mood I'll sometimes drop by Shaman Drum on
State Street.

Speaking of Shamun Drum, I was in the State Street area the other
day and decided to drop in.  Much to my surprise, they've expanded.
They now have a street floor operation with a nice storefront and
attractively laid out interior.  Same highbrow bias.  Their second
story space is now devoted to textbook operations, apparently.

The new Borders on Liberty opened today.  They've taken over the
two-story building formerly occupied by Jacobson's, which move to
Briarwood Mall.  Very big, not a lot of personality.  Not sure this
is an improvement, though it may be too early to tell.  The place
was jam-packed with people, hardly optimum conditions for savoring
atmosphere.  I was impressed by their large record section, which
may well give other music stores in the immediate vicinity -- SKR,
Schoolkids, Discount Records -- a run for their money.  They also
have pretty well-stocked video and CD-ROM sections.

Are they totally done with construction at Borders, or are they still
"touching up"?  Seems to me they are about a month behind in their move
by the signs they had posted in the old store...
 
Did they put in a coffee shop, too?  That struck as interesting...
buy a book, and sit down to a cup of coffee and read it.

The new Borders looks completely done and well stocked.  Scads of
help everywhere.  The coffee shop is quite nice, with an upstairs
view of the Liberty/State junction.  But it looks like every other
bookstore which has opened within the past five years; I miss the
wide dual staircases.  The junk books (Steele and Co.) are given top
exposure (something the old Borders avoided), and the sound system
sounded industrial/mallish.  The 20% off coupon eased my pain.

That's too bad about the Steele & Co choice of marketing.  The iced
cap is great -- they put crushed ice in it for a neat texture.  It
seems to me that their mag offerings are slimmer than in the old one.
Can anyone confirm?

When in Santa Fe, New Mexico, be sure to check out The Collected Works
Bookshop, located at 208-B West San Francisco Street.  It's one of the
best-stocked small-to-medium size bookstores I've encountered.  Whoever
does the selecting has fine taste.  Excellent literature and poetry
sections.

One thing I really miss since moving from Ann Arbor is all of the
bookstores.  I'm currently living in the Raleigh/Durham area in NC,
so there ARE some bookstores, but not to the extent of AA.  I really
miss Borders but I did hear rumors last fall that there MIGHT be one
opening here in the Triangle area. I hope negotiations have worked out!

Up to about a year or so ago, my favorite bookstore in this area is/was
Bookstar. I still like the place, there's a decent selection of books
and helpful staff. But within the past couple years, there's been 
several Barnes and Noble bookstores that have opened up in the area-
one in Raleigh, one in Cary, and one right in between Durham and Chapel
Hill.  Granted, sometimes these bigger stores don't have the real
personal touches/feelings that I recall Borders having...  But they
do have some of the same selection [and more than Bookstar has] along
with some very comfortable seating. Sometimes [often, I should say],
I end up sitting there for hours, reading! By taking the time to browse,
I'm still buying books but am enjoying my purchases even more than
I used to.
Sometimes I'm there so long that I forget the time--its nice that they
have the coffee/tea/sandwich shop for those times when one's stomach
can't wait til ya get home to eat or drink!

I have found the new Borders here to be quite dissapointing.  I loved
the State St. location- it was so cozy and friendly.  Now it feels so 
cosmopolitan that I don't belong there anymore.  the staff are not as
knolwedgable as they used to be either.
I also really miss the COmmunity Newscenter on liberty...I used to go
there during lunch all the time...

You have a point, about the size of Borders. I find it like ... a
department store, not like a bookstore. It is intimidating to browse in
a store that size. 

I get a nostalgic twinge for the old Borders now and then, but I
don't find the new one intimidating. I can't imagine a bookstore
large enough to intimidate me.

For a smaller-scale yet high-toned browsing experience, try
Shaman Drum on State Street, just down from the old Borders.

Once in Borders, recently, I picked up an item to take it to the
register to buy, and on my way an alarm rang. I was supposed to take it
to a local checkout. I felt like I was in the gulag. 

I really like little professor ( at Westgate) even though I don't get a 
chance to go out there very often.

I really like Shaman Drum (I get a lot of my textbooks from the upstairs
section) The downstairs has some really cool books.

The Community Newscenter isn't there anymore????

I heard that one of my brother's will be working at the Little Professor
bookstore this summer.

Just thought I'd say hello...I work for Waldenbooks in the home office..
for the record that is Waldenbooks/Borders both owned by BGI, Inc. :-)

Hey, does this mean that Waldenbooks will now be able to order a wider variety
of books?  That would be really cool since I live in an area which is
bookstore impaired with only two bookstores...Waldenbooks and Bookland.  The
selection in the stores is rather limited.

You can always special order a title. As for ordering a greater variety of
books we always have had a great variety. If Walden doesn't have it
try borders, if borders doesn't have it try brentanos ;-) <all the
same people>

Here's a specialty bookstore online that features almost everything
available about bats and caves, called Speleobooks:
http://www.albany.net/~oldbat/.  If you are interested in those topics
this site is the greatest show on earth.  Of course I am biased because I
designed the site and am more or less kept employed these days by
Speleobooks.  The owner was inadvertently made somewhat famous a few years
ago by breaking her leg in Lechuguilla Cave and having her rescue followed
on the nightly national news.

I've heard pretty good things about www.amazon.com, an online bookstore with
a pretty cool set-up.  In addition to having a pretty large selection, special
ordering, and an impressive search engine, it allows users to record comments
about books.  This provides an interesting way of learning more about books
that have piqued your interest.

I've baught from amazon.com, and some others like them. It is very convenient
and one can get real bargains, My pet peeve, though, is that they are not
open about the cost for "shipping and handling", which can kill those
bargain prices. 

This is interesting.  When I first entered this item, many moons ago,
there were no on-line bookstores.  Now there are quite a few.  In fact,
I'm working on opening up an online bookstor of my own specializing in
engineering books.

As was noted, Community Newscenter is long gone, but in accordance
with the dictum that nature abhors a vacuum, a new one has popped up
in its place.  Main Street News now occupies the space that was formerly
an Elmo's t-shirt store. (Actually, I think Elmo still occupies a bit
of space in the back.)  In addition, the new Border's has a better 
periodical selection than at the old location, Shaman Drum has an
interesting magazine section, and Tower Records and Books on South U.
has a big selection.

  I found a really good resource for "books that the stores in ann arbor don't
have", which is http://www.abebooks.com This site has a search feature by
author, title and keyword. This is how I found a copy of Caryl Chessman's
"Cell 2455, Death Row". I have also found some others that were mentioned 
in the series I saw on the History Channel, the 50's.
  Can't wait to read Peyton Place. ;)

One problem with Amazon.com is that I know they list books which are out
of print and completely unavailable, and which they never have and never
will stock.  Plenty of real bookstores can special order books, which is
all Amazon does for the vast majority of titles. In addition, a bookstore
with a defined subject area will stock specialty titles and buy
remaindered books about to disappear from general circulation of special
interest to their clients.  All of which provides specific sources for
specific types of books, which Amazon.com doesn't do and will never do. 
If you have a specific topic of ongoing interest to you, it is in your own
interest to find a book dealer who supports that topic in depth and in
turn support them.

I ordered a book from amazon.com, and they came back after a bit and told
me the price had increased. This fits with what Mike says above, since
they can't keep updating prices for the enormous numbers of books they just
list but don't have in stock. I felt like it was false advertising, but
I don't think I have any recourse to get the originally listed price.
However I have gotten remaindered books from them for lower prices than
I could find elsewhere (until someone mentioned they had found a title
I wanted at some book warehouse, for a lower price than I had paid
amazon.com).

What I do is search a whole slew of online book vendors for best prices.
I'd only have a vendor do a search for me, however, if it was a must-have
out of print book.

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss