Novel Ideas

The first thing that struck me about Novel Ideas is its location in downtown Decatur, Illinois. When looking for the bookstore in my car, heading east on E. Main Street, I noticed that I was leaving Decatur's downtown area, and after Decatur's modern-looking library there seemed to be not much left. But, lo and behold, there it was - Novel Ideas - a big island surrounded by an even bigger parking lot sea. After finding the store, I then realized that its location is actually pretty good. Right next to the public library, just a short walk from the downtown, Novel Ideas is the only bookstore in the downtown area. The downtown was impressive for this laid-back small town. Like so many small town main streets, it surely has gone through decline and is now on the rebound. The only missing link is the throngs of people who are currently congregating in the Wal-Marts and Best Buys of the corporate strip mall dystopia.

I took some pictures from the outside before entering the store and then entered from the side. Just like other stores in the area, Novel Ideas has a collection of antiques and memorabilia that fill the side entrance and a good part of that southern side of the store. I noticed some really cool-looking canes, which I could've used for my serious back issues a few months ago, and an entire Green Bay Packers section that would certainly please my many Wisconsin friends.

As soon as the owner working behind the desk saw me, she nicely asked me why I was taking pictures of her store, which I have to admit does seem strange. I told her of my indie bookstore travelogue and its reviews of independent bookstore, which I immediately realized seems even stranger. We talked a little bit about independent bookstores, and she mentioned Babbitt's and About Books in my homebase of Bloomington-Normal. I have to say that I was little embarrassed about having to admit that I hadn't visited Bloomington's About Books yet. I thought it sold antiques exclusively, and as I mentioned in previous posts, the antiques intimidate me. Well, one more indie bookstore in my town to support over the anti-union Double B Bookstore empire. (In my idiolect, the Double Bs = Borders and Barnes & Noble). The owner was very friendly and also knowledgeable on the indie bookstore world. It was worth the embarrassment of getting caught taking pictures of her building.

In size, Novel Ideas is relatively small, but the store holds a fairly big used book collection. I browsed for over a half-hour, attracted mostly to the sections that covered the local history of Macon County, of which Decatur is the county seat. I looked for more recent history of the Staley strike, and other working class histories, but without luck. Of course I should've asked the owner but I'm a little shy! There was a very cute section in the center of the store devoted to local books and writers, and I ended up buying a pictorial history of Macon County for about 20 bucks. There was another section of Illinois history that was pretty good. Overall, the bookstore seems to have a gigantic collection of war histories and testimonials, as well as devotional literature, which just happened to stand out in the assortment. Given my interests, I wasn't too interested in some of these areas and just noticed the titles in passing.

When checking out at the end of my visit, the friendly owner gave me a restaurant recommendation - Pastabilities - a local Italian joint just up the street, and we chatted a little about indie bookstores. I found it interesting that, despite the general decline in indie bookstores, which we both agreed has happened, this owner thought that the Internet wasn't as negative as a factor as I did. She pointed out that many independent stores are selling books online and are able to stay afloat because of the Internet. She mentioned Biblio and ABE Books as the two online vendors used by many. I can't remember if we talked about Double Bs, but my suspicion is that the Double Bs, in combination with the equally anti-union Amazon and its dominance, couldn't have been good for the indie world. Nonetheless, she made me realize that the Internet per se is not the problem; it is the continuing dominance of the Double Bs and Amazon.

Novel Ideas
480 E. Main Street
Decatur, Illinois 62523
(217) 429-1995

Cheryl's Old Book Barn

On Saturday, June 20, I took a Saturday afternoon trip to Decatur, a small town about 40 miles south of where I live in Bloomington-Normal. Decatur is a special place for me, because a few times in 1994 I came here with SLAC (Student Labor Action Coalition - we called ourselves SLACkers) down from Madison, Wisconsin to support the workers in their strike against the A.E. Staley company. For this trip I was simply visiting some indie booksellers, but I thought I'd swing over to see the Staley area as well.

On my way into Decatur, my first stop was Cheryl's Old Book Barn, located in the small town of Forsyth, population 3284. At first I thought Forsyth was a suburb of Decatur, but because I got lost finding the store, I could easily see that I was wrong. I passed the store coming south and knew I must've missed it when I saw the big box sprawl that extends north of Decatur on the highway. Turning around and heading north again, I noticed that this sprawl has come up right against Forsyth. But the small town environment is still unscathed by Decatur's advance. I ventured inside the town off the highway when I was lost and got to see the town off the highway. Turns out, though, that the Old Book Barn is on the east side of US Highway 51, next to an Indian-owned Phillips 66 convenience store, the Forsyth Convenience Center, which I should say provided me with a Decatur map (my wife took the GPS to Chicago), soda and a restroom for my bookstore visit.

Entering the store, I realized right away that this visit was going to be a new sort of experience. In the front foyer of the store, old knick-knacks and memorabilia were on display for sale, including old furniture and old stuff of all kinds - Campbell soup cans and memorabilia, old Illinois license plates going back to the early 20th century, old cassette tapes and LPs, and much more than I can comment on here. Some people might be tempted to call this junk, but its presence gives the store an old-time charm. Inside there was more memorabilia and old stuff, which I looked at briefly. The memorabilia is found all over the store, organized according to the theme of the type of books sold in an area, scattered in small rooms and disjointed hallways that form a confusing maze of books.

I started browsing the philosophy books and ancient literature books, near the front part of the store, and ended up buying in the end some ancient plays by Aeschylus and Euripedes. After leaving what was a comfortable area for me, I started looking at the extended selection of the maze. The Old Book Barn has quite an extensive selection of used books, and the bookstore itself is extremely large. If I lived a little close, and certainly if I lived in Decatur, I would definitely check here first to see if I could buy it used and support my local bookstore. Besides a good selection of used fiction and ancient texts, the store has complete series of books and magazines. For instance, one area has hundreds of National Geographic magazines. I noticed that it has loads of travel books, all used, and all the Chicken Soup for the Soul books. I'm really understating their collection here by picking out what I happened to see.... their selections in detective novels, spy genre, New Age, and women's contemporary are just some of the categories that I noticed having huge selections. There are also rooms that have very old texts, many of which are very obscure, giving you the sense of just how many books have been published through the decades. Some sections qualify as antique collections. For example, I saw some old Princeton University school yearbooks from around 1910, items I happened to pick out in a sea of old texts. I loved the New Age room, a tiny room located somewhere in the back of the maze, in which you could read on an old chair under a fake cobwebbed portrait of man whose eyes had been cut out. Next to the portrait was a warning that the store was watching you in case you had any inkling to shoplift.

As you can see, you really have to visit the Old Book Barn to get a sense of its crazy eclecticism. As I checked out, I came to notice that one of the women behind the counter called another women her mother, and it became apparent that there were two or three generations of family owners working in the store. I asked the person who check me out, maybe she was Cheryl, how long they had the store. 20 years? She was both answering me and asking her family members if that was the exact number. 20 years, and from what I could tell, still going strong.

Cheryl's Old Book Barn
126 South Highway 51
Forsyth, Illinois 62535
(217) 875-0222

Revolution Books (Chicago)

When in Chicago for the Blues Fest, I wanted to attend a progressive indie bookstore, since I never had visited one before in Chicago. The store closest to downtown, and on the "L," was the RCP party bookstore, Revolution Books. I had visited the RCP bookstore in NYC a few years back and was impressed with their political selection. From my own experience and what others have told me, I knew in advance that their members can be a little aggressive, in the way they zealously promote their organization. But, to be fair and nonsectarian, I wanted to judge by my experience at the store; afterall, I've been political before, in a progressive vein, so maybe my activity get similarly construed. Turns out that the day I decided to visit, there was a meeting that morning, before the store was to open, and so people had to decide if I would be allowed to browse or obliged to come back later. I had no problem coming back an hour later, which is what I did. Luckily there was a little coffee shop down Ashland Street where I read and had one too many coffees.

When entering the store an hour later, many RCPers were in discussion after the meeting. I talked to a few folk, got invitations to a discussion the next day on Chairman Bob's latest thinking, and browsed. Everyone was very friendly. The big difference between this store and the one in NYC was in size. The NY store was much bigger, with a huge selection. The Chicago store seemed more focused on party events and party building. One prominent bookstore worker told me that the small selection was not by choice but due to financial constraints.

Of their book selection, I thought their shelf on evolution and atheism was the best, but I couldn't buy any of these books because I was traveling light with just a backpack that was already stuffed. I bought a thin book of poetry, and to be nice, a copy of their newspaper. I have to say, though, that as a leftist myself, I don't subscribe to their camp, which automatically makes me not that interested in much of the RCP offering. But, hey, to each their own.

Revolution Books (Chicago)
1103 North Ashland Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60622
(773) 489-0930

Prairie Avenue Bookstore

Over the weekend of June 12-14 I was in Windy City for the Chicago Blues Festival, where I stayed at the very nice Youth Hostel in the loop for the entire weekend. My first time heading out to the festival, which involved only a 10 minutes walk from the hostel to Grant Park, I noticed this stately little bookstore called Prairie Avenue Bookstore, a store specializing in books on architecture.

Entering the store, I was a little nervous, not terribly so, but just a tad since architecture is a topic about which I know very little. You can tell as soon as you enter the store that Pabook knows architecture. The books in display cases lining the entrance walls vary greatly and include what I imagine are historical items and antiques, in addition to what would be more appropriate for a layperson like myself. After being asked to have my backpack held behind the front counter (it contained all my clothing, books, and travel toiletries, which would have made stealing impossible even if I were less than ethical, but I understand and agree with this common policy), I freely browsed for about 20 minutes throughout the quite extensive collection. The atmosphere of the store is very plush and elegant, with green the dominant theme, adorned with heavy wooden antique furniture. Right away I noticed that there were three main levels, the front counter level, a second larger level were the majority of books are located, and third level.

I started at the second level and browsed a good number of books. There is no doubt that this is the place to go in Chicago for anything architectural; contrary to the myth that the big boxes have "everything," stores like this are proof that it is best to start with the indies. Many of the books, like art books in general, were very colorful, big, and overall beautiful. I knew that I wouldn't be able to buy any of these books, as I was traveling light with only my backpack that was already stuffed, but I looked nonetheless for that book that would be perfect for me. Books were organized along the walls by architectural designer in some cases, along the back wall there was a section that specialized in books on specific cities. I looked for Bloomington-Normal, to no avail, but I was interested in buying this book on Tucson architecture. If I were still living there, and could see the designs in person, I would've no doubt bought it.

I next browsed the third floor landing, a very small level that contained the books out of print and antiques. The older books didn't take my attention; what did were the huge architectural portfolios and old journals, none of which I touched. I wasn't even sure if you were supposed to touch them, but even if you could, my fear would be that they would disintegrate or tear easily. These old tomes are always very mysterious and intimidating, I feel.

On the first floor, I noticed that there were many books for the specialist and layperson alike, but it catered more to the specialist. There were many new academic books, some I noticed with the focus on green design, and a variety of textbooks. When leaving, I saw somebody ask about a particular volume, no doubt an architect seeking a source for his business or work.

In the end I didn't buy a book from Prairie Avenue, which goes against the indie bookstore code of an old friend of mine: You should always buy something when visiting an indie, even something small. Of course I had the excuse of the stuffed backpack, but I probably could've bought a magazine from the rack I saw upon exiting. Well, there is always next time!

Prairie Avenue Bookstore
418 South Wabash
Chicago, Illinois 60605
800-474-2724 (Toll-Free)

Babbitt's Books

As you can see by the picture taken of Babbitt's Books, Beaufort Street is a mess! This summer Uptown Normal is under construction, continuing the trend of revitalization that some diehard Normalites feel is ruining their Old Normal. Babbitt's Books is definitely a hold-out of that Old Normal, along with the Coffee House, Mother Murphy's, and other stragglers. Perhaps this picture of destruction is the most appropriate as some establishments, such as Babbitts, try their best to tenaciously hold on.

Babbitt's Books is one of the few independent bookstores in the Bloomington-Normal area. The big box bookstores dominate this town, more than in urban areas where smaller chains and independent stores can find a market. A couple of times I tried to check out Babbitt's, but the closing time of 6:00 on some days foiled my attempt. (I have noticed that the store seems to be open more often in the evening. Summer hours? Their website, otherwise helpful, doesn't post store hours.) Finally, arriving a little earlier one day, I browsed almost the entire bookstore for about 45 minutes or so. Babbitt's specializes in used and old books, and their collection is stacked in very high shelves spread out over three rooms. For a university town, it doesn't have the typical collection of resold academic books that I have seen in Madison and Minneapolis, but its collection is a unique assembly of books that paint an interesting portrait of this small Midwestern town. Its fictions selection is particularly large, and in the side room the nonfiction covers a wide range of topics. I found the some selections to be geared toward the devote, and many of the categories contained old books that were somewhat tantalizingly obscure. I'd love to take more time browsing some of these non-fiction selections, especially that of local history. There is another room in the back, much smaller, that seems to contain older volumes, perhaps antiques. I don't know why, perhaps I was tired or maybe the room intimidated me, but I'll definitely have to check out the back room selection.

In the end I bought Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises. I plan to return to this gem of a bookstore and hope to promote it over the local big boxes. Why not buy used if you can? Babbitt's also promotes a community of book and poetry lovers through their store. Check out their website and blog for a taste.

Babbitt's Books
119 East Beaufort Street
Normal, Illinois 61761
(309) 454-7393
1-888-875-3773
www.babbittsbooks.com

Mayday Books

Of all the bookstores in the world, Mayday Bookstore in Minneapolis, Minnesota is the nearest and dearest to my heart.

For seven years when I lived in the Twin Cities, I volunteered at Mayday Bookstore every Saturday afternoon, opening the store at 12pm (or sometime between 12 and 12:30, whenever I happened to arrive) and working the 12 - 3pm shift. It was a very relaxing job - no cash register, computer, and since all books were 15% off the cover price, you didn't have to worry about being very exact with the final price. But the reason I volunteered at Mayday had nothing to do with the ease of the job. Mayday Bookstore is truly a community, one that is centered around a cause. At Mayday, the volunteer workers oftentimes give their own money to the store to keep it afloat, reflected in one of their mottos: Not making a profit since 1975.

Mayday Bookstore is a progressive community space, centered around books, but involving much more. Non-profit and volunteered-run, its goal isn't making money. Rather, the bookstore provides progressive activists of the Twin Cities area with a place to meet and congregate, discuss books and ideas, and organize around political issues. To get to Mayday Books, it might be a good idea to get directions first. It is located in the popular West Bank neighborhood, near the university, but unless you approach the area southbound on Cedar Ave. you might not see its basement entrance. The best landmark is Midwest Mountaineering, the block-long sporting goods store on Cedar Avenue. Mayday is in the basement below Midwest Mountaineering, actually below and to the side of this store, facing north toward 19th street.

In entering the store, one notices right away that they are in a vibrant political space. Colorful campaign and issue signs decorate the store, marking the progressive causes of the Twin Cities area, some of which were initiated and organized right from the bookstore. Also affecting the atmosphere, the walls are of gray and damp stone, which exudes the sense that one is in a catacombs. The store's walls are lined with book shelves, reaching to the ceiling, and sporting the political titles of labor, feminism, environmentalism, socialism, anarchism, black history, Native American, and Middle East. In the middle of the store, there is a comfortable maroon sofa, numerous book and card displays, and two large tables in the center where people will oftentimes ruminate over political issues of the day. The experience one has shopping at the store depends greatly on who is there at the time. Sometimes it will be just the volunteer worker at the large desk, immediately beneath the store sign, and your browsing of the store will be mostly quiet and peaceful. At other times, the store is bustling with activity. There may be a meeting going on, large or small, or activists might be informally meeting and discussing plans for the day. Sometimes, there will be a number of people conversing on issues. Only once in awhile does the conversation get boisterous and heated, but it should be said, this was a big draw for me. Not knowing what to expect on any given day is what makes the place so unique!

Even though Mayday Books is a progressive store, everyone is always welcome, no matter their political affiliation. What makes the store so special is the people who work and shop there. It's one of those places in America where community still exists, triumphing over the crass and cold materialism of the chains and larger stores.

Mayday Books
301 Cedar Avenue
Minneapolis, Minnesota 44545
(612)-333-4719
www.maydaybookstore.org
maydaybookstore.blogspot.com

Exploring the world of independent bookstores

Corey's Independent Bookstore Travelogue is a blog of my experiences visiting independent bookstores across the country. My intention is to give readers a sense of what each bookstore has to offer to the public, and in the process promote independent, aesthetically pleasing bookstores. I believe that each indie bookstore has something to offer, and I will say outright that I will not be reviewing Barnes and Noble, Borders, and similarly large chains - if you've been to one of these behemoths, you've been to them all!