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