Kristy Thompson cradles her dog, Jasmine Sage, in front of Town Books’ pets section. Photo: Nancy Fox.
- Nine-year-old Daedan Cutter reads in children’s corner of Town Books. Photo: Nancy Fox.
- Cinnie Barrows helped create Town Books, new Friends of the San Anselmo Library shop. Photo: Nancy Fox.
Almost all the buyers are incurable addicts.
So are the sellers, who occasionally purchase items when not volunteering.
But don’t be misled: There are no drugs. No booze. No butts.
Used books are their preferred vice.
Some are addicted to romance novels, bodice-rippers and the like. Some are drawn to true murder stories. Some favor volumes about sports or politics or scientific expeditions to the outskirts of civilization.
And some — like my wife — lean toward lighter fare, such as the humor of David Sedaris.
The buyer-fanatics would make the register in San Anselmo’s 20- by 40-foot Town Books ca-ching, ca-ching, ca-ching if the spanking new store had a machine instead of a cash box.
Me? I’ve bought nothing yet.
A voracious book reader into midlife, I’ve since turned to alternate worlds provided by newspapers, magazines, websites and, if you believe my spouse (who insists I’ll read anything), the backs of cereal boxes.
Cinnie Barrows — Friends of the Library stalwart who’s been as responsible as anyone for the shop’s birth — is much more typical.
She got hooked on books when her parents read to her “at a very early age. Then, still pre-school, I started using the library in my small West Virginia hometown. It was above the jail.”
She’s still addicted.
But others involved with the library, she insists, are even more so: “Some of the Friends read all the time.”
Cinnie’s worked her way down to wearing only two hats — “volunteer coordinator, which means I’m in charge of recruiting, and being the Tuesday manager.”
And she’s quick to cite two other Friends instrumental in the store’s gestation, Sue Neil and Shelagh Smith.
Sue, with her daughter Julie, helmed the shop’s design, including racks in the center of the room that clear away for special events.
She’s particularly proud of the shelves.
They were hand-picked, one by one, she says: “They’re all old bleacher benches from St. Louis that were re-purposed — some red, some black, some that had chewing gum on the bottom that had to get scraped off.”
Shelagh, who oversees Friends’ finances, co-wrote the volunteers’ handbook with Joan Boodrookas, the organization’s president.
Unpaid regular Sharon Bluhm commends it.
And says, “Fiction sells well — because it’s what we have most. So do children’s books and cookbooks.”
Early revenues hit between $500 and $600 a week, but they were based on being open only Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 10 to 4.
“When you consider most books sell for under $5,” says Sue, “even at $500, that’s a lot of books.”
Sales are expected to rise now because Fridays have been added.
Proceeds will help the library with what Debbie Stutsman, tow n manager, calls “a myriad of…things not covered by the general fund or parcel tax budgets.”
At least two volunteers staff the store at 411 San Anselmo Ave. each morning, two more each afternoon. Each day has a designated manager.
Though Town Books opened mid-September, the official launch wasn’t until last month, when 150 book lovers jammed what once housed Riccardo’s Italian restaurant and its endless empty bottles hanging from the ceiling.
Down San Anselmo Avenue, Michael Whyte, owner of Whyte’s Booksmith, rejects my question about competition. “I feel it’s more collegial,” he says. “The more bookstores in San Anselmo, the better.”
Whyte’s been supporting library projects for 30-plus years — “generously,” comments Cinnie.
Most of Town Books’ stock comes from individuals cleaning out their homes — folks like Lisa Mackey. “My mom is ill, in a nursing home,” she tells me, “and I’m bringing her books here.”
“Here” is the single room, but down the hallway is a 16×22 office where Eli Welber scans non-fiction barcodes to see if they can be marketed on Amazon.
His current online inventory is about 500 tomes. He expects the number to go up exponentially.
The afternoon I visit, a San Anselmo newbie who prefers anonymity scours the place for books dealing with the history of American poetry, while Oliver Kaufmann of Ross surfs the shelves (he’d earlier bought a novel and two nonfiction volumes).
They voice delight.
Some — like Kat Hench, who lived in San Anselmo but now resides in Novato — come to Town Books seeking something specific but don’t find it.
Few leave empty-handed.
But almost all, addicts or not, somehow leave with a smile on their faces.
Check out Woody Weingarten’s new blog at www.vitalitypress.com/ or contact him at voodee@sbcglobal.net.
