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Michael Merschel: Michael Merschel is The Dallas Morning News books editor. September 2009
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Brock's does sound perfect. You're not A disclaimer: I work at the flagship st I'm with you, Mike. The big store on No Categories
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Our Business staff takes a look at how Half-Price Books has managed to thrive without being all that invested in online sales -- and how that is changing. Here's a discussion topic: I have always had mixed feelings about Half-Price Books. On the one hand, I love the sheer size of their operation. Back in the days before every book publicist in America was my best friend and sending me reading material by the bucket, I did most of my book shopping there. Mrs. Humble Books Editor and I would actually squander precious date nights at the flagship store. Factoring in the cost of dinner, movie and baby-sitting, those $4.98 hardcovers ended up costing me $75 each. Which still seemed like a bargain. But I've never been able to love the store. Especially at that gigantic mothership on Northwest Highway. I think the efficiencies that make them a successful business take away some of the soul of a used bookstore. Which, in my world, should always be wildly disorganized, smell vaguely of mildew and have the exact book you want somewhere at the bottom of the stack in the back room where the lighting is dim and you might also expect to find the ark of the covenant, or perhaps Norman Bates' mother. I miss that experience at Half-Price. Is it just me? E-mail entry: |
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I'm with you, Mike. The big store on Northwest Highway just seems too darn organized and clean! I remember the original Richardson store, in a teensy strip shopping center near Central and Belt Line. It was musty and disorganized and just heaven on earth. I used to go there all the time when I was a teenager, and Sharon Anderson Wright (now the company's president/CEO, who was then also a teenager), would be there manning the desk with her big black dog by her side. That's the way Half-Price should be -- musty, disorganized, and equipped with a dog!
A disclaimer: I work at the flagship store. I shopped Half-Price Books for over 20 years before I started working there.
I love the store and I think it compares very favorably to my all time favorite bookstore, Powell's in downtown Portland, OR. Powell's has none of the things you think should be there either; smell, disorder, or dark corners. However, the design is more than a little eccentric, encompassing several buildings as it does.
The store you would have loved was Brock's Books in downtown San Antonio. It closed in the mid 90's but it had the smell, the total disorganization and to top it all off it was run by a curmudgeon that didn't price the books. you took them to the counter and he charged you what he felt like charging. A dollar book today might be a three dollar book tomorrow. And he always had a large box of books on the sidewalk out front under a free sign.
I remember shopping there in the 50's as a 10 year old kid because Mr. Brock had the best coin and stamp collecting supplies. He always gave me a book each time I came in because he "felt it was a title I should read". They were generally adult bios or histories but always of interest to this little boy. I attribute my love of reading and my career in the book business to Mr.Brock
You might try searching San Antonio Express News morgue for stories about Brock's.
Brock's does sound perfect. You're not the only one with fond memories. Here's a link I found from the Express-News:
http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/stories/MYSA050607.O.allen.23b6435.html