Owning a bookstore is a lifelong dream for many folks. In fact, "lifelong dream" is often the first thing mentioned in any local media coverage of someone opening a bookshop. I get it. But bookselling is complex as well as rewarding, and that's hard to anticipate unless you've put in some quality time first as a frontline bookseller and/or taken advantage of programs like the Bookstore Training Group.
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| Bookseller cat hard at work at Split Rock Books. | |
I loved being a frontline bookseller and buyer for 15 years, but I could never have been an owner. It just wasn't in my DNA. I'm glad, in retrospect, that I recognized my limitations. Maybe that's why I get a little annoyed when I see a junk headline like this MSN one: "10 Ideal Careers People Confessed to Waiting if Money Were No Issue."
Now I assume by "waiting" they mean "wanting," but let's move on, since the #2 response was "Hang Out With Your Cat All Day." The clickbait item goes on: "Several commenters expressed the desire to run a bookshop. Who knew that so many readers wanted to go into this business? Some had other motives for this career. One commenter stated, 'Own a bookshop, or how can I try to make hanging out with my cat a job?' While funny, many bookstores have official book cats that stay in the building, so it is not the first time someone has thought of this idea."
This drivel shouldn't irritate me, but it always does. Fortunately, Independent Bookstore Day happened soon after I read it, so my soul was quickly cleansed by a flood of stories and images depicting booksellers--owners and floor staff--doing the work and having fun. There may even have been some bookshop cats involved.
One of these magic IBD moments arrived courtesy of Bleak House Books, which will soon be opening a beautiful new bookstore in Honeoye Falls, N.Y. In 2017, Albert Wan and Jenny Smith founded the original Bleak House Books as an independent English-language bookstore in Hong Kong, but had to close it and return to the U.S. in 2021.
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| The new Bleak House Books in progress. | |
"It's Independent Bookstore Day today, and Jenny and I had big plans to have the bookshop open to everyone by now. But we're not quite there yet," Wan wrote in a six-part post updating the new bookstore-in-progress, adding: "All that said, we still have something to offer everyone on this Independent Bookstore Day, even if our bookshop isn't open yet. As with many things BHB-related, there's a story behind it. And to tell that story the way I think it should be told, it may take a few posts. So here goes...."
Wan noted that they "wanted to bring elements of our old bookshop and our old home in Hong Kong into our new bookshop.... In the end, and to put it bluntly, the architects suggested that we just 'drop the old bookshop into our new bookshop.' It was an idea that sounded wonderful and outlandish at the same time. So of course, Jenny and I agreed to it right away."
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| Bleak House Books in Hong Kong | |
It was complicated. When the architects asked for a sketch of the Hong Kong bookshop, Wan "was resistant to this idea at first. One, because I can't draw for my life. And two, because I wasn't sure I was emotionally and mentally ready to make a sketch like that, with the heartbreak and wounds of closing the bookshop in San Po Kong and leaving Hong Kong and our good friends there still very fresh in my mind and my heart at that time.
"Whenever I hit a mental roadblock like that though I think about the reason why I decided to re-open Bleak House Books so soon after we closed the old one. And it really boils down to this: 'it's the symbolism stupid'. Of course starting a new bookstore, or any small business for that matter, would be an act of faith. But it would be one of love and resistance as well: a statement to those in power that they will not have the last word on Hong Kong. Not as long as our bookshop is around."
A couple days after reading the Bleak House IBD posts, I received an e-newsletter from Weller Book Works, Salt Lake City, Utah. Co-owner Tony Weller's opening column, headlined "Bookpersons," offered another inspirational perspective on the work of bookselling.
"Persons who choose to work in bookstores are good readers," he observed. "But independent reading makes one unusual as exposure to diverse ideas compels refinement of one's own. By selecting books, readers curate their own minds and spirits. A reader's experiences are barely affected by time and space. Culture may blame readers for their independence. This idealist believes the world would be a better place if every belief were so privately achieved.
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| The author's companions. | |
"Since the 1970s, I have worked with hundreds of booksellers. They are my tribe and I love many of them. Now, I am a senior member of our bookselling staff. I really miss my parents and my seniors and mentors but I get new joy and value from younger booksellers. Their reading, taste, and ideas inspire me. I am fortunate to work with smart and curious young persons. Meeting them is my daily pleasure. I am still receiving influence."
A career in bookselling offers layer upon layer of challenge, complexity, enlightenment and, yes, even fun. Every bookseller's origin story is different.
Hey, I love bookish cats, too; there are a couple wandering around my office right now. But the "lifelong dream" job of being a bookperson isn't just about hanging out with your cats all day. (Editor's note: They disagree.)