Midwestern booksellers in the news
Two recent profiles of online used booksellers from the American midwest:
The Daily Northwestern interviews bookseller Sue Holbert of Evanston, Illinois. Her store, The Book Lady, has about 2500 books listed for sale online at any given point in time.
"Holbert's venture into the bookselling business started small. A friend found some books of value and offered to work with her to find an interested buyer. Soon she was scouring garage sales, estate auctions and flea markets, digging through musty boxes and blowing dust off bindings in search of valuable books to add to her growing collection...Holbert relocated to Evanston in 1998 with 10,000 books in tow and no intention of establishing another bookstore."
ThisWeek interviews Genie and Jay Hoster, owners of Books on High in Columbus, Ohio. The Hosters recently transitioned from brick and mortar business to an online-only retailer.
"'We've operated our Internet sales, which is now our focus, in the back of our current building while the people who now own the retail sales business continue to use the front portion of the building,' Genie Hoster said. 'But your space needs change when you're involved in an Internet sales business, and we knew we needed to find another location.'"