Last weekend wifey and I were in Mankato, MN, to visit Junior in college. We stayed downtown and eventually made our way to the Once Read Bookstore, a landmark in that city. By the way, the Mankato downtown scene is extremely cool too, if you like unique bars and restaurants, and who doesn't?
I picked up a Hard Case Crime novel and the kid found me a Tom Sawyer book I don't have (I collect various book covers of my man Sam Clemens). Scored some more books for my other kids and by the end of the 30 minute stop had dropped 20 bucks for probably 15 books. Not bad.
Read this story from the Mankato paper, if for no other reason than the pictures I didn't want to pilfer for the blog.
“I opened the doors to my business on September 1, 1975. In those days there were numerous stores including Mark Weinstein’s “The Lost Cord” and three different head shops. The street was alive.”
Back in those days Mark said he was a heavy drinker and a pot smoker.
“Pot gave me a lot of the ideas for the store.”
Used bookstore ambiance is just cool. The obligatory bookstore cat was there. There were a couple book flies sitting in the aisles reading but not buying. The store cashier was a strange, knowledgeable, friendly guy. Strange in the best sense of the word. He tried convincing me that Judy Blume is now writing some good stuff for adults. We'll see.
Best of all, the place was floor to ceiling books, which is pretty much how I envision heaven.
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