One Man's Trash Is Another Man's Treasure

When we first started a business we were a joke. We were selling books and called "The Book Nook" First of all we picked the worst of all towns, because it was lower rent and we had a huge apartment overhead and close enough for our kids to walk to school. It seemed ideal, but first of all you must figure the percentage of people who read and then since the percentage is so low you don’t pick an uneducated town where most people in this community are not making a lot of money, and many are senior citizens not interested in the hottest release by Stephen King. They have never heard of Stephen King and this is not being critical of these people, it was just the simple truth.

My husband kept his job and I babysat the store. We knew we had a good idea though, we never doubted that, just the wrong location. We needed a bigger town, a higher traffic place. The second place was not quite as bad as the first. We had a small following now.

We found out from a businessman that a lady in a nearby town was going out of business and we could buy her remaining stock at a steal so we were excited at the prospect but knew we would need a larger building, much larger. I don’t recall which of us found it but it was perfect except for the price. It scared my husband but I thought it was worth the risk. Not only that but I had pulled my son and daughter only a year apart in age from junior high because of drugs, or more because the school was keeping it hid that ambulances had been there more than once to get kids overdosed on whatever! This building had a huge basement for our overstock of books and three extra rooms off the main floor upstairs at street level where our shop would be. The kids could be at work with me doing their studies, even in separate rooms if that’s what it took and it still left a room for my dream. That meant I could have my own little shop separate from the books to sell perfumes and what I thought would interest women since they made the biggest percentage of our customers.

I had to do some talking to convince my husband to go out on a limb for that building. I was right about the building, we had all our present customers follow us and being on a four-lane gave our business the push it had needed from the start. On the perfume part idea I had though... I gave away lots of perfume for Christmas presents! Who would have guessed it? I kept many, I loved them. Well at least I got them wholesale.

We did get into selling things other than books though. At first I would place something like a wagon train lamp on top the western’s shelf, a pretty piece of glassware in the women’s top book sellers and before you know it we were busier than ever.

Having a business together my husband and I had so many hours together and they weren’t really fun ones at times, it was a lot of hard work, up early with it consuming your whole life almost and when it came to decisions on the business we could never agree. I did prove him wrong when he thought my idea on moving non-selling articles would make them sell was stupid. It always worked. He even admitted I was right, which wasn’t easy.

He always had a short fuse so I tried to always be the one to wait on certain customers that rubbed him the wrong way, and there really were a few bad ones, although for the most part in our amazement our customers treated us like psychiatrists. Many admitted wrong doings and just would spill their guts, things we did not even want to know, and so even with all the hard work, we had many stories to share and laugh about. Weird things were always happening too.

I would buy Regencies Romance books and they did sell slow but I wanted to have something for everyone, but my husband finally talked me into just clearing them out so the next day I would put a ridiculously low price and never buy anymore. An older lady (new customer) came in that day that I agreed to this and was picking out so many of these and filling the counter and made some remark she knew she shouldn't be spending so much but we had such a large selection she just couldn't help herself. She was getting close if not over a hundred dollars so far so I said well your tally is this much now but if you want them all I will let you have the rest at a large percent off. She took them all not even caring if she got duplicates; she was thrilled and my husband walked in in the middle of this and was helping me get them boxed up as I added up and whatever the amount, when he looked at the cash register I thought he would go into shock.

Of course I was pleased but somehow being the only books in the store he hated was probably the biggest one time sale we ever made on books, even including his hardback collection of Stephen King he made a great profit on. They were original copies though looking brand new and probably worth ten times that at a later day, since I am away from dealing in books my knowledge is very limited now, as to what collectors want.

Our shops were a relaxed atmosphere, with soft music, not like rushing through a grocery store. We played Neil Young a lot and everyone was asking us to write down the name of the tape, which was Harvest Moon and I don't know why we didn't get the idea to start selling that, because we certainly could have.

We started out being a book shop, then I started adding collectibles here and there, my husband liked picking up odd and unusual things, so we cut out many of our books only selling the hot ones, many of those being collectible too. We made a tidy sum selling out the bulk of the ones we would never replace to invest in anything our customers asked for. I loved it but my husband never did. He didn’t hate it and he had fun with many of our customers, he just never got the joy that I did from it.

We both found out what customers were looking for and we would find it, we could name our price, and of course we were fair. We made most of our living from loyal customers that knew if it could be found, we would find it, and many of my finds I would see on Antiques Road Show, tell them their estimated value and always give them the article for a fraction of that and still made a good profit.

I had some customers that were never in the store, such as a couple of friends of my sister-in-law. I found out what they liked and would always have a variety wrapped safely in the car for them to look at anytime we all were gathering for a party or cook out. I don't remember ever having to take anything back to the shop. I loved reading the wants of so many people. They were thrilled and so was I.

We had a couple of women (sisters-in-law I think) who came in about once a week and luckily it was usually at a slow time, right after lunch. They were so funny, just real characters, and they always came after they had been out to eat and smelled of garlic so strong. Smoking was not a problem back then, no laws about it but my husband smoked and would keep a fan behind the counter at a cracked window to pull the smoke out not to bother anyone, but the oldest of these women always had to have a small cigar to pick out her books and they were big spenders so of course we never said anything and if it was summer we would open all doors and windows but in the winter shut up inside with the smell of that garlic and those cigars was a bit much to take I can tell you, but still I have to laugh remembering it, they were lovable people and we would never have insulted them. Many of our customer although we never saw again quitting and moving, were really like friends you hate to leave.

After slowing the books to a minimum and going with collectibles and odd not often seen objects, it was much easier than dealing with big heavy boxes of books and trying to keep them in order when people would leave many out of place.

Many things were just things people liked such as elephants,cobalt anything, wizards and things like that, they took what ever you found. It was very strange, there were hardly two people who liked the same thing. We had one man who bought things from us that his sister would sell in her shop in Florida. We made a profit from him and he made a profit from his sister and she from her customers.

I could spot what I knew would sell much easier than my husband but finally he saw I was right and didn't argue but some of these things could be quite huge and was a job hauling and getting put in a quick sale location. I paid fifty cents for two antique jugs one day and sold them for $40 each and it wasn't even my idea, I had brought them into the shop and before I could take them to the back to clean up a guy came in and my husband told him they weren't ready to sell yet, dirty, etc and the guy said he would give us $40 so he said well..OK. He handed us $80 and walked out. We thought he meant $40 for both and were thrilled, but got $80. A $79 profit in less than an hour and I didn't even have to dirty my hands. Now that was fun! I have a little RC cigarette lighter (like bottle of RC cola) I saw on Antiques Road Show valued at $175 years back but it had special meaning to me so I still have it and some other things I come across now and then, small things; a Westmoreland 50th anniversary jar with lid, just fell in love with it.

I was always the buyer; well 95% of the time I would say. I could talk almost anyone down where my husband would not even try. We were just different. I could take a no, but I rarely got one. He could work a deal with certain friends of his that he dealt with in our shop trading something they wanted for something he knew we had a buyer for with a good profit and after awhile it did get overwhelming and although I am nothing like I once was I can never stop looking for treasures. It is not an easy job but when you are doing something you love it doesn’t seem to matter. Never a truer saying was made, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure."