By Jonathan RosenblattContributing Writer
The quaint, white building sitting unobtrusively on the corner of Foster Street and Maple Avenue, currently the home of Howard’s Books, has been a literary haven for more than 25 years.
Current owner Howard Cohen bought the business from his friend and former employee Connie Reveuni five years ago. After some moderate remodeling and a name change – the store was formerly known as Book Nook Parnassus – Cohen reintroduced the store as Howard’s Books.
“This is a traditional bookstore in that you often don’t come in looking for a specific title, but instead see what you can find,” said Ted Ehara, one of the store’s three employees. “I think we have a very good selection, as it reflects the community we are in.”
Howard’s boasts a collection of about 15,000 used books, ranging in topics from sports to gay studies.
“We are not a large bookstore, but we have a lot of books coming in and out,” Ehara said. “If someone keeps dropping by periodically, they will eventually find what they are looking for.”
A small wind chime on the front door announces one’s entrance into this literary enclave rich with obscure, eccentric and rare copies of books. The smell of old books, old shelves and old carpeting is faint, yet ubiquitous. Music emanating from the small stereo behind the front desk can be heard throughout the store.
As a general bookstore, Howard’s is set apart from other used bookstores. It does not fulfill any particular niche or cater to any specific clientele. The store’s client base ranges from local high school and college students to older customers who have been buying books from Cohen for years. Some of these clients once shopped at Cohen’s former book store in Chicago.
Ryan Hansen, a graduate student at the Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, found a copy of Martin Heidegger’s “Being and Time” at Howard’s the last time he browsed.
“I work at a bookstore downtown, and I have not seen this book anywhere else,” Hansen said.
Dillon Clausner, a Weinberg sophomore, discovered Howard’s last year while he was running from his off-campus apartment to crew practice.
“I come in here every few days, depending on how many books I bought the last time,” he said.
An English major, Clausner comes to Howard’s to add to his own library.
“If I need a book for class, I come here first,” he said. “I like used books. They often have notes in them, which gives the books some more history.”
Clausner also cited Howard’s affordable prices as one of the store’s big draws. His personal “best buy” was a $2 paperback copy of J.D Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye,” which was selling for about $7 at the Norris Bookstore.
Large retail bookstores do not pose much of a threat to Howard’s and other smaller, independent used bookstores, Ehara said. In fact, Ehara said he believes that the success of these large chains has helped keep the flow of books constant. Because customers purchase so many new books from larger stores, they give their used books to stores like Howard’s.
“There’s a glut of books right now thanks to stores like Barnes and Noble and Borders,” he said. “They do a good job of selling, and people have more books than they can read.”
Reach Jonathan Rosenblatt at [email protected].
