Book Stores Were Special Places When We Were Growing Up
Recently I visited a super book store with my grandson. He is just starting on chapter books and enjoys browsing around the children’s section looking for his next book to read. He wanted to know if they had book stores like the one we were in when I was young. You know, the olden days. This question took me back to a wonderful book store in Philadelphia known as Leary’s.
Image by via Flickr
The several story narrow building with its slanted roof was in the heart of the shopping area of center city, right behind the famous Gimbel’s department store on South 9th off Market Street. A cobble stone alley separated the huge building from the tiny book store, which was actually not so small – 20,000 square feet and contained half-a-million books. Outside there were shelves of books and other displays were people lingered to peruse books on all kinds of subjects before entering the store itself.
Upon entering, I recall to this day, there was the sweet-musty smell of old books, something modern book store lack. Pity. But Leary’s had a memorable visual aspect to it as well. The walls of shelves loaded with books on every imaginable subject displayed a patchwork design that changed every time I entered the store. Since the store specialized in old books, many from estates, volumes of old books were frequently replaced with newer collections thus making the landscape ever-changing.
There were high ladders on wheels that slide along the floor and allowed customers to move them to a specific section, climb up to the highest shelf and reach a particular book in which they were interested. These ladders would not meet current safety standards, but I never heard of anyone getting hurt at Leary’s. Browsing was encouraged. Store personnel never bothered the customers, but were available to help when asked.
A rickety old elevator was at the back of the store. It seemed to be about a quarter the size of the ones in Gimbel’s, not much larger than a phone booth and resembled a cage. In reality it probably held 8 or 10 people. The jerky car made its way, very slowly, to each of the book-laden floors. So the elevator was part of the charm of the place.
The store’s signage was translated to book covers and bookmarks. The now-famous Leary’s trademark was a line version of the 1850 painting of “The Bookworm.” It was a main standing on a ladder in front of book shelves reading a book, with one in his other hand, another under his arm and one between his knees. The fellow was so engrossed in what he was reading that he was oblivious to the world around him. This image said everything one needed to know about Leary’s Book Store.
As downtown changed and shopping moved to the suburbs, traffic and ultimately sales feel off; so the hundred year old Leary’s suffered the fate of other retailers. In 1969, the country’s oldest book store closed its doors forever. But Philadelphians will never forget the trips to this wonderful old book emporium that always welcomed those who had a quest for knowledge. Remember a place like this where you grew up?
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