On her 16th birthday, a high school junior named Allison Brown walked into the Book Bin and got a job as a clerk. Eventually she rose to store manager and now, 39, she became the Northbrook store's owner.
That caught my attention. I've been a loyal Book Bin customer for 15 years, since moving to the leafy suburban paradise. As I amble on my rounds, from grocery to hardware store to post office, like the bear in a Richard Scarry children's book, I pop in to chat, buying books that catch my eye or are recommended.
I had to know: it's hard enough to find somebody who buys books, nowadays: what kind of person buys a bookstore?
The same kind, it turns out, who walked in 23 years ago to get a job at one. She was not particularly bookish.
The same kind, it turns out, who walked in 23 years ago to get a job at one. She was not particularly bookish.
“I was sporty,” said Alli, now married and going by Allison Mengarelli, as we had a cup of tea in the comfortable chairs at the front of the cozy store, with its fireplace and model train circling above the children’s section. “I played soccer year-round. It wasn’t that I was money-oriented.”
If it wasn’t the books and wasn’t the money, what was the allure?
“I just loved how I felt when I walked into the bookstore, ” she said. “For me, [I thought] ‘I want to feel that more, so I’ll get a job there.’ I think I was responsibility-oriented. I had a weekly baby-sitting gig from when I was 11 to when I was 18. I rarely missed a Saturday when I wasn’t baby-sitting for this family. I wanted them to count on me.”
If it wasn’t the books and wasn’t the money, what was the allure?
“I just loved how I felt when I walked into the bookstore, ” she said. “For me, [I thought] ‘I want to feel that more, so I’ll get a job there.’ I think I was responsibility-oriented. I had a weekly baby-sitting gig from when I was 11 to when I was 18. I rarely missed a Saturday when I wasn’t baby-sitting for this family. I wanted them to count on me.”
Best wishes to her.
ReplyDeleteBefore I even read the column, the layout of the store reminded me of the time a few years ago that I found the book "The Speckled People" because it was lying on the counter when I went to ask a question. I never would have known it existed otherwise. It's an intriguing memoir of the author's boyhood in Dublin where he spoke German in the kitchen, Irish in the living room and English on the streets.
ReplyDeletejohn
How is this bookstore doing now? And will miss R. Simons columns. See ST retirement.
ReplyDeleteIt's always busy when I go in.
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