This week marks the beginning of our fifth year of bookselling as Broken Arrow’s Main Street bookstore. Still, there are people who come in every day (this has been a literal truth for the past four years) who say “I had no idea there was a bookstore here!”
“Yes,” I reply. “Been here for years.”
The sign out front says “Since 1975.” Obviously, I haven’t been selling books from this location that long, but I’ve been buying and selling books since then. One of my original entrepeneurial efforts (1975) had me shuffling merchandise to free up a wall for selling books.
It reminds me of the quote from comedian Steven Wright (a genius I was fortunate to once meet), who said: “I went down the street to the 24-hour grocery. When I got there, the guy was locking the front door. I said, “Hey, the sign says you’re open 24 hours.” He said, “Not in a row.” ”
So, in that spirit, I’ve been selling books for 35 years… I think I’ll change the sign to read, “open 24 hours.”