Bookstores in Eastern Oregon.

We visited four bookstores on our trip.

There were two bookstores in La Grande.

Sunflower Books, in a house one block over from the main drag. Small mystery, S.F. and romance sections. In fact, hardly any genre at all. Mostly literary fiction. So not only in a small town but limiting their possible sales to only one kind of book. Though admittedly, their selection of those types of books were good, and in some ways reminded me of what I choose to carry.

Mentioned that Linda and I had bookstores in Bend, and they just ignored us.

Didn't even ask the names of our stores. Shrug.


Earth N'Books. Nicely laid out, seemed to be mostly a used bookstore, though they say "new" on the sign. Typical paperback exchange type, neat and tidy, but nothing there that wasn't anything we hadn't seen before.


In Baker City.

We checked out Turn the Page, which was closed on Mondays. But when I poked my nose into the door, they opened for us. They had new bookshelves that they were transferring books to. Another typical paperback exchange type store, not a lot of hardcovers, but lots of genre books.

The owner had actually visited Pegasus Books; she said that before she opened six years ago, she visited dozens of bookstores, and in fact had changed to our type trading policy after trying one of the old % type strategies earlier. "It's so much more simple and easy to understand," she said.

She was nice, and happy to exchange information.


Betty's Books. Right across from Old Geezer Hotel.

This was a fun visit. The two owners were there early Monday morning, and seemed delighted to talk about books and bookselling. (The husband at first, before I wore him out and he exited. The wife got the soft approach from Linda, and by the time I was talking to her, I was being softer too. I've just got to learn to be more subtle.)

Thing about downtown Baker is that they have these amazing old buildings. Unfortunately, lots of them are empty, and most of them would need some investment, but they have "Good Bones".

The "Betty" of Betty's Books was the mother of one of the current owners, and they own the building and live above the store. They have been open more than 30 years, in the same location. (Oh, and they had a very cool ceiling.)

The book selection was excellent. Especially the Local History books section, which I was envious of. I've been unable to get a decent selection of local books in my store because it requires separate accounts with each publisher, and I don't have that information nor the volume to make it work. But I recognize that it would be a nice addition to my store if I tried to pursue it.

But mostly, they didn't seem threatened by us, were genuinely curious about how we do our stores. I mentioned that I thought they might do well with a small selection of boardgames, not go crazy, but maybe a few each of Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, and Carcassonne, and she seemed actually interested in the idea.

This was the kind of visit I wish we could could have more often.

By the way, I don't think it's any accident that Betty's Books has survived for more than 30 years. I think curiosity and excellence go together.