Carol Price always wanted to own a bookshop — a dream she fulfilled in December 2011.
Price, who moved to the Palouse almost 20 years ago, purchased BookPeople of Moscow with a group of fellow investors after its longtime owner, Robert Greene, decided to retire. The store had been in the community since 1973.
“It definitely takes a lot of dedication to run a small business, and there were people who thought we were crazy,” Price said. “(But) books are still books, and people love to have a physical book in their hands … If any store could make it, this one could.”
The self-proclaimed “bookworm” said the shop was completely remodeled, reopening in February 2012. But the outside largely remained the same.
Olivia Heersink | Argonaut
On Friday, BookPeople will celebrate its 45th year in Moscow with drinks and appetizers. The two-hour event takes place in the shop at 4 p.m.
Price said she believes the dedication of the community has kept the store running for almost half a century.
“Moscow is full of smart, engaged, passionate people who pay attention and they care about things — they also love to read,” she said. “We wouldn’t be here without that great group of people.”
A local bookstore is an integral part of any community, Price said, and Moscow recognizes that.
Price said she loves seeing reunions among friends who see each other in the store, as well as those who have never met and stumble across a mutual book.
“The physical space of the bookstore is a place where everyone is welcome,” Price said. “We’re a place that people use to feel safe, to warm-up, to meet their friends, to nurse their babies, to use the bathroom, to have conversations, to feel like they are part of the community … It’s not your home, it’s not your church, it’s not work, but it’s a place you can be, where you’re welcome.”
The bookstore also has an ability to create common ground among its patrons, said Elijah Benson, a BookPeople employee — his favorite thing about the shop.
Benson, who graduated from the University of Idaho with a degree in microbiology, said the business draws in people from all walks of life, allowing them to have conversations ignorant of status.
“People can come in and they’ll say something about a book. I might disagree or have a different point-of-view, and I’ll share that with them. Afterward, I’ll find out they have their (doctorate) in something obscure or they’re a local professor or their really esteemed in their field,” Benson said. “I just think it’s really neat that this is a place that really equalizes people, where it’s just kind of your opinion based on a books that matter or the context of the conversations that matter.”
Beyond visiting or shopping at a bookstore, Benson said the sole act of reading is incredibly important for community members to engage in, and BookPeople has a great selection for people to choose from.
Reading helps people develop empathy and offers an escape from everyday stressors, he said. It allows individuals to gain perspective, which is a key component to life.
Recently, Price and Benson have read “The Witch Elm,” written by Tana French, and “The Culture Code,” written by Daniel Coyle, respectively — they recommend both to anyone.
Olivia Heersink | Argonaut
“For me, it’s really important there are lots of ideas — diverse ideas — expressed in books and that people have access to all of that information,” Price said. “The most human thing we can do is to think for ourselves and figure things out — books are what help us do that.”
Olivia Heersink can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @heersinkolivia