Bookworms
Walk into Rickert & Beagle Books and you’ll find owner Chris Rickert clad in black to focus the customers’ attention away from the seller and onto the stacks of books in the colorful and quaint independent bookstore in Dormont. It’s a somewhat fitting analogy as Pittsburgh’s independent book scene is starting to get the attention it deserves.
Behind Rickert’s subdued fashion sense is an energetic bookworm who loves to read, but enjoys even more finding a great book for customers out of the nearly 35,000 titles available at peak shopping traffic during the holidays.
“It’s a lot of work. There’s a perception you get to come in and read all day. God, I wish that was true,” Rickert says. “I’m constantly finding new books I’ve forgotten about, or ‘This one is amazing!’ I’ll find five things that I love and ask myself, ‘How hasn’t this sold?'”
The Castle Shannon resident has owned the store on West Liberty Avenue for five years after previously co-owning its predecessor, known as Eljay’s Used Books. Although Pittsburgh has always been a haven for independent bookstores, a partnership between the 17 owners across the city and suburbs is helping them get the publicity they deserve.
“We’ve always had this amazing indie book scene,” Rickert says while handing to a visitor a pamphlet with a map and information about each store. “It just didn’t get the attention.”
Most of those stores have a niche or specialty that caters to certain readers. Rickert’s store specializes in mystery, sci-fi and, most importantly, LGBTQ issues. Rickert says unlike chain bookstores near malls, readers shouldn’t expect to “walk into a bookstore and find everything” they want. Instead, they want to find something that speaks to them.
That’s also how Mt. Lebanon resident Arlan Hess sees it. She owns City Books on Pittsburgh’s North Side and thinks it’s somewhat of a political statement just owning an indie bookstore because she has a say in what people are reading. Hess also uses the storefront windows to advertise both books and causes important to her.
“I wouldn’t call it a trend because so many bookstores have been here for such a long time,” Hess says. “It’s partly a political statement in the sense it’s resistant to big-box stores and corporate takeovers of what people are reading and what people are buying.”
Each indie bookstore takes on the character of its owner, Hess says. As someone who previously taught literature at Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, her interest is academic and literary fiction.
“Since I came from that background, that is what I’ve continued,” Hess says.
Hess bought the store and its inventory in the spring of 2015 from the family of Ed Gelblum, who operated the bookstore in the South Side for nearly two decades. Gelblum died shortly after, and Hess opened the new store the following March. “I think that gave him closure,” Hess says.
Her husband, Patrick Schmidt, still teaches in the art department at W&J, so City Books has taken on her personality. Hess has streamlined the collection and will take book donations or trades, but only for titles she thinks will speak to her and the reader.
“Would I read this book?” Hess ponders about the collection. “Each bookstore takes on the character of its owner.”
But that also allows a diverse collection at stores across the region. Hess points customers in Rickert’s direction if they’re looking for sci-fi and mystery titles.
“We’re all stronger when we work together as opposed to working against each other,” Hess says. “Because the nature of the independent bookstore is community, they can just walk around the corner or just come over from a neighbor a few blocks away.”
The 17 independent bookstores in the Pittsburgh region are now advertised in that new pamphlet, which is available at each store, highlighting the locations and niches.
One store that specializes in newer books is White Whale in Bloomfield. Adlai Yeomans and his wife, Jill, moved from New York after falling in love with Pittsburgh and bought East End Book Exchange about five years ago. They’ve been a part of the Pittsburgh book scene ever since.
“It’s funny. It’s tight-knit, even though no one has any time to see the other (owners),” Adlai Yeomans says. “I think book selling and being a book owner is very unique to what we do on a day-to-day basis and it attracts a unique person. You feel attracted to other people doing it.”
He thinks the book scene has grown in the past couple of years as new store owners have “breathed new life into it.”
“It’s not just bookstores. The literary scene has changed a lot,” Yeomans says. “We’re a symptom and a reason for that.”
One way it has changed is the number of events the stores are now organizing. White Whale offers six to 10 events each month. “That’s how you pay the bills,” Yeomans says. “The days of putting books on a shelf and sitting back are gone.”
Heading back to Dormont, Rickert also puts on many events, but is also using Twitter and Instagram to bolster sales.
“Instagram has been like having a whole new shop,” Rickert says. “Now (the scene) is thriving,” Rickert says. “It’s been quiet, but now it’s cool to talk about. It’s still picking up steam.”
Rickert loves going through old books, finding new titles that are hip again.
Just like some of those books, Pittsburgh’s indie book scene is back in style. n