Today I found out that Derby Square Book Store in Salem, MA is closing next month. The 17th to be exact. This is awful news. This is my second favorite book store ever and in weeks, it will be gone.
Derby Sqaure is a maze of books. Tables, shelves, and stacks overflowing with the power of words. The teetering tomes surround you, boxing you into the space in a way that bibliophiles revel in. Surrounded by books, you weave around the shop and always find something amazing... Even if it wasn't what you went in to find. Treasure in hand, you follow the maze to the counter (also covered in books) and find the 1 foot-ish space where you can peer in and see the face of one of the two brothers working the shop. You conduct the business aspect through this surreal book window and out you go so someone else can enjoy the journey.
Seriously. Due to the insane ammount of product they have there can only be 10-12 people in there at a time.
For the last 8 years the majority of their books have been 50% off, something my sale finding DNA has appreciated greatly. They are closing the doors after 39 years of business that started with their parents.
It is the TARDIS of book stores. It never disappoints. Witch City is losing a bit of real magic.
I don't enjoy sharing stories of the... gooey nature. But The Husband and I went here on our first date. We met in Salem and went to the Beer Works. He didn't seem disturbed when I stopped a waitress I knew to tell her how good her butt looked in her work pants (I am secretly Tina Belcher). We walked down the street to the bookstore where he picked out a children's book about volcanos for me. I bought it. And if I had paid more attention to his picking out this book and less time on the mini-golf debacle and his stealing my soda after, I probably would have realized I had found two gems that day--the book and him.
The new owner is planning on keeping it a bookstore, which is great. It just won't be the same.
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