Category Archives: VA

The People Ark

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One of the nice-but-odd things about running a bookstore is the diversity of those who visit. Saturday, the place was slammed until about 3. As the crowd thinned, I noticed a couple still browsing along the shelves. Every time I’d looked up over the last hour, there they’d been, gliding across history, travel, comparative religions, a small pile of paperbacks growing by their legs.

Ah. Good.

The door opened and a father-son team, heavyset and wearing Walmart shirts, headed for Christian Fiction. I asked did they need help, but their ducked heads, averted eyes, and mumbled responses made clear they were either painfully shy or not expecting people to be nice to them, so I left them alone, too.

Grace, as her name was, began asking about local shops, and it became clear that two new tree-hugging, planet-saving localvores had moved to town. Her partner was from Bulgaria; his name sounds like someone clearing his throat. He laughed at my facial expression and said, “Call me Z. Everyone does.” We chatted, connecting, so I invited them to pick the apples falling off our heirloom tree because we didn’t have time to harvest. Into our back yard they went, tall and liberal, rubbing our dogs’ ears in greeting.

Meanwhile, father and son, short hair in regulation Bible school cuts, had gravitated to horror, where I heard the young’un say, “Shew. You can buy these on Amazon for 99 cents.” They looked up as I approached, wary.

“Need any help?” I tried to make my smile disarming. They shook their heads, but the son held a Left Behind novel. “That’s on clearance,” I said, pointing. “It’s $1 but in the wrong section. Would you like to see where the others are?”

Their flip-flops slapped along behind me to Clearance Christian; they literally squealed with delight when I showed them the (neverending) supply of LaHayes and Jenkins. Inhibitions gone, they launched into a play-by-play about the series, confident I’d not read it. I had, more’s the pity. But they weren’t listening when I tried to say so, and left after purchasing two and offering up repeated exhortations that I “really needed to read these.”

The back door opened and the golden children walked in, bags of apples in each hand. She carefully selected four of the best ones and put them on the counter “for you and your husband. Thanks! We look forward to coming back, and to attending your events. So nice to meet you!” Out they went in their Banana Republic clothing and Teva sandals, her legs and his face unshaven.

Two sets of two. Had Noah loading his ark, they would have been different species on it. And that makes Jack and me happy. All shapes, sizes, beliefs and haircuts  welcome.

Go by, mad world. Or come in here. We’ll give you a cuppa.

As One Door Closes – – –

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Jack’s weekly (kind of) guest post –

I have to admit that the sudden closure of the iconic ‘Mutual Pharmacy and Diner’ which features in The Little Bookstore, and in Adriana Trigiana’s Big Stone Gap series of novels, was a severe shock to everyone in our community. Wendy and I believe in places like that and so it hit us particularly hard. The fact that it was bought out by a well known national pharmacy chain (which probably needs to remain nameless, but is the only one in BSG) only makes it more poignant. Of course we are glad that said chain is re-employing some of the staff, but there’s a suspicion that it was all about removing competition.

But nothing lasts for ever, and that brings me to another point. Small towns have a USP (OK – I have an MBA so I’m allowed to mention a Unique Selling Point) and that is easily experienced, but very hard to define. It’s a mixture of architecture, culture, personality/character, position, dynamic and history (at least). Big Stone Gap has all of that in abundance, so I am optimistic about its future despite the closure of ‘The Mutual’.

Something else that the ‘Gap’ has is a growing number of people who realize that waiting for one of the existing established organizations to do ‘it’ for them is not necessarily a recipe for success. When Wendy and I travel around the country to other small towns we continually see that the thriving ones are that way because enough people just got together and did something. Sometimes that is centered on a business, but just as often it will be a farmers’ market, or a community yard sale.

Today I was doing my normal quick trawl through FaceBook and saw a post announcing that Bob’s Market and Family Drug was having a re-opening event. This is another long established local business. Bob has retired and everyone thought that was another one gone. But, no! New owners have taken over and are rarin’ to go – that’s great!

So, what’s the message?

All communities change and develop – sometimes much loved landmarks go; but sometimes enthusiasts like the new owners of Bob’s Market and Family Drug arrive on the scene. Their timing, in this case, was spot on! So to David Adkins, Kara Goins Adkins and Rick Mullins, I can only give the traditional Scottish well-wish: Lang may yir lum reek!

 

For more on the background to this post check out our friend Amy Clark’s op-ed piece in a recent edition of the NY Times – http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/03/opinion/appalachian-hope-and-heartbreak.html?