In Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, nestled on North Market Street, sits a bookstore that’s been serving its community for 44 years. In its display windows, used books surround electric candles, inviting passersby… read more →
From the outside, Market street seems like your typical downtown business district, consisting of chains, private stores, and houses. However, not all the houses are being occupied by humans. Mondragon… read more →
A doctors office turned center for the County Democratic Committee turned a hub for Lewisburg, the building which is now home to Mondragon Books has seen many businesses come and… read more →
When you first enter Mondragon, you do not actually enter the physical store. Instead, you enter a long hallway that leads up into the apartments. The hallway is lined with… read more →
The bookshelves on the sales floor of our Books-A-Million are short and low, running back toward the end of the store and giving the perception of rows upon rows of… read more →
The way into Mondragon is sketchy. There’s no way around that, and even the owner, Sarajane, admitted as much with a laugh. Nothing about the low-rent building’s rundown front and… read more →
I believe that the Books-A-Million at the Susquehanna Valley Mall in Selinsgrove PA, doesn’t really have a specific direction to go thought. Most book stores are made to draw you… read more →
According to Peter N. Miller, historian and Dean Professor at Bard College, collection is more than just an ordinary past-time or desire of the materialistic consumer; collection represents more than… read more →
Sarajane Snyder, current owner of Mondragon Bookstore, likes to talk about gardening, which reflects the large gardening section within the many shelves of the store. Sarajane even equates her ownership… read more →
In 1842, the American company Wilson & Co. published what is now called the first American comic: an English reprint of the French comic “The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck”.… read more →
The life and culture that Books-A-Million provides appears uncharacteristic for the mall in which it resides. While other vendors in the Susquehanna Valley Mall of Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania seem to host… read more →
A trip to the Susquehanna Valley Mall is a far cry from the scenes you might conjure up from movies like Clueless or Mallrats. The mall, which contains very little… read more →
Lewisburg is what historians have classified as a “Pennsylvania Town”, a distinct town layout developed in Colonial, central Pennsylvania. The classic form has a main street with a town square… read more →
The town of Lewisburg was cast in grey and rain the day my group went to visit Mondragon. The local businesses each provided their own versions of warmth for the… read more →
Growing up in a suburban town kept me close to home and I usually never went out. In my area there are shops close buy but you have to utilize… read more →
In 1868, Henry G. Schwartz, the architect responsible for many of the houses lining South Third Street in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, drew up designs for, and subsequently went about building, the… read more →
As a book-lover and strong supporter of retail therapy, I have to say that I was a little excited to leave campus on a typically busy Wednesday afternoon to find… read more →
Established in 1978, the Susquehanna Valley Mall, located in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, offers over 50 stores and services to areas within a 45-mile radius. Located on along the side of the… read more →
The outer persona exhibited by a bookstore is always the public’s first glimpse into the establishment. This critical component carries a significant amount of weight when it comes to attracting… read more →
The area around people influences the way that people look at things. The owners of Square Books in Oxford, MS, the Howorth’s, seem to keep the area of their store… read more →
Before there were a million books, there were gloves. Before there were gloves, there were hats. Before there were hats, there were blouses. Before John K. King Used & Rare… read more →
Minutes from the USA/Canada border, downtown Detroit is central business district and a residential area in Detroit, Michigan. Following the collapse of the auto industry, Detroit’s economy took an enormous… read more →
Known for its thriving community of independent businesses, the Chicago neighborhood of Andersonville attracts a wide variety of people. Home to roughly 15,000 inhabitants, there are nearly twice as many people per… read more →
Women & Children First – Present: Place and People Chicago, Illinois is vast, as one would imagine. Confusing, and no doubt with brimming with all kinds of shopping and other… read more →
When I think of Detroit, Michigan, I think of “Motor City,” I think of ghettoes full of crime, I think of a dying city. I would never have guessed that… read more →
“Comic book retailing is the last refuge of the iconoclast and individuals who are unwilling to conform” Chuck Rozanski You walk through the streets of Denver, passing people who are… read more →
Can a community be silenced by construction? Imagine a place of safety, of community, of culture. Eso Won Books, an independently owned African-American bookstore in the heart of the… read more →
Five years ago, Michael Powell remarked to Poets & Writers Magazine that he wasn’t a fan of the way that the big chain bookstores like Borders had designed their interiors; he… read more →
Eso Won Books is open for business as well as conversation as the open layout shows. There is space to move around, to walk, to pull up a chair and… read more →
My first conscious memory of collecting began sometime in my early childhood when Kellogg’s graciously gifted me a shiny, blue Hot Wheels car at the bottom of my Frosted Flakes. … read more →