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Happy Bookseller, a landmark local business on Forest Drive, is closing its doors after a tough financial battle.
The Free Times ran a cover story in their current issue about the life and times of the store, and it broke my heart. I only moved to Columbia last year, but I've already developed an affection for the place.
My grandparents, who lived in Columbia for years, raved about the store. So during the first week of my freshman year, I made a trip to check the place out and pick up some required reading - "Mansfield Park," if I recall correctly. I found a shop where the salespeople remember who you are and where there's an entire section devoted to local writers.
When I was Christmas shopping for a friend, the people there helped me pick out just the right Bukowski anthology. When I wanted to purchase a book written by one of my professors, they were proud to have it in stock.
I have since learned what a big deal that little store is. Writers from Pat Conroy to Alex Haley to lesser-known locals have done book signings there, and people who know books know the Happy Bookseller.
Like many locally owned bookstores nationwide, Happy Bookseller struggled to stay afloat in the shadow of Books-A-Million and Barnes & Noble, and the advent of online book sales through Amazon.com may have been the final nail in the coffin.
Now I'm as firm a believer in the free market as the next Constitutionalist, but the failure of this store is hard for me to swallow. Every major city in America has a chain bookstore, but there was only one Happy Bookseller.
I am reminded of All Books & Co., the seminal bookstore in my hometown where owner Michelle List will talk books and politics with you for hours if you let her. When I moved to Columbia and found Happy, I thought I had found my new home for books.
In particular, I remember something Michelle told me in an interview once: "If you move to a place because you like the complexion of the place, but you spend all of your money at Wal-Mart, it's going to look the same as wherever you came from." Her words sting more than ever today.
The thing about a free market is that each dollar you spend is a vote you cast. If you drop your cash at Barnes & Noble or Best Buy, you're pulling for Goliath.
True, the prices are often unbeatable at these places, but that's not always the case. At Ed's Editions in the West Vista, you can find used book gems for a fraction of new retail value. Similarly, Papa Jazz Record Shoppe in Five Points has an extensive used selection in the $4-8 range - cheaper than you'll find on iTunes.
So farewell, Happy Bookseller. I wish I had had more time to know you, and I pledge to be more careful when I'm buying books.
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