Ballard store update

by John MacBeath Watkins

It's been, as the Grateful Dead would say, a long, strange trip, but the opening of our store at 2001 Market St., Ballard,  is in sight.

Joel Radin, owner of Bauhaus Coffee and the fellow I'm subletting from, says he hopes to open on the 20th of this month, but isn't certain of it. The contractor in charge of the remodel is, understandably, concentrating on finishing the coffee shop first. Joel is paying him, after all, and I'm subletting.

I've been pricing my little heart out, thousands of books so far and thousands yet to go. I've got to organize the books in the basement, most of them priced, so that they can be easily placed on the shelves.

My hope is to be open by the beginning of October. It's going to be tough, in terms of money, in part  because I'm out of pocket a lot of money from becoming a cyborg, in part because, having spent a lifetime doing things I enjoy, I'm not a wealthy man. Much of my stock looks very good, some of it looks very weird, and I'm beginning to wonder if my University District experience has led me to stock overly intellectual books. Part of my preparation was to buy out the stock of Renaissance Books when the owner retired, and his area of concentration was intellectual history and 19th century studies.

I've got to move my on=line shop to Seattle, and my own self and my own library -- almost as many books as the on-line shop.

It's all a bit overwhelming.

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