We found this as part of a two-week excursion visiting used bookstores across the South. (We own one in SW VA, called Tales of the Lonesome Pine. Yes, like the rest of the world, we're on Facebook.) Joyce, the lady who runs the shop, is not unfriendly; she spent an hour chatting with us about her store, which is obviously her pride and joy. I described it in my blog about the road trip as ""as neatly executed as a cross stitch pattern."" The bookstore itself is a gem. I think Joyce is not much interested in computers, which gives it some eccentricities. My chat with her is written up on my blog (google Wendy Welch, Big Stone Gap) under the heading ""Dashing Through the Rain"" if you want to see how she appeared to strangers in town. But this is a great place to shop, and if you try a little smiling, Joyce may grow on you. We sure liked her!
In the interest of full disclosure, I wrote a book about running a used bookshop, called ""The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap"" (St Martin's Press, Oct 2012). Joyce's shop doesn't appear in it, but we've visited many bookstores, so we're not disinterested bystanders. We were very taken with the obvious pride Joyce felt for her shop because we feel the same about ours. Go, Joyce!
more