Tucson's oldest bookstore weathers challenges, loss of co-owner

If she had known it would be the biggest day of her life, Claire Fellows would have taken notes. She doesn’t recall what day it was or even what month it was. She has no idea what she was wearing.

She does know this, though: The moment she first opened the door at The Book Stop, she stepped into the rest of her life.

“It was November or December in 1977,” Fellows recalls. “I was about to graduate from college and heard they might have an opening. I liked to read, but no more than anybody else. I didn’t know much about books. I just knew I needed to find a job.”

The story here isn’t that Claire was hired that day. The story is that she never left. Forty-four years later, she still can be found behind the front counter at The Book Stop.

“Looking back now, I can see that day was the defining moment of my life,” she smiled. “I wish I’d known. I would have paid more attention.”

Opened in 1967, The Book Stop was located at the corner of Campbell Avenue and Water Street, two blocks north of Grant Road. Through the 1970s and ‘80s, it was one of Tucson’s largest bookstores with as many as 25,000 books on its shelves.

It was a busy place, too, buoyed by a neighborhood filled with young families — many connected to the university.

The year-end holidays were especially hectic, and owner Laurie Allen decided to staff up in 1977.

One of the first people Fellows met was a young staff member named Tina Bailey. This, too, became memorable. Fellow and Bailey quickly became friends. Fifteen years later, in 1992, they partnered to purchase the store.

The Book Stop somehow dodged a steady barrage of challenges: the emergence of B. Dalton, Waldenbooks, Borders, Barnes & Noble, Amazon and Kindle forced more than half of all American bookstores out of business.

Since moving the store to Fourth Avenue in 2004 — after their landlord had doubled the rent — Bailey and Fellows have weathered a major recession, the construction of a streetcar line that stilled Fourth Avenue business for two years, and a crippling pandemic.

But nothing rocked Fellows more deeply than the earthquake she felt June 19. That was the day Bailey died unexpectedly at age 74.

“What a shock,” Fellows said. “I’m still in shock. I can’t really think about it or talk about it, really. We’re just trying to carry on until we can.”

Fellows is not sure what the future holds, but there’s no doubt how much Bailey will be missed. A steady stream of customers now stop by the store to share their regrets … and their memories.

“She was always the one who knew about books,” Fellows said. “She loved books and loved everything about bookstores. Especially this one.”

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

Anne Lane, Bailey’s sister, will become co-owner of the bookshop. Anne and her daughter have helped manage the store in recent years.

The Book Stop is still open five days a week, Wednesday through Sunday, but Fellows has shortened the hours.

The Book Stop is Tucson’s oldest bookshop and still operates much the same way it did when it opened 54 years ago.

Unlike the area’s other independent bookstores, which sell new and used books, the inventory at The Book Stop is entirely used. Bailey and Fellows never branched out to “sidelines” such as gifts, stationary or clothing, either.

But the store is Bergdorf’s if you are a collector of or prospector for rare books. One of The Book Stop’s regulars was Larry McMurtry, an ardent collector.

“When he was in Tucson we saw him a lot,” Fellows said. “After he and Diana (Ossana) won their Oscar for “Brokeback Mountain,” he pulled up out front one day and said he had something to show us. It was the Oscar. I learned that Oscars are really heavy!”

McMurtry named Fellows, Bailey and The Book Stop on the acknowledgments page of his first memoir, “Books.”

While The Book Stop only sells used items, its collection is not limited to books. There are drawers filled with old maps, posters, sheet music and playbills.

“It’s a great place to browse,” Fellows said. “You never know what you might find.”

One thing that’s easy to find is the store’s large, distinctive, antique cash register. A sticker under the drawer says the National Cash Register Co. built it for a firm in Townsend, Montana, in 1912.

“We still use it every day,” Fellows said. “I’m not sure if we’d sell it or not. It’s been part of the store even longer than we have.”

Footnotes

The family of Tina Bailey is inviting her many friends to join them for an informal remembrance on Sunday, Aug. 8, at The Book Stop, 214 N. Fourth Ave. The doors will be open from 6 to 9 p.m.

Most Pima County Public Library branches are open again with limited hours and some restrictions in place. Meeting and study rooms remain closed, and the library is not yet hosting in-person programs or events. Contact your own branch for restrictions that may be in place there.