The Tucson Festival of Books may be canceled due to coronavirus concerns, but that won’t keep Tucsonans from reading.
Far from it.
This city’s love of the written word is evident by the number of independent bookstores that still dot our retail districts and corridors.
You don’t have to go far in Tucson to find your favorite author’s latest novel. Good titles abound if you know where to look.
The independent bookstore, where the owner often greets you by name and can tell you exactly where among the rows of hard and soft covers that you can find that old copy of “Treasure Island,” might be a thing of the past in many midsize American cities.
But not in Tucson.
If you count the three locations of Bookmans, Tucson is home to seven independent bookstores — two of them separated by a couple blocks on North Fourth Avenue. We also have two Barnes & Noble stores.
“This time of year I get people who come from out of state and they marvel at how many (bookstores) we have. They don’t have any,” said Tina Bailey, whose 2,000-square-foot used bookstore, The Book Stop, is just down North Fourth Avenue from Antigone Books.
Antigone has been around since 1973 and Book Stop dates back to 1967 — the oldest of Tucson’s independent booksellers; Bookmans, which has three Tucson locations, has been around since the late 1970s, and Clues Unlimited in midtown has been selling nothing but new and used mysteries since 1986.
Back then the store, on East Fort Lowell Road, was called Footprints of a Gigantic Hound, a name Christine Burke wishes she had stuck with when she and a couple friends bought the store 10 years later. The old name would fit her current “partner,” her terrier mix Cappy who is her constant if not ever yapping sidekick.
Clues Unlimited is the only bookstore in Tucson devoted exclusively to mysteries, which Burke said is one of the keys to the store’s success.
“Having a niche really helps because I specialize in mysteries, I have books that you’re not going to find anywhere else,” she said of the collection of hundreds of carefully curated titles she carries. “I try to showcase authors that are really, really good mystery writers that you’re never going to find in Costco. For me it’s a real labor of love, and I know my mysteries. I started with Nancy Drew and I’m now 71 so I have had years to learn about mysteries.”
Antigone Books has historically championed the works of female and feminist authors and in recent years, expanded that to include LBGTQ authors.
Nationwide, there are 10,800 bookstores and 2,321 of them are independently owned, according to the American Booksellers Association. The number of indie bookstores has actually increased in the past 10 years, largely as a result of the death of big-box stores including the behemoth Borders that at its height had 511 superstores nationwide. The company closed its final stores in 2011 just as the online giant Amazon was becoming a dominating online force in bookselling.
Here are Tucson’s mom-and-pop bookstores.
- Antigone Books, 411 N. Fourth Ave.
Hours: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, until 9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays
Specialty: You’ll find a handful of books by local authors proudly displayed among the hundreds of books of all genres. The store, known for being 100% solar powered, also carries gifts and cards. Antigone, now owned by a trio of longtime store employees, opened in 1973 and is one of the city’s oldest continually operating bookstores.
Details: antigonebooks.com or 792-3715
- Bookmans, with three locations: 3330 E Speedway, 325-5767; 6230 E. Speedway, 748-9555; 3733 W. Ina Road, 579-0303.
Specialty: This is the place where Tucsonans have bought and traded used books, CDs, vinyl records, instruments, games, toys and collectibles since Bob Oldfather opened his first store in 1976. In addition to the three Tucson stores, there are two in the Phoenix area and one in Flagstaff.
Hours: 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
- The Book Stop, 214 N. Fourth Ave.
Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, noon to 5 p.m. Sundays
Specialty: After a dozen years on North Fourth, the 53-year-old store that spent its first 40 years on North Campbell Avenue has found its groove among the neighborhood of young families, elderly people and a handful of college students who regularly browse through the thousands of used books.
“We are a bookstore for readers, not collectors,” says Tina Bailey, who has owned the store with Claire Fellows since the early 1990s. Both women had worked at the store for years before buying it. The store carries books for all readers, from young people titles to the classics.
Details: bookstoptucson.com or 326-6661
- Clues Unlimited, 3154 E. Fort Lowell Road, in Winterhaven Square
Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, noon to 4 p.m. Sundays; closed Mondays.
Specialty: Owner Christine Burke, whose terrier mix Cappy is her constant companion at the store, stocks new and used books and the latest mystery titles as well as some hard-to-find-no-longer-in-print rarities.
She also carries and promotes books by local authors including J.A. Jance, Leo Banks, Shannon Baker and AJ Flick, as well as Phoenix authors Betty Webb and Donna Casey.
Details: 326-8533
- Mostly Books, 6208 E. Speedway, in Monterey Village
Hours: 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, until 6 p.m .Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays, and 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Wednesdays
Specialty: You can find a little bit of everything in these walls, including autographed books of all genres from children’s books to sci-fi and fantasy.
Details: mostlybooksaz.com or 571-0110
