Burke's Books sends out an SOS

Burke's Book Store, a bona fide Memphis institution (and, in the interest of full disclosure, a former part-time employer of a college-aged yours truly), appears to be on the brink of closing after 131 years in business. A few months back, they issued a plea for help. While the outpouring of support seems to have provided a temporary fix, it looks like Burke's must significantly rethink its business to stay afloat after the textbook season. In two words: this sucks.

Corey and Cheryl Mesler are good people and are book people. I always suspected Corey thought I was batshit crazy when I worked there, but, frankly, I think he may have been on to something. At the time, though, Corey had read, if I recall correctly, just over 900 books. He kept count in a decades old notebook where he logged each book title and date. My guess is that he has read well over a 1,000 novels now, 13 years later. This probably makes Corey one of the most well read people in the universe, and that suggests he would be a good person to buy a book from, if you ask me. And even though I held Corey in high esteem as a supervisor, he moved up a notch on the old esteem ladder (there is such a thing as a notched ladder for those literary types who cry mixed metaphor) when he married Cheryl, who also worked at the store. I will forever remember their wedding ceremony (held at the playhouse next door, on the set of the Heidi Chronicles if memory serves) in which Toby, Corey's then 2- or 3-year old son marched on stage, moved between the bride and groom, and held each of their hands throughout the vows. Even a college guy could not deny the cute on that one. Point is, these are real people, trying to eek out a living from a labor of love that provides a tangible public benefit.

It's no secret that the book business is a bloodbath right now, and you can imagine how tough things are at Burke's.

All of that is to say, if you still live in Memphis and you get a chance, go browse the store. Buy a few books. Help a brother and sister out.

 Posted by samuelad at 12:12 to Art and Culture | TrackBack