Congratulations to the Book Beat in Oak Park, Mich., a new and used bookstore specializing in art, photography and children's titles that is celebrating its 35th anniversary August 27 with a party featuring "authors, music, food, book discounts and other fun."
Colleen Kammer and Cary Loren, who were locker partners at Berkley High School years ago, "have formed not only a lasting husband-and-wife relationship but also a successful business," the Daily Tribune reported, adding that Loren "opened this chapter of his life after working several years as an employee of a local bookstore. After learning the ropes, he realized 'we can do this.' "
"I was working in a bookstore in 1977-78 and we decided to open our own store," he recalled. "We got a little money from my parents to get us started and we liked the area, since we both grew up here. I knew we could make it happen."
Kammer added: "A few years after we opened, Borders opened their big store in Ann Arbor. We had to specialize in order to compete with them. If we were just a general bookstore trying to compete with Borders, we wouldn't be here today."
The Book Beat "hasn't changed its focus over the years. They continue to do what they know and what they know is to not change what they do," the Daily Tribune wrote.
"Some of the customers that used to go to the big stores now come here but we can't be everything to everyone," Kammer noted. "We can order things for people and get things they are interested in, but the reason why we are still here is because we focus on those specialized areas we have always focused on."
Loren said, "We don't worry about appealing to everyone. We have a lot of things that we think people might like and we make selections of books that we believe in and our staff believes in."