"The elements just fell into place," said Clayton Andrus, who opened South Main Book Juggler in Memphis, Tenn., with his wife, Jean Williams Andrus, in late October. Though they had no previous experience as booksellers, the husband-and-wife pair had thought of opening a bookstore for a long time. The discovery of a great location, and the broader resurgence of the South Main Historic Arts District in Memphis, helped the couple finally take the plunge.
"The South Main District is really centered on art, restaurants and boutique shops," explained Clayton Andrus. He and his wife moved to the neighborhood about five years ago, after spending close to 25 years in the suburbs. "It's very neighborhood oriented; everybody knows each other. It's really filled up in the last few years, but the one thing that was missing was a bookstore."
South Main Book Juggler is a 1,000-square-foot, predominantly used bookstore coupled with an eclectic gift shop for "local folks." The store's new books consist of titles pertaining to Memphis, especially the city's musical heritage and civil rights movement, and children's books. In the approximately eight weeks since the store opened, Andrus has been most surprised, and pleasantly so, by the amount of children's books that he has sold.
"You wouldn't think that downtown Memphis would have so many kids," commented Andrus. "But then you also get aunts, uncles and grandparents who come through and want to buy presents for family."
The store's opening coincided with the city's annual River Arts Festival (a celebration of "original fine arts, real Memphis music and great Southern food"), which lasted from October 25 to October 27. Between building inventory and Clayton assembling all of the store's shelves by hand, it took a frantic push to get the store open in time for the weekend-long festival. Sales have been steady since, and Andrus described the last weekend of November as "dynamite." Severe weather during the last two weekends has slightly dampened things, but holiday sales remain strong.
The Andruses have not yet hosted their own events, but they have stayed open late for Trolley Night (a street fair-like celebration in the South Main Historic District on the last Friday of every month) in October and November, partnered with other local retailers for promotions and displayed works by local artists in their store. They're working to schedule events with local and regional authors, including Robert Gordon (Can't Be Satisfied: The Life and Times of Muddy Waters and It Came from Memphis) and John Pritchard (Sailing to Alluvium), and talking to people in the neighborhood about starting a book club. The store has a basement space in which Clayton presently builds the store's bookshelves and other fixtures, but the couple has considered eventually turning that into an events space.
"This has been a dream of my wife's for years," said Clayton Andrus, who retired two years ago. Jean Andrus, who has been "semi-retired" for close to eight years, spent a long time working as a librarian. "Books have always been a huge part of her life," he said. "They're in her blood. She's such an avid reader and I'm always in awe of her knowledge of books. And so far we've been just overwhelmed with great feedback from people. This whole thing might just work." --Alex Mutter
