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| Barbara Plumb | |
Barbara Plumb, who opened the Amazing Alonzo Bookstore in Duluth, Minn., in 1982 and ran it "with the help of her many friends and family for 40 years," making "many long lasting friendships and appreciated everyone who shopped there," died April 5, the News Tribune reported. She was 78.
In a tribute, columnist Kathleen Murphy described Plumb as "one of our most steadfast silent warriors," noting that the longtime bookseller's "spirit and presence will be sorely missed, but she will remain with us through the store, which the family tells me will continue to operate.
"For those of you who have not yet visited the store, allow me to paint you a picture. The Amazing Alonso is a secondhand bookstore found in an unassuming little building on Superior Street in the Endion neighborhood. You can buy used books for a fraction of the original cover price, with an even greater discount given if you've earned credits through donating your own used books to the store. Its bookcases are tightly packed in that cozy way used bookstores should be, with the odd chair hidden in corners and used-book smell permeating everything. It is gloriously old-school."
The Amazing Alonzo has been in the same Endion neighborhood building since it opened, making it "the oldest continuously operating independent bookstore in the Twin Ports," Murphy noted. "A writer for the Duluth Budgeteer once dubbed the Amazing Alonso 'the Cheers of paperback exchanges,' likening the store and its proprietor to a familiar hometown bar where everyone knows your name. I have to say, I have never heard a more apt descriptor....
"In my mind, the years had not changed Barb. She was the type of person who made anyone who walked into her store feel valued and honored as a person, rather than just a customer. Sometimes, I feel we don't notice these silent warriors often enough. The Amazing Alonso is a great bookstore, but its proprietor is what made it into a community gathering spot, a place where people went to not only find a good book but to visit with a friend and a confidant. A place people felt welcomed. So welcomed that people came from all over the Midwest to visit because they'd heard about the place from a friend and they just had to check it out. Barb was the very definition of a silent community warrior, one who serves others simply by living her life."