Where in the world did we buy books in the 60s?

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   Billie Kelpinposted 11 years ago

   Where in the world did we buy books in the 60s?
   
   I'm writing an article on MLK with a reference to a photo book I have of "Pacem in Terris," Pope John XXIII's , influential "Peace on Earth" encyclical when I wanted to be specific about where I bought it.  I can't IMAGINE, other than a college book store, where I would have bought a book in Milwaukee in the 60s!  We lived on the southside.  Did "Schusters" and "Boston Store" Department store have books?  I really, really can't remember.

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2. 68

   rutleyposted 11 years ago

   Goodwill maybe?.....................................................................................

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   1. 94

      Billie Kelpinposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I hadn't realized that Goodwill had been around for so long, but when I went to comment on your answer, apparently there WERE around a lot longer than in the 60s.  I don't remember going to Goodwill, but I remember buying this book new.

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      lupineposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Goodwill had lots of old books, the corner drug store...they carried an assortment of items for everyday needs. The local library, they sold some once in a while.

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   jepstorylineposted 11 years ago

   I bought books at Burroughs. That store was in Cleveland, Ohio.

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4. 60

   KEPitz1005posted 11 years ago

   In the 60s and 70s I got books at B. Dalton Booksellers and Waldenbooks. Oh... and  weekly trips to the library, of course!

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   1. 94

      Billie Kelpinposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I remember the trips to the library.  Ah,  B. Dalton and Waldenbooks!  That's right. But I just looked it up and B. Dalton's was established in 1966 and that once beautiful book I got was from 1964.  It must have been  Waldens.  Thanks KEPitz1005.

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5. 63

   cat on a soapboxposted 11 years ago

   There were many thriving independent bookstores before the chains like Crown came in to undercut them in price.   B. Dalton was also around then.  Here in Los Angeles, my faves were Dutton's Books in the SF Valley and Pickwick Booksellers on Hollywood Blvd. I could find or order ANYTHING!

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   1. 94

      Billie Kelpinposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Sweet, and a little sad like "You've Got Mail" huh?  We're in the LA area now, but for the life of me, I can't remember where I went in Milwaukee.  It might have been Waldens at the Mall or maybe Gimbel's Department store.  Thanks so much

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   tsmogposted 11 years ago

   This is an interesting question. I think for me the 60's were 1st grade through 9th grade arriving with '69. With that in mind I did read a lot then, however the source were really only three - 1) School Library, 2) Public Library (Book Mobile included), and 3) the Churches I attended '67 - '70 had libraries too. Those were not just on religion in the children / teen section, yet history and fiction too.
   
   I the '70's as I hit the late teens and twenties I was a member of several book clubs then for mail order. The monthly catalog or quarterly catalog were really pretty extensive with pages into 40 or more. Next, for purchasing a book it was a magazine of interest such as for me was the high performance automotive industry. So, magazines were the source for the late breaking high tech this is how to create horsepower or design / alter a suspension system and etc.
   
   Next, was the 5¢ & 10¢ Store or the F.W. Woolworth store. We would make a bi-weekly trip to the mall in the neighboring city on a Saturday and there a B. Dalton's Book Store was at the main entrance. Now long gone sold to Barnes & Noble and not sure if the name has been retired or not. A Walden Book Store was at the malls closer to San Diego or there was a large store outlet downtown.
   
   Finally, the local community college offered a plethora of books plus microfiche for research too with scholastic publications, newspaper, and periodical prints if on file. Consider about then a computer was in the phase of what the Eniac, I don't know, but they were not common then even in a high school or community college.
   
   Long treatise of how or how much was available to the common folk then. Those in the cities had greater access to book stores. Those near a College or University campus had even greater access to the ability or capacity to buy a book if not by mail order of some type by a catalog.
   
   I hope this helps.

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      Billie Kelpinposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I think this would make a GREAT hub.  Of course, the "how to" aspect would be difficult but I can imagine the pictures, etc.  Maybe, "Before Barnes and Noble..." "What You Don't Know About the 70s: Books" I'm not good at titles for hubpages viewing.

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7. 87

   B. Leekleyposted 11 years ago

   Before the coming of the World Wide Web and Amazon, Alibris, Abebooks, etc., and before the coming of book store chains like Barnes & Noble, Border Books, Walden Books, etc., there were a lot more new and used book stores than now in the cities and towns of America. One of the several used book stores in Milwaukee from I think the 60s until fairly recently was Renaissance Books. It was huge -- three stories high. They opened a branch at the airport in the 80s.  Locally owned book stores, like all locally owned stores, come and go as owners move, retire, die, etc. Internet competition forced many booksellers out of business. Perhaps sometime in the 60s you stopped at a local Catholic store in Milwaukee selling books and sacramentals. They and general Christian bookstores and even more general spirituality book stores used to be fairly common.

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      Billie Kelpinposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      omGOODNESS!  Renaissance Books.YES!  I remember. Exactly -smelled musty, right? And you got it right about the Catholic bookstores. I grew up on Irving and Farewell, moved to Greendale in HS, married a guy from Cudahy, lived in flat Bayview

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   jansharesposted 11 years ago

   I wouldn't know either Billie but my assumption is that libraries were frequented more. We didn't buy as many books as we borrowed. I also think that book stores were the way to go, at least in the 80s and 90s. Unfortunately, they have been replaced with coffee shops - instead of taking in knowledge, we take in caffeine, looking at our devices instead of each other (she says as she sits by the window inside the Caribou coffee shop with her Kindle Fire, sipping her decaf). :-)

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