It’s getting harder and harder to find community bookstores these days. While you could blame it on the Barnes and Noble phenomenon, you also have a lot of people buying books online, content with waiting a few days for the books to be shipped to their homes before devouring them day and night until their appetite for stories is appeased—for the time being.
Recently, my sweetheart, Todd, and I were listening to a podcast from the Door County Pulse, and the hosts were talking about independent bookstores in the county. With the Wisconsin-based book company Book World having gone belly up a few short years ago, the big kids on the block in both Shawano and Sturgeon Bay had gone away, so we were thrilled to find out that Door County had seven independent bookstores.
One of the hosts had done a tour of all the stores in one day, which prompted us to think, why not do the same? We picked a weekend in the offseason to avoid waves of tourists, booked a hotel room (knowing full well we would likely be bushed by the end of the day) and prepared for the literary pilgrimage.
We were fortunate to have temperatures rising into the 60s on the day we did the tour, as nothing sucks more than driving in the late fall cold—unless it’s driving in the frigid winter. With the sun shining and the books practically calling our names, we were off.
Our first stop was in Algoma to the Yardstick Bookstore, arriving around 10 a.m. When we stepped in, the thing that immediately caught our attention was that there was an orange tabby cat on the premises. Bookstores are fading out, but bookstores with resident felines are an even rarer creature.
We found out the cat’s name was Carrot Pants, which the owner admitted was not terribly creative, but we loved it. Todd walked out with a book called “Ghosts of the Fireground,” which talked about the terrible 1871 fire that started in Peshtigo and almost consumed other parts of northeast Wisconsin.
Yardstick Books offered plenty of books and goodies for bibliophiles, and greeting them all was Carrot Pants, the resident cat. (Photos by Lee Pulaski)
There was another bookstore in Algoma, run by the Algoma Library Friends, but it wasn’t scheduled to open until 11, so we killed a little time looking around some of the other businesses in the village. In one of the businesses, we were greeted by an adorable beagle named Greta. It was nice to see pets greeting visitors to businesses, as it felt a little bit like the old days.
We were about to go to another business when we saw that there was a sign indicating that Book Corner was open, even though there was still another 25 minutes to go until 11 o’clock rolled around. The lady who greeted us said that she usually tries to be ready before 11, which made us smile. Good customer service can sometimes be hard to find, but excellent customer service is a rare gem.
Book Corner sells books at a discount, as most library friends do, but instead of having book sales at the library at certain times of the year, the Algoma group opened a store just down the way from Yardstick, open on Fridays and Saturdays. They did a good job making it look like a fun shop, with old books with letters stuck on them saying “Fiction” or “Mystery,” and Todd particularly liked the curtains in the back that had books on them.
Todd was going to buy a book from Book Corner, but we quickly realized neither one of us had packed cash, and their sales required the passing of paper with dead presidents on them, so we sadly had to leave empty-handed.
Book Corner didn’t have a cat to greet us, but there were plenty of books to grab out attention. If we’d remembered to pack cash instead of just the credit cards, we would have actually left with a book. (Photos by Lee Pulaski)
Our next stop was Fish Creek, where we also had two bookstores on the list to peruse. We first journeyed to The Peninsula Bookman, nestled into a large building with several retail fronts. The first thing Todd and I noticed when we entered was the owner appeared to be a big fan of National Public Radio, as classical music was wafting through the bookshelves.
Other notable sights at The Peninsula Bookman were a couple of old typewriters and a globe, along with an interesting sculpture with several heads. This time, I scored a book, getting one of Lillian Jackson Braun’s mysteries, “The Cat Who Talked Turkey.” With it getting to be close to Thanksgiving, it seemed appropriate to read, and I already have other Braun titles on my bookshelf.
Our other stop was going to be Stargazers, a store that wasn’t on the list from the podcast but one that Todd had heard was interesting. However, the shop was nowhere to be found. It was listed among a group of shops, but we couldn’t find a storefront that said Stargazers, so we assumed it just drifted off into outer space and didn’t leave a forwarding address. That meant we were off to Ellison Bay next.
Ellison Bay is one of the northernmost communities on the main Door peninsula, and its bookstore is Wm. Katz. However, we were disappointed to find the shop was closed for the season, especially after making such a long trip. Fortunately, we only had two bookstores left on the tour, and we knew that they existed and were open that day.
We returned to Sturgeon Bay, much earlier than we planned, to the last two bookstores of the day. Both were in the downtown area, and they were right across from each other.
We journeyed to Otherworlds Books and More first, a store that is known for its science fiction and fantasy book collection. However, the first book Todd and I fixated on was the novelization of the Broadway and movie musical “Dear Evan Hansen.” We’d gone to see the movie about a month earlier, and it really got to Todd. Needless to say, he walked away with the book.
Todd also left with a Roald Dahl-themed coffee mug, yet another addition to his massive collection of coffee mugs. We were also tempted by a room filled with comic books and other areas that had mystery game night sets and other goodies. Fearing we might go bankrupt if we kept perusing the goodies, we decided we’d better go across the street for the last bookstore on our tour.
Stepping into Novel Bay Bookstore is like stepping into a cozy, private library, almost. There are comfy chairs to sit in and read, and the shelves are stacked high with books. This shop is one that Todd and I have been to many times before, as we were eager to see what emerged in downtown after Book World closed, and it was a great way to end the day.
We both scored reading materials from Novel Bay. I grabbed “Haunted Door County,” highlighting the haunted places in the county named after Death’s Door, a perilous strait responsible for more freshwater shipwrecks than any other place. Todd, on the other hand, purchased a fun book called “Payback’s a Witch.”
There was one other bookstore that had been on the list in the podcast, nestled on Washington Island. Unfortunately, that would have required a ride on a ferry costing $54, which would have crippled our book-buying budget, so we opted to check it out another day when we had some more money saved up, hoping to also check out Wm. Katz in Ellison Bay.
Todd and I were both happy with the adventure overall, and it was quite a treat to be able to seek out bookstores beyond the Barnes and Noble supershops. It felt like a walk back in time, especially Yardstick with the resident book cat, as well as a sign that bookstores might be fewer in number, but still high in quality and charm.
If you have a bookstore in your community, patronize it. Find some books you like, and take home some fun. There’s nothing that compares with perusing the shelves, finding a cover that grabs your attention, and purchasing a ticket to a world of imagination.
Rural Roots and American Rainbows 