A Bookselling Institution Turns 25--And Becomes a Parent!

There was cause for celebration in Arkansas this September as That Bookstore in Blytheville at once reached a milestone and gained a colleague: That Bookstore has become those bookstores. The day owner Mary Gay Shipley held a party to mark That Bookstore in Blytheville's 25th anniversary, her protégé MaryAlice Hurst, new owner of That Bookstore at Mountebanq Place, opened for business in Conway, Arkansas.

While Mary Gay Shipley is acting as bookselling mentor, MaryAlice Hurst brings her own set of credentials and experience to her new bookstore. Hurst had a career in marketing in Manhattan before retiring to Arkansas a few years ago.

In fact, Hurst told BTW that she first became aware of Shipley while she taught Strategic Planning at New York University. Hurst said that she was looking for entrepreneur case studies and That Bookstore in Blytheville came to her attention--the store was a resounding success and no one could really explain why. Hurst was intrigued and wanted to make That Bookstore a case study, but was disappointed when the university selected another business.

Years later, MaryAlice Hurst and Mary Gay Shipley were appointed to the same commission in Arkansas. Both women told BTW that, noticing one another's name tags, they bonded over their similar first names, and Hurst said that she was particularly happy at the chance encounter because "I had always wanted to meet her."

Hurst and her husband had recently bought a hundred-year-old building to renovate in downtown Conway, and she explained that she was doing market research to see what people who lived in the area wanted. According to Hurst, the last independent bookstore in town had been gone for about five years and the popular desire was for a bookstore. Shipley said that she strongly believed a bookstore was needed in Conway, a town 50 miles west of Little Rock, with three colleges, that is home to Arkansas public television and has gone through a population explosion in the last 10 years. Shipley herself got into bookselling because, she said, "There wasn't one [bookstore] here [in Blytheville]…. My daddy was a good role model…. He bought a VW franchise because they were popular cars and there wasn't one."

Hurst said she originally asked Shipley to open a bookstore in Conway, but Shipley thought it best that Hurst take on the new store with her help. Hurst said, "I didn't really know anything about books except what I knew from reading to my children, and reading and loving books, and coming from a book-loving family." So, Shipley told BTW, she is teaching Hurst about the business, and, for the moment, doing the buying for the two stores.

"I think of myself as a crutch," Shipley said. "I've talked to a lot of people who wanted to open bookstores--and in Conway. Most don't understand the complexity, and my sense of MaryAlice is that if anyone could make a success of it she can."

Both owners describe the bookstores as "sister stores," and Hurst explains, "We are colleagues; we are peers who have a lot of mutual respect." Her admiration for Shipley is unabashed: "She's one of the few women I trust implicitly.... I trust her knowledge, her mentoring."

Hurst described That Bookstore at Mountebanq Place as "almost as opposite to Mary Gay's as you can get." Hurst contrasted the cozy clutter of books in Shipley's store to her own store, which is "very open, with books against the wall and skylights."

Eventually, Hurst plans to open a café in the building, which leases space to other retailers. AETN, the local public television has already taped an author panel discussion at the store, and there are future plans for similar programs. Hurst is grateful for all the opportunities her affiliation with the much-respected Shipley brings her and says, "Hopefully, I am doing her proud."

Hurst and Shipley both joked that "this is an exit strategy" for Shipley, who, Hurst said, can be counted on for "another 25 years." When asked to reflect on her career, Shipley said that the bookstore has "provided me with an interesting life." She attributes her store's success and longevity to "stubbornness and no kids."

Unfortunately the 25th anniversary party for That Bookstore in Blytheville was overshadowed by the terrorist attacks that took place the same week in September. Shipley said, "We went through the motions." A busload of booksellers from the Southeast Booksellers Association (SEBA) came up, and "we had a great cake." Shipley said they did make up beautiful commemorative bags with a watercolor of That Bookstore in Blytheville on one side and a cartoon by Doug Marlette on the other.

Shipley is sanguine about the convergence of events: "I guess we celebrated our 25th anniversary by giving birth to another store."