Without knowing anything about the store, I loved it’s name – Between the Covers. When I walked in and saw the shelves of candy from my childhood, I knew I found a home away from home. Between the Covers is an old-fashioned corner store front in a residential neighborhood bordering on downtown Bend. When the owner, Haley, was a child she lived in the same neighborhood (see a picture of her as a kid on her bike at the cash register) and frequented the then existing Delaware Market to buy candy. Between the Covers looks like the old Delaware Market causing her to add candy as a sideline. As fanatic as she was about candy then, she is about books now.
The store is beautiful, spacious and full of books. I had to wait awhile to talk to Haley, the phone was ringing off the hook. As soon as she filled one request and hung up, it would ring again. I’ve never seen that happen, let alone on a Monday afternoon. When the phone finally settled down, we had a lovely discussion. I asked what books her customers liked and she gave the booksellers dream answer “whatever I recommend.”
Haley’s top three books were out of stock, a testament to her handselling, but she wrote them down and told Leslie and I to buy them “wherever we find them, they are must reads.” Her first choice was The Help by Kathryn Stockett, a book about the lives of two black maids working with white families in the South. Her second recommendation was On the Divinity of Second Chances by Kaya McLaren, a funny and poignant story of a family in crisis. For our YA reader children, she loved The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, proving Alexie’s comment that independent bookstores made his career. On a BEA panel this year he said that when he gives his credit card to a big box store, they don’t know who he is, but at an independent he can hear them mumbling “he’s taller than I thought.” Haley’s list is in my purse to refer to at the next bookstore I visit.
Leslie told Haley we wanted books to buy (at which point Haley’s husband silently shook his head), and we whirled around the store finding picks for us and our kids. I left with Portofino by Schaeffer for our family trip to Italy. It’s a novel about a teenager visiting Portofino with his missionary parents, it looks hilarious. In fact, I found my teenage son sneaking a read when he was supposed to be studying for finals so I had to confiscate it.
Between the Covers opened almost two years ago and has a solid following. Haley is confident the store will outlast the recession, but the family made adjustments to financially survive. They now live above the store, ask how that quaint claw foot tub and shower is working out, but it allows them to rent out their house. The building is reminiscent of time when people lived and worked in the same place.
The coffee/drink bar is in the back and Haley is reputed to make a great cappuccino. There is seating scattered around the store, so drop by, grab a coffee and one of Haley’s latest recommendations.
645 NW Delaware Ave. (on the corner of Delaware and Bond)
Bend, OR
T: 541.385.4766
Claire
Kim
