“After 50 years in the book business, we’re getting old enough that we don’t have to have our misadventures labeled ‘mid-life crisis,’” That is what Doug Price, the longtime employee of the West Side Book Shop said he told his wife recently.
The West Side Book Shop turns half a century old this year, though it might be surprising to many that the place isn’t even older. It certainly feels that way when you approach from the Fleetwood Diner on the corner of Ashley and Liberty, or from the Black Pearl at the corner of Liberty and Main, and you see the pre-war style signage and piles of books through the Victorian era shopfront’s windows. Go through the French doors in the middle of them and you’re immediately in a world of highly stacked novels, hard to find classics, creaking floorboards and fascinating old photographs and maps.
“I’m always suspicious of a book shop that’s too neat,” owner Jay Platt said. “You’ve got to have that sense of discovery when you’ve got a used book shop.”
A half-century of stories
Freshly graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in naval architecture engineering in the 1960s, Platt had spent time in New York’s independent bookstores and returned to Ann Arbor in 1974 to find a “for rent” sign on the building. He says that he saved the building from potential demolition and had only enough books to fill part of the front room of the three room place when he opened.
West Side does not have a website, never mind any sort of social media presence. And yet it is frequented by a steady stream of townies, students and visitors. Though many simply browse and take in the atmosphere without buying anything, many visitors find something too cool to not take home with them.
Sometimes classical music plays when you walk in, but often the rooms are peacefully quiet except for the sound of someone moving about. You’re never rushed at West Side and the lack of a corporate agenda or high pressure salesmanship immediately sets the tone.
Price said that the readers who come to the shop are generally “looking for something outside of themselves” and value getting “prompt, reliable advice” for very specific books; preferably for books in the best possible condition, at a reasonable price. They get that at book shows from around the country, and people selling old copies to them.
You get the most light in the front room—an airy space with custom windows. The middle room is smaller, however, full of treasures.
The rear room stands out for its atmosphere. Framed maps line the walls, from nearby Dexter to places across the world, alongside striking early photographs of Indigenous people.
The shop is Ann Arbor’s best source for rare and first-edition books, quite different to the uniformity of big chains. Books are organized by subject and author’s last name.
“I love the selection of old books and the vibe that everything is clustered together, and cozy in a sort of way,” Brian Markquardt said. A former Ann Arborite now resident in Dearborn Heights. Markquardt said that he has been going to the store for a decade—ever since he worked at a nearby storefront “when it used to be Vin Bar—we used to come over here on breaks and browse around and get a book to read when it was really slow there.” While he would obviously go to another store for new books, he keeps going to West Side because they “always have old psychology texts, and that’s always my go to for shopping around here.”
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A lack of space is what has mostly kept West Side from opening a coffee shop into their store, such as Borders or Barnes & Noble. Platt has been around for long enough that he not only was acquainted with the founders of Borders, which originated in Ann Arbor, but he remembers them not having it at first.
Platt remembered that Tom Borders told him “he said ‘If you can’t make it selling books you shouldn’t be in the book business. That should be your focus.’ And I’ve seen some book shops—like one in Pennsylvania—who have started making money and they go downhill. I think that it detracts.”
“It’s a really cool store with a lot of good books on different subjects. I like the maps a lot in particular,” Jesse Strickland, a first timer at West Side said as he and Elizabeth Strickland walked out with a new find in hand. He decided to look in after finding the place while ordering a drink at Hyperion, across the alley. “It’s a treasure hunt because it’s [only] roughly organized.”
“It’s a classic old bookstore vibe; with the maps and the art. It’s very nostalgic,” Elizabeth Strickland, who was with him, said “I love the books just piled high to the ceiling… You never know what you’re going to find.”
Visit West Side Books
West Side Books is located at 113 West Liberty Street. They open every day at 11am except, Sunday, when they open to noon. They stay open until 5pm every day except Friday and Saturday, when they stay open until 10pm.
Drew Saunders is a freelance business and environmental journalist who grew up just outside of Ann Arbor. He covers local business developments, embraces his foodie side with reviews restaurants, obsesses over Michigan's environmental state, loves movies, and feels spoiled by the music he gets to review for Ann Arbor!
