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Molly's Books rises from the dead
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Molly's Books rises from the dead
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| F.X.Enderby |
For 25 years, behind an Isaiah Zagar mosaic in the Italian Market, there were cats, towering shelves, piles of books and a place with charm called Molly's Bookstore. In 2008, Molly's closed to make way for a home-schooling center. After this brief foray failed to materialize, the space blossomed into Bella Vista Natural Foods, selling fresh produce, herbs, and tofutti. But, with the organic coconut milk flowing like water, South Philadelphia's cup runneth over; the grocery has gone the way of the home-school, the cats are back, and Molly's Bookstore has returned.
"It was a long, slow process, going out of business the first time" says Molly Russakoff, the building's proprietor. "The internet really changed the whole nature of book sellers, there's over a million on Amazon.com. It's convenient, cheap, and you can get what you want. But, I think that you lose a lot just shopping online. People used to love to come to the store for the atmosphere but would go home to buy their books online, I just couldn't weather it, so this time I'm really trying to give them a reason to invest here."
Molly's plan to make her spot "a real browser's store" is by expanding her hours into the early evening, opening on Tuesdays and utilizing the space differently. "If I do say, it's much nicer now than it had been," Molly says, "it's a better place to shop; having records, movies, a listening station and free coffee. Having variety and not feeling like I have to fill the entire space with books I can really cherry pick. I'm getting out finding more stuff and carefully considering everything that comes in without making things too expensive."
To help out, Molly is holding several readings and fundraisers, like tomorrow's New Philadelphia Poets presentation of readings by Joe Roarty and Luis Valadez. This wouldn't be the first: Molly groaned about, "the worst potluck ever" where "everybody brought crackers, cookies and cups." This time, Molly's got the grub covered. "I'm going to cook, and we're having a cover for the renovation of our back room, which we hope to be able to make into a small gallery space and workshop," she says. "We have two featured readers and open mic reading, we're hoping to make it a party."
For tomorrow's event, leave the chips at home, B Y own B's instead and enjoy the reemergence of Molly's Books. "There are four cats that take turns coming down," Molly says. "They never left the building, but they're very happy to be back with the public."
New Philadelphia Poets present: Joe Roarty & Luis Valadez, Fri., March 26, 7-11 p.m., $10, Molly's Bookstore, 1010 S. 9th St., 215-923-3367.
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