Yoome Pannavalee, owner of The Book Rack, takes inventory about 10:15 a.m., just after the store is opened. The inventory includes both used books for purchase, and new books for purchase or rental. / photo by Christina Worley

by Sher Porter
photography by Christina Worley

The adventure does not begin when you open the book, it starts the moment you enter the bookstore. The variety and depth of books that are offered leave various options open to choose from. Some books will take you to another universe. Some books will introduce you to a Southern belle. Some books will help you search inside of yourself. Only you can decide which book you will read. A first step in choosing your book could be a trip to The Book Rack.

Walk through their door and you’ll discover new worlds. The store is filled with rows and rows of books—thick books, skinny books, tall books and colorful books, standing side-by-side in the bookshelves. Soothing classical music plays throughout the small store and pictures of countrysides, bridges and women adorn the walls.

Once you enter, you are greeted by a warm smile. “We’re really like a community-based business,” says Yoome Pannavalee, who’s owned the store for two years. Although The Book Rack may seem like any other bookstore at first glance, it has some unique qualities. Except for one section that has new books, all of the books are used. Customers hand in their old books and the store gives them store credit for one-fourth of the book’s original cost. All books must be in good condition. That credit can only used for the genre of book that is turned in. If a customer wants to exchange their mystery book, the store credit can only be used for books in the mystery section. The only exception to the rule is science-fiction or Western books because they are hard to keep in stock. When customers are done exploring a new world through the book, they can either keep it or return it for more store credit. The store credit is kept on file for years.

“There are people who have hundreds of dollars of credit because they just keep bringing books in,” Pannavalee says. All used books are half-priced, so the store credit helps slash the price even more. There are also new, hardcover books offered that can be rented for $3.50 per week or $5 for two weeks. “It’s a good bargain if you’re an avid reader,” Pannavalee says. Each book that arrives is cleaned before it is shelved and inspected to make sure it is in good condition.

Pannavalee says most of her customers are elderly men and women who have been coming for years. “I can go through a book in like three of four days,” says customer Maggie Curtin. She has been coming to The Book Rack for three or four years.

The Book Rack is also a helpful store for high school students. The store carries a collection of books by Mark Twain. They also carry “Brave New World,” and “Beowulf,” among other books that high school students often are required to read. Pannavalee tries to keep these books in stock so they’re available when students come in. The store also has a school fund for customers who wish to donate their credit, so teachers can buy the books for their students. “I’ve had students tell me, ‘Oh, I went out to The Book Rack today and bought this,’” says Erin Peters, an English teacher at Bonita High School. Peters encourages students to buy books from The Book Rack if they want their own copy to take notes in.

The Book Rack in La Verne has been in operation for 15 years, even though it is not a very well known store. Pannavalee, the newest owner, has tried to advertise the store more, but she finds that word-of-mouth advertisement is better. She does not want the store to have a big name because she likes the community feel of the store. “It really isn’t worth the trouble or the cost,” Pannavalee says of advertising.

“I think what makes a successful business in this day and age is how you manage it,” says Mike Buglio, who became head of the bookstore franchise recently.

Many of the customers have grown up going to the store. Employees know their names, their families and their interests because they take time to get to know each customer. “It’s a lot of fun because you build relationships with them,” manager Debbie Midgley says. Midgley is an avid reader who enjoys romance novels. She has been working at The Book Rack for six years. “They know me on sight because I come here often enough,” Maggie Curtin says.

The idea for The Book Rack came from Virginia Darnell, who opened the first Book Rack in Tennessee during the 1960s with the idea of having customers trade in their books for store credit to buy more books. The business was a success, so in the late ’60s she decided to franchise the business. Her son Fred Darnell eventually took over the business, and today Buglio is the new head of the franchise.

Today, after more than 40 years, The Book Rack has about 100 stores nationwide and one store in Canada. Most of the stores are on the East Coast. Pannavalee believes that the West Coast has fewer stores because there are other forms of entertainment to distract people from reading. Buglio says that most of the stores are in Florida, Tennessee, Alabama and other surrounding states because the franchise began in Tennessee. Buglio also has his own store in Arlington, Massachusetts. Anyone interested in joining the franchise can call him at 1-877-926-6579. “You have to love it because you don’t get rich,” Pannavalee says.

The Book Rack, located at 1405 Foothill Blvd., is tucked back among a row of shops in the CVS shopping center at the corner of Foothill Boulevard and Wheeler Avenue. And, while it is inviting and cozy inside, enter at your own risk, because once you begin paging through the books, you’re bound to be transported to another world.

Debbie Tucker, left, assists a customer at The Book Rack. / photo by Christina Worley

The Book Rack is home to roughly 10,000 new and used books. About 90 percent of them are used paperbacks, mostly brought in by customers. New books are discounted 20 percent to all customers. / photo by Christina Worley

photo by Christina Worley

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Once known as Claremont Books and Print, Second Story Books of Claremont was reopened in November 2007 by new owner Kyle Hernandez. / photo by Leah Heagy

by Jillian Peña
photography by Leah Heagy

As summer approaches and those of us in the Inland Empire look to the outdoors for our weekend entertainment, the streets of Claremont Village begin to buzz with students making summer plans and families talking about how beautiful the weather is. While walking around the Village, you may notice a small, unpretentious sign for a bookstore located on Yale Street.

If you aren’t looking for “Second Story – Books of Claremont,” you might miss the small blue door wedged between a busy Italian restaurant and an upscale woman’s clothing boutique. But if you do find it, consider yourself lucky because you are about to embark on an adventure equal to that of the “Odyssey,” “Moby Dick” or “Pride and Prejudice.” You have just found a book lover’s paradise.

The creaky and poorly lit staircase that leads to the second story bookstore sets the stage for the fairytale setting that lies above. Like entering the enchanted wardrobe from the classic C.S. Lewis tales of “The Chronicles of Narnia,” or the secret passageways in the ever-popular Nancy Drew books, it is hard to know what lies beyond that last step. Your excitement rises; the smell of books and dust is now bombarding your senses. As you climb the steps, your eye catches the floor-to-ceiling bookshelf packed with books of all kinds. These priceless treasures are just waiting to be dusted off and cracked open.

Once you reach the final step of the old staircase, it takes a minute to really take in what you are looking at. The maze-like second story is divided into several rooms—eight, to be exact. Each has floor-to-ceiling bookshelves packed with fact and fiction. Customers ranging in age from 17 to 87 mill around the 24-year-old store looking for something that will spark their interests. This task is not exactly difficult because the small store, filled with so much character, has what seems to be an endless selection of categories from which to choose. Topics range from philosophy, Americana, New Testament studies and math to European literature, Civil War, politics, dance and architecture.

Kyle Hernandez, a 22-year-old Covina resident, sits quietly behind the front desk with a small cash register and computer. He looks like your average college student, kicking back at his part-time job, just making some extra cash. However, he is actually the owner of the bookstore. To own a bookstore at age 22 is something most would flaunt, but Hernandez is a very modest man.

“Book lover is the only business that I have ever known, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” Hernandez says. Last October he bought the store from a man who had owned it for 24 years, when it was called “Claremont Books and Prints.” Hernandez was familiar with the store because of his passion for the written word. One day he saw a sign that said something along the lines of “If you want to own a bookstore, call this number.” So he picked up the phone on a whim and called.

Hernandez is determined to maintain the unique character of the store where you can buy, sell and trade books, and where it is possible to find a 1901 version of the classic novel “Canterbury Tales.” Miranda Garcia, a 20-year-old college student, loves the atmosphere that the store offers to its customers. Garcia’s grandmother always encouraged her to read as a child. She left Garcia several first-edition books when she passed away, and that sparked Garcia’s passion to find other first editions of classic novels.

“I love coming here. Every time you walk in you can find some treasure. Right now, I’m looking at this 1901 version of the ‘Canterbury Tales.’ Seriously, it’s like holding history in your hands,” Garcia says as she walks away to sit and flip through the pages of the old book.

The store is meant to feel like a place where you can come to escape. It is okay to curl up in a corner and read for a while. There are even strategically placed old wooden chairs that invite customers into their arms to enjoy a few quick pages of their book of choice. Hernandez admits that if the funds were available, he would make a few changes to the store.

The biggest change, though, is the addition of a Web site at secondstoryclaremont.com, where customers can go to access information about the store and buy books online. The site came to Hernandez free of charge because one of the store’s regulars offered to create the Web site in exchange for books. That is part of the charm of the bookstore; it is a place where people feel comfortable coming back time and time again. Many of the regulars become personal friends with Hernandez. As a matter of fact, people love the store so much that many of the books that the store receives tend to be from former patrons who have passed away and whose families donate the books to the store as instructed in their will.

So if you are looking for a place almost as good as home to curl up with a good book, drop by this cozy hideaway for an adventure, a fairytale, a poem or anything else your literary appetite desires.

photo by Leah Heagy

photo by Leah Heagy

photo by Leah Heagy

photo by Leah Heagy

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