| Where Wild Things Are closing soon
The book is closing on down- town Flagstaff's small but popular children's book store, Where the Wild Things Are, an apparent victim of the; Barnes and Noble super-sized book seller moving in just a few blocks away. Rick Swansoh, owner of Where the Wild Things Are, 3E. Aspen Ave., surprised customers last week when he announced that his 2-year- old business will close its doors at the end of the month. "It's the new neighbors that are moving in on South Milton. I'd be lying if I said otherwise,"' Swanson said, alluding to the Barnes and Noble store expected to open before the end of the year at the intersection of West Route 66. |
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"When I saw his (going out of business) ad in the paper, I could not believe it," said Phyllis Levendusky, librarian at St. Mary's Catholic School. During the two years the book store has been open, Levendusky has placed on average two book orders each month with Swanson because of the personal service the store owner provided and his discounted prices for the local schools.
"He's just been great, just having somebody small-town like that has just been marvelous. He gives a better discount than anyone else in town," the librarian said. "The personal service, even in this small of a town, is getting harder and harder to find. He was right there, and that makes a big difference."
I Swanson, who used to work for W.L. Gore and Associates, opened the store in 1997 at the behest of his two children, now ages 5 and 7. "Books have been a big part of our relationship with our kids, so we thought it would be a fun thing to do, and it felt good," Swanson said of the store's opening.
The store was named after the popular children's book in order to portray a child's imagination. And for Swanson, the emphasis has always been to cater to children's needs. "We've done a lot of partnerships with schools, and I'm real proud of the fact that we did a lot of business with the schools on the Hopi and Navajo reservations. Anytime we sent books out there, I felt like we were helping with literacy out there, and at the local schools, too," Swanson said.
But facing the prospect of competing with a book chain that holds a 25 percent share of the bookselling market, Swanson said the odds were stacked against his store's survival. "In a way, we would have liked to fight the good fight. But we can't afford to take that kind of financial risk, being a mom and pop kind of store," he said.
Where the Wild Things Are already is beginning to look bare on the inside as the store began its going-out-of-business sale last Sunday. "Since we announced that we were closing, our customers have been real generous and flattering with their comments. They've definitely made us feel like they appreciated what we were.
"And I think people appreciated that there was a place downtown that kind of belonged to the kids," he said.
Source: Scott Walters, Arizona Daily Sun, Sunday, October 10, 1999, pp. 23-24
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