Redux Books
1349 Lake Dr. S.E.
Grand Rapids, MI 49506
616.742.2665
chogeterp@reduxbooks.com
If you don't know anything about Grand Rapids, Eastown is hip and trendy ex-hippy place a mile or two up from downtown, its an area stocked with generations of college students, mixing with local art, food and spirits. Its a place that has become re-invigorated with the revival of downtown, bridging a gap between downtown and the wealthier neighborhoods further out. Its filled with wonderful architecture, brick roads and packed coffee shops, bars and breakfast places.
Coming out of the cold and walking into Redux Books through the narrow doorway in the brick facade you have to be careful not to trip on boxes of books that are coming and going by the door. The high tin ceiling combined with narrow path ways through towers of book shelves only contributes to the feeling that this is a place you can easily disappear for a few hours on a gloomy day. Catching glimpses of first edition classics lining shelves all around and marveling at books going back 400 years, history lives quietly here.
The wealth of knowledge, culture and combined experience that exists within these pages is a staggering thought. It all becomes even more overwhelming when you find the stairs to the basement, a treasure trove of books, periodicals, and newspapers. Walking around a corner history peeks out to look back at me and informs me that we have landed on the moon, looking into another box a newspaper states "Ford Becomes President". This isn't just a used book store its a capsule of history that is constantly being added to.
In 1999 after more than 30 years of eating breakfast at the small local restaurant next door, Clarence Hogeterp took a step toward buying the building that had caught his eye for years, he described this as the "now or never" moment to realizing his dream. The building had been a bakery in the 1930's then at one point was a photography studio and then finally a wind sock and kite store before Clarence finally came to own it. He had been a financial planner for most of his life and still supports himself partially from doing that a couple days a week, the rest of the time he surrounds himself with his amazing collection of books. His dream was realized when in 2001 after a few years of renovation Redux Books opened.
From there they have become a staple of the West Michigan area, they now have a warehouse and most likely will be purchasing another shortly as the business grows. His daughter Kristin works with him, jokingly giving orders to clean up the piles of books that surround the front of the store. He shrugs off the comments and provides witty comebacks, their antics are throughly enjoyable and a great part of the experience. His son Josh also works with them and does the internet sales part of the business, they have a staggering 40,000 books online. I asked Clarence about what he thought of the online part of the business, he was happy that it was doing so well (seventy percent of sales are online orders), but he still enjoys when people come in and find that first edition or signed copy of a book they have been looking for. Its clear watching him that while the world is getting faster, and now they we can do business all over with a click, there is still a romance to seeing someone find something they have been looking for, or like myself thumbing through history, fascinated.
I walked out of Redux with a bit of the winter gloom taken away, and when it gets cold and dark tonight I now have a 1963 copy of one of my favorites Travels with Charlie by John Steinbeck waiting for me.
-Charles Dykstra
-Charles Dykstra
nice article - I rarely go to Grand Rapids without paying a visit, occasionally buying something to contribute to Clarence's pension. One Canadian to another. I look forward to a share of the inheritance
ReplyDeleteroy