The Harder They Fall? -

The Harder They Fall? - File this under "Mixed Feelings".

Ruminator Books in Saint Paul is in serious financial trouble.

The store has been a Grand Avenue fixture for over 30 years, and, since the death of Odegaard Books, is easily my favorite book store in the Twin Cities.

Which is not to say that I'd be their favorite customer. The store, next to MacAlester College and deep in the heart of the Mac-Groveland neighborhood (so far to the left that you can still find people who think Kathleen Soliah was framed) fairly oozes oppressive hipness. But the store supports local authors, and is still a genuinely fun place to shop for books.

Like the late, great Odegaards, bad management calls seem to be the culprit:

David Unowsky, owner of the St. Paul store for 33 years, has attributed his troubles to competition and to the loss he took on a recently closed store at the Open Book literary center in Minneapolis. Inventory at the store has dwindled, and his payroll in the past two years has shrunk from 27 mainly full-time employees to 14.

"We've been through tough times lately," he said Monday. "We lost a lot of money, tried some things that didn't work out very well -- in some ways a failure of our own management skills. But we're still here."

Ten years ago, it was sad watching the once-magnificent Odegaard chain (which had stores on Grand, Uptown, and, in a move that led to the chain's undoing, Edina) spin from magnificence into oblivion. There, too, the problem was bad management - and, no doubt, a lot of less-dedicated book customers going to the then-new Barnes and Nobles and Borders that were just starting to spring up.

I hope Ruminator can hang in there. If nothing else, the store and the neighborhood whose intellectual lynchpin it is make for great inspiration for a conservative blogger.

And they have cool books, too.

Posted by Mitch at October 14, 2003 10:30 AM