Few sixth birthday parties are so peaceful as the one Charlie Flaherty threw for As Time Goes By.
September 16 marked the sixth anniversary of the opening of the used bookstore, which is open only on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This isn’t Charlie’s first bookstore, though. His job from 1999-2004 was setting up about seven bookstores a year around the country. He held onto the idea for As Time Goes By for about ten years before he decided to make it a reality. Even on the birthday Saturday, when all the books were 50 percent off in celebration, the store was quiet. In the evening light, six young adults filed in, hailed Charlie as he held the door for them, and wished the store a happy birthday, before settling in to play a board game. One, who said he was in Army ROTC, left the game early to smoke a cigar outside with Charlie.
Charlie didn’t seem bothered by the lack of customers. He wished the store would pay for itself, and Marion isn’t a large market, but costs would be higher anywhere else, he pointed out. Charlie used to work at Judson on the maintenance crew for eight years, after his move to Alabama in 2002. Before that, he hit the road more often for various jobs, including working for the circus. He moved from the North down to Florida when he was sixteen, spent some time at college, before living ten years in New Orleans. This was followed by time in Manhattan and overseas before finally settling in Marion.
The young man smoking overheard as Charlie brought up the police chase that had careened past the store the night before. He asked if Charlie was ever nervous living in Marion. “No,” he replied, “This is Mayberry.”
In keeping with that throwback reference, the tagline for the store is “Nostalgia never gets old,” and the walls are covered with old family photos, newspapers and magazines, including copies of the first editions of “Time” and “Life” magazine. Even so, Charlie is adamant that print is dying, especially newspapers. He isn’t a fan of online news, comparing it all to USA Today—“Would you like a pie chart with that?”—but he recognizes the medias are moving on. So is he worried about e-books? “The fact is, enough people like the tactile nature of books” for his store to remain relevant, he says.
His ideas for the store have remained the same during the six years it has been open. His menu and prices haven’t changed, and the store displays a laid-back atmosphere. Books are piled everywhere, the room is warm, and Leonard Cohen plays on a record in the back. Charlie also sells drinks and desserts like a coffeeshop, and he offers them to you when you enter the store as if he considers you a guest in his home. If you ask him why, he says that is exactly the case. He lives in the back of the store, and claims that makes the store his living room, and therefore him the host. Judson student Arienne Borowski described a trip to the store as “walking into a home away from home. The smell of pie, books piled everywhere, and the warm company Mr. Charlie offers make the store feel comfortable and homey; more like hanging out with friends in your uncle’s living room than going into a stuffy, picture-perfect store to purchase some books and leave.”