Alabama Yesterdays: Random wanderings through Alabama history
One of the things we do when travelling is seek out local bookstores. Over the years I've written a number of pieces on this blog about such establishments in Alabama, past and present, or their ephemera such as bookmarks. Here's a list of ones I've done so far.
When I travel to visit mom in Huntsville, I take I-65 north to the Hartselle exit at Alabama 36 and take that state road over to US 231 at Lacey's Spring, then north into southeast Huntsville where she lives. For several months now the first half of that trip on 36 has been closed to through traffic due to bridge work. The detour takes me another exit north on I-65 to Priceville. After a few trips through there I finally noticed Priceville Discount Books. I stopped to take a look early one Sunday afternoon, and I'm glad I did.
Working that day was the original owner, whose name I failed to get. He told me he had opened the store in 1987 and just sold it this past June. He was continuing to work part time to help out the new owners, Aria and Dylan Troncoso. The store occupies much of the Twin Cedar Plaza retail strip on Alabama 67 South not far from the Interstate exit. The photographs below will give you a small idea of the vast inventory inside the store. I'll have to stop by a few more times to make my way through the many sections and shelves. The classics section alone is huge. The store has an active Facebook page, which has been up since January 2014.
Via email, Dylan Troncoso provided me this information about the store:
"The original owner of the store is James Owen. His mother opened a tanning salon in 1987 and James began selling some of his personal books in her store in 1988. His dad helped him by building shelves in an unused part of the tanning salon. The tanning salon/bookstore moved into the current building mid 1990. Eventually the books took over, and James' mom transitioned out of the tanning business and helped him run the bookstore. There are still two tanning beds buried under a surplus of books.
"My wife Aria and I purchased the store from James and took over mid June of 2021. James has remained active in the transition. He is always helpful and works for us around 3 days per week. He just can't step away, and we wouldn't have it any other way! Our current plan is to keep up the legacy of Priceville Discount Books. We hear just about weekly from customers that can remember shopping there from the beginning. Many adult customers have been buying their books there for the entirety of their lives. We hope to clean up and organize as time allows. We plan to clear up some space in the smaller half of the store to accommodate some tables and chairs for our customers as well as our own kids to use for their homeschooling."
I've written a number of pieces about Alabama bookstores, including Booklegger in Huntsville, Gibson's in Owens Crossroads, and Deb's [now Camelot] in Cullman. I've also covered a few now closed, such as Books, Etc in Pelham, the Paris Bookstall in Birmingham, and two much older ones in Auburn. Finally, I've done two posts on bookstore bookmarks here and here. I have a good bit of material on past bookstores in the state and hope to further tap it in the near future.
Priceville Discount Books is well worth a stop if you're in the area, or even if it takes a special trip!
For many years whenever my brother Richard and I are in Huntsville together visiting mom, we always try to make it by Booklegger Used Books. Our dad used to visit before his death in 2003; he probably introduced us to it. I've taken my son Amos at least once.
I have no idea about the history of the place, and have been unable to find any online. Booklegger may be one of the last bookstores in America with no email address, no web site, no Facebook page, no presence on Instagram or Twitter. They do have a telephone, however; you can call them at 256-895-0082. The store also has an address and zip code: 4001C Holmes Avenue in Huntsville, 35816.
Booklegger also has a vast collection of hardback and paperback books housed in three large rooms. Richard and I usually start at the new arrivals section and branch out from there. There are sizeable sections for Civil War and military history, which Richard spends some time in. I check out the Alabama books and then graze through the biographies, fiction, poetry and even the health section because sometimes an interesting medical history tome will turn up there.
More comments are below some of the photos. I highly recommend Booklegger where you can spend some quality time with many, many books you might want to purchase. I only wish I could get by there more often.
I've written several other posts about Alabama bookstores: one in Cullman formerly known as Deb's Bookstore, Books Etc in Pelham which closed a few years ago, some long gone bookstores in Auburn and an adult bookstore that operated in Birmingham in the 1970's.
One day soon I'm going to get serious and do a batch of posts from materials I've collected over the years about Alabama bookstores.
| I recently ran across these first two photos in one of Auburn University Libraries' digital collections and being a retired librarian and bookstore denizen since the days of my youth, they grabbed my attention. Let's investigate. The photos show the interior of two bookstores in Auburn in 1950, Hawkins' and Burton's. The quotes about each store come from the linked source. At some point Mr. Hawkins died and a bookstore entrepreneur from Tuscaloosa named Paul Malone purchased the store and renamed it Malone's. George Johnston had been working there and took over management; he purchased the store in 1953. The Johnston family took full control in 1960 and renamed it Johnston and Malone, which became J&M in 1968. That's how the store was known when I arrived in Auburn in June 1970. You can read more about J&M here, here and here. I've found nothing yet on Mr. Hawkins' background, but that's not the case with with the founder of the other store, Robert Wilton Burton. Although born in Georgia in 1848, he grew up in Lafayette and spent most of his adult life in the Auburn area. After the Civil War he taught school in Lee County and Opelika until he and his brother opened a bookstore in that town. In 1878 faculty members at the college then known as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama asked him to open a bookstore in Auburn to serve the school and community. Burton's Book Store became a center of literary and intellectual life and operated until 1968. Before his death in 1917 Burton published numerous poems and humorous stories in newspapers and national magazines. With the income he built a one-story house for his family affectionately called the "Four-Story Cottage". Although listed on the National Register of Historical Places in 1980, the Queen Anne-style house on East Magnolia Street was demolished in 1993. In May 1957 Paul Malone was one of the incorporators of Malone's Book Store, Inc. in Tuscaloosa. The business was dissolved in 1968. I raided my parents' collection of Auburn University yearbooks from ca. 1947-1950 and other sources for book store ads and photos beyond the two I found initially. I couldn't stop myself and have included them below in order to create a mini-history of bookstores in Auburn. I wonder if my parents are in either of these photographs. They were at Auburn in 1950. If you have any information or memories about these stores, please tell us in the comments section. UPDATE 19 March 2022 One Auburn bookstore I didn't discuss was Anders, which closed recently after 56 years in business.  Hawkins Bookstore in 1950
"Hawkin's Bookstore in Auburn in 1950 was called 'The Friendly Bookstore.'
George and Paul Malone took over the store years later and named it Johnston
and Malone's." Source: C. Harry Knowles Photographs Collection, Auburn University Libraries  Burton's Bookstore in 1950
 Advertisement from the 1949 Glomerata, Auburn University's yearbook  Advertisement from the 1948 Glomerata, Auburn University's yearbook  Advertisement from the 1948 Glomerata, Auburn University's yearbook  In this photograph taken around 1910, we are looking down what is now College Street in Auburn. The building on the right in front of the water tower is Burton's Book Store. Toomer's Drug Store is the building with the awning. Source: Auburn University Digital Library  At some point a Wright Brothers Book Store operated in Auburn. "The water tower behind reveals its location on the north side of Magnolia Avenue a few doors east of Toomer's Drug Store. Source: Ralph Draughon, Jr., Delos Hughes & Ann Pearson, Lost Auburn: A Village Remembered in Period Photographs. New South Books, 2012, p. 129  J & M Bookstore today Source: J & M website |
