Word: owners
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...authors or slip off their shoes in a homey shop, settle into an armchair and browse for an hour. Many of these stores provide coffee and other refreshments; Atlanta's Oxford Books (115,000 titles) has a lunch counter and stays open until 2 a.m. on weekends. Says owner Rupert LeCraw: "We've built a following of regular customers who don't even go into chain stores." Stuart Brent, 70, whose Chicago store has been a bastion of intellectual taste for about 40 years, says, "You have people ((those who run chain stores)) today who think that life...
...Orleans Funeral and Ragtime Orchestra first got together in the early '70s, they were summarily ejected from the first few clubs they played in because their music was so noncommercial. At one establishment, the band was fired in the middle of a particularly lugubrious spiritual, after the owner's child tugged on trumpeter John Bucher's sleeve and begged, "Please, mister, don't play anymore...
Most fans, however, do not get near their hero. Michael's Pub owner Gil Wiest aggressively fends them off, which is just fine with Woody. He makes no bones about the fact that he's there for his own kicks, not to strike up a rapport with the audience. "I'm not somebody who smiles and bows," he says. "You know, I'm up there to play. It's strictly business with me." Yet many patrons expect something different from the former stand-up comic. "Most of them are shocked that he doesn't speak or tell jokes," says banjoist...
Cody's Books (75,000 titles; Berkeley). The nation's premier student bookstore caters to an eclectic clientele of intellectuals, street people and nerds with volumes on subjects ranging from Asian philosophy to Brazilian literature. "Look at this!" exults owner Andy Ross, demonstrating the proper passion. "We carry Thomas Mann! We have all of Dickens!" Ross sued two mass-market % publishers who, he claimed, discriminated against him by giving unfair discounts to chains. He won an out-of-court settlement but still argues that chains, with their narrow stock of titles and widespread outlets, "limit the availability of ideas...
...detective fiction last year despite the presence, within easy walking distance, of five chain outlets. The solution: Mysterious carries hard-to-find whodunits that mystery buffs crave. Says customer Steve Ritterman: "There's much more depth here than in a regular bookstore -- authors you can't find elsewhere." Owner Otto Penzler concedes that he does not do smash business with best sellers by the likes of Robert Parker or Robert Ludlum. "B. Dalton," he says, "has them in the window at 30% off. I can't do that...