One of our favorite Oregon stores turns 40 this week—and that's a remarkable 40 years in the same location on Second Street in downtown Corvallis.
Grass Roots Books & Music is celebrating its birthday this Friday (Nov. 11) with raffles all day and a couple of special events, including a Story Time to Celebrate a New Generation of Readers at 11:30 am and a Music & Mingle gathering in at 5 p.m. Snacks and beverages will be served at the evening event, including a birthday cake. The winners of the Grass Roots Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest will also be announced. Everyone is invited to submit their favorite memories of the store.
Jack Wolcott opened Grass Roots in 1971 with Mi
chael Nesson, the store being a natural extension of their work at First Alternative Co-op. Wolcott now runs Grass Roots with Sandy Smith—same location, five expansions later. Earlier this year the store took another leap forward with the launch of a new website, allowing them to assist customers 24/7, and to sell eBooks.
Grass Roots has also announced its B.O.O.K. program: Booksellers Of Outstanding Knowledge. B.O.O.K. Pros, they say, “are dedicated to reinvigorating reading, and keeping books relevant and fun.” Reading the store's online staff recs—some of the best, well-written personal recommendations around—you can tap into to some of that. We're looking forward to hearing more about the program.
Can we just say how much fun it is to walk around Corvallis on a summer afternoon, picking up a few books at Grass Roots, having some American Dream pizza, letting the kids run though the public fountains in the Riverfront park until they're so tired they sleep all the way home? Grass Roots, here's to another 40 in downtown Corvallis!
Filling my free shopping minutes with books by Ian Rankin and the newest Stephen King.