about us this would be us...I believe she was about to push me into the Pacific photo by my best friend - Keith Brior

What would you expect of former bookstore owners? Would their every conversation center on literature? Would they always be lefties, never far from a NYT? Would they be clever, lofty ... or loony? Sorry, we're just two semi-normal people who did something (this independent bookstore thing) we love, for years and years and we would love to do it all over again. 22 Years of Independent Bookselling We met in a bookstore. We got married in a bookstore. Oh, we are indeed book people and book nerds. Take a look at our Bookstore Travelers section where we review some area bookstores.

We both have long bookselling histories, working in independent bookstores, regional and national chains, before we struck out on our own, to live our fantasy, owning our our own bookstore. In 1987, we quit our jobs managing a chain bookstore in Davis and opened our first store - Mansion Book Merchants at 132 E Street, in Davis. When we moved to our second location on G Street, we changed the store's name to The Next Chapter, and that name lasted through two large locations with full coffeehouses in Woodland and until we made the big move up the hill to Placerville and became Raven's Tale. That's our story and we're sticking with it. There are more details of our glorious history below.

Thanks for your interest. - John & Vicky

Mansion Book Merchants
132 E  Street, Davis
(March 1987 - June 1992)

Our first bookstore was a small space that was half-a-flight down from street level. We thought of naming it A Room With A View, because the view from our windows was of just car hubcaps and pedestrians from the waist down - but, we didn't. Vicky's dad drew our store logo, it was a part of the building we were in at Mansion Square. I moved my table saw into the space and we made and finished all the shelves for the store onsite. It took us from the beginning of January to March 14 before we opened our doors for business. We had another partner, one employee, and lots of hopes.

 At the time, all three of the partners and our one employee, Megan, had all quit our jobs with WaldenBooks. We were going to try to create something special and we were going to do it our way. We started with about 10% of the money that the National Book Association said was required to put a bookstore together. To be honest, Vicky and I weren't sure that we would really be able to keep it going for more than six months ... but we wanted to give it a chance.

I made every bookcase, counter, bench and fixture and we had the entire space ringed with shelves by the time the first big shipment arrived from our distributor. Since we started with so little money, for a while all the books were all face out. I still remember a few customers that said they loved the look and that we must love the books' cover art as much as they did. We just couldn't afford more books, but these people were looking at the store in a different way ... people have a wonderful habit of surprising you. Lesson - just look at something differently.

Our first exposures to Amazon was people bringing in printouts of books they had researched and wanted us to special order for them. Sweet!   

For our Grand Opening, Robert Crumb and friends played some good music.

It was a small store. I lined it wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling with shelves.

The ceiling was perfect for hanging hundreds of origami cranes or maybe a cloud.

The Next Chapter
225 G  Street, Davis
(June 1992 - February 1998)

This was a much bigger location. It had a very high ceiling, with high walls covered completely in slatwall (we could display books and artwork all the way to the ceiling) and many big front windows at street level - it was a BIG space to fill.

this was a large space ... and yet we eventually filled it up

more about this popular "sign of the rabble" in Davis ... in time

The Next Chapter
1059 Court Street, Woodland 
(February 1998 - October 2003)

After a fun one-day-closed move to Woodland, with lots of help from customers, friends, and strangers, we opened with a live concert the next night.

5,000 square feet of books, gifts and a full coffeehouse

The Next Chapter
622 Main Street, Woodland
(November 2003 - June 2008)

This was a great space that had been an independent hardware store for almost 100 years. It was about 5,000 square feet spread out over two floors, and we were able to have a full coffeehouse with seating downstairs, as well as upstairs in front of the big windows that looked down on Woodland's Main Street. It was a mighty good place for people watching, drinking a latte, checking out a book, using your laptop, or holding a meeting. There were one heck of a lot of shelves lining the walls on the main floor and on the mezzanine, by the time we had filled it all out.

a couple of shots of what 622 Main was like

352 Main Street, Placerville
(June 2008 to August 2009)

the front window

a couple of looks inside our last bookstore - looking to the back of the store & towards the children's section

the bookstores at 352 Main Street
it was a home for books for 35 years
in that time there have been four different bookstores here
some were here for many years, some for several months
strangely, every one of the bookstores had the same phone number (530) 622-4540

Rivendell Books
      started in the 1970's, it had a heavy Tolkien flavor
      our current landlady Pete, started the store down the street and then moved up to this space around 1974
Hidden Passage Books
      after many years, the flavor changed towards more pop culture figures, comics and more
      this was the time of the clear panel in the floor that revealed a skeleton in a cave ... people are still looking for him
Wild Mountain Books and More
      Sherry and John remodeled and wanted to keep a new bookstore in Placerville
      their store had a lean and open feel to it
Raven's Tale
      our bookstore was something special, something ever-changing, but it was always striving to be a fine place for the best in new books
      a comfortable home for browsers, a place that people feel welcome and well served

small sidenote

more than a big rodent
Groundhog Day is a day of shadows and hopes. It's a special kind of a day. When I was growing up in Vermont, groundhogs/woodchucks were a common sight in the fields and some people thought of themselves as woodchucks - that might tell you a little about the Vermont state of mind. February 2 was still very much winter in Vermont, but the talk about spring or six more weeks of winter ... gave some hope. Could it be that a particular warm spell was the beginning of spring or just a sunny day before more snow and ice came our way? Could our famed mud season be just around the corner? Just how many times can it seem like spring has come ... only to vanish in more snow and cold?   

I still remember getting Groundhog Day off from classes. The official University of Vermont reason for closing that day was that it was all about energy-savings during the 1970's energy crisis, but I had high hopes that it was just the beginning of a new groundhog culture. Vicky tells me that I've been deluded about many other things in life ... doesn't seem likely to me.   

Hope you always enjoyed your Groundhog Day any which way you can - it's a fine holiday. 

Look, it's Bernie Sanders - the Vermont socialist in the United States Senate. Click on his head to learn more.

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