There comes a time every year, especially during the winter, when everything seems to lose its excitement. Weekends aren’t that fun with the relentless weather and no matter how many days there really are until spring break, it can’t come fast enough.
For many, this might be a familiar feeling.
If the usual weekend agenda is falling victim to the winter time blues, there is a place that may offer an escape until spring break can come to the rescue.
It is about 15 minutes from campus and has a little bit of something for everyone. It is a place that could possibly lift anyone’s spirits no matter what time of year it is.
This charming little secret is located in the heart of Columbus’ historic German Village.
The Book Loft, 631 S. Third St., is a 32-room book lovers’ heaven that occupies an entire city block. “It is an amazing place,” said Mary Kales, a first time customer from Lima, who heard of the store by word-of-mouth.
“Each little room is different the way it winds around and around,” Kales said. “Even standing outside on the cobblestone street, you can tell that the Book Loft is not your everyday Barnes and Noble chain.”
The Book Loft’s best seller cannot be found on a shelf or on The New York Times best-seller list because its atmosphere is the best seller.
With its many nooks and crannies it is possible to get lost in this maze that not only sells more than 8,000 books but posters and greeting cards as well. Upon entering the store, each customer can pick up a map that indicates the theme of each room. Starting from the front door, it is the customer’s choice which hallway to venture down first, similar to a choose-your-own-adventure book.
Each room is filled from floor to ceiling with books relating to each theme. Most of the hallways are decorated with posters numbered by which room where they can be found. To help customers find their selective niche, there are 18 music systems playing inspirational, new age or world music in each room.
Part-owner Roger Tompkins said the Book Loft is a bargain bookstore that sells every kind of book except used books. It is a bargain bookstore because of the large supply of remainder books, books that were best sellers but now are abundant in supply. He said it is his and his partners,’ Carl Jacobsma and Russell Iler, first priority to purchase as many remainder books as they can in addition to purchasing all new trade books and best sellers.
“We are the only bookstore in town that discounts a small amount on everything,” Tompkins said. “We discount anywhere from 5 percent to 90 percent. There is nothing in the way of books that is full price in our store.”
Iler’s main job is to travel all over the country buying items to stock the store. the Book Loft has over 300 suppliers in the United States and Canada.
Tompkins and Jacobsma, both former teachers, decided to start the business in 1977. Tompkins, the true entrepreneur of the three, came to Columbus with $250 in his pocket and borrowed $600 from a friend so Jacobsma and he could start a business.
Before opening the Book Loft, they owned the Village Owl, a small but successful gift shop which led way to the idea of the bookstore. When they first opened the store, it was only three rooms. At that time the building was a shopping center with many small individual shops once housing a saloon, a nickelodeon cinema, a chocolate shop and a dress shop among many others. In 1979 Iler was taken on as the third partner in the business. The partners financed eight major expansions until finally the Book Loft consumed the entire building.
The brick structure now known as the Book Loft was built by German immigrants in 1863. Its European style has remained over the years thanks to German Village’s restoration project that was initiated by Frank Fetch and other community members in the late 1950s.
Dorothy Fisher, an 85-year-old volunteer and former board member of the German Village Society, moved to German Village in 1952. She recalls the area from the Book Loft and further north as being a pretty rough area.
She said that all changed when Fetch and other members of the community decided to put money into a restoration project that started in 1960 with the German Village Society. Today German Village is a place of beautifully restored homes and is known for its unique and quaint restaurants and shops.
The Book Loft is one of the most popular visiting spots in German Village. It is on the Greater Columbus Convention and Business Bureau’s top 10 list of requested places people want to visit when they come to Columbus. Tompkins said the store often gets bus tours of travelers filling the store.
“Christmas and summer starting from Memorial Day to Labor Day is our busiest time,” he said. “We get about 1,500 people on an average Saturday, and that number jumps to about 3,000 on a summer Saturday.”
Tompkins said he is thrilled by the fact that the Book Loft has become what he calls a “destination bookstore,” with many customers coming from different states such as Michigan and Pennsylvania to spend the entire day browsing the store. Jacobsma said the store has a strong regular clientele attracting many different types of people.
“We have a lot of people who come in here for their lunch break,” he said. “Some come in almost daily.”
Jamie Porter, a resident of Columbus, said he comes to the Book Loft once a month to find the best price on books and because he likes the store and the neighborhood it is in.
The partners said they have tried to create a warm atmosphere in their store, a place where the clerks acknowledge every customer and give personal attention. They said the secret of their success lies in the location, which creates the mystique of the store. “I don’t see how we could even try to develop the same atmosphere in any other building,” Jacobsma said.
Tompkins said he believes the Book Loft could never be recreated in a mall and that there are no plans to make it into a chain though the chance has arisen many times in several different cities. “I have always been a book lover, I just always envisioned bookstore unlike the big chains, just a Dickens type bookstore,” he said.
