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"Physical books are never going away. I've heard from countless people that they tried e-books and just didn't like them. There's something about holding a book with pages you can turn that connects with the way the human mind works. A physical book has a magical, ethereal quality to it that you're never going to get with a digital thing.
It's a unique experience. Every single used bookstore, by definition, is different from every other one. If one opens right next to us, their inventory will be different from ours. Ours is different from what it's going to be tomorrow or yesterday or a week or a month or a year from now. The reason people go to used bookstores is because of the experience of just being around books, and because of that, there will always be a place for a little used bookstore.
One of our favorite things is when somebody walks into Midland Street Books, they stop, and then take this big, deep breath—it's the smell of the bookstore. Or when little kids come in and they beeline straight for the basement because they know that’s where their books are. Being in a bookstore is an experience: it's something tangible and intangible at the same time. People just want to come in and wander around and look at things, some of them want to chat, and some of them want to be in their own little world. People will go downstairs, and I won't see them for an hour or two—I'll forget they're here, and when they walk up the stairs, I'm like, 'Oh, you’re still here!'
Some people love buying books that already have notes and like to see what other people wrote. And then you can touch the history of the book, especially when you pick up a really old, battered copy of a Tolkien or Stephen King. People seem really drawn to those books: they like the idea that so many people have experienced this book—and now it’s their turn."”
—Scott Byers & Kerice Basmadjian, Midland Street Books
"Midland Street Books didn't start with an idea, but a tragedy: my basement apartment flooded and we lost almost everything—except for a book collection that was up on the top shelf. I moved in with my mother, and since I didn't have money I thought, ‘I got to do something with these books’. So, I started learning how to sell books online and became an Amazon bookseller. This was around 2016, and for about two years, I went around Michigan buying books from thrift stores, library sales, and any place that had books for sale.
Then I met a guy who owned a bookstore and was going to close it down. I had been wanting to open one myself, so we partnered together, moved it here to Midland Street, changed the name, I bought him out, and here we are!
When I first started selling books, I came across this ridiculously large dictionary. While I don't look at a dictionary for words, I kept it on my desk: there was something of value being able to reach out and touch the entire English language within arm's reach.
Something that makes a good bookstore is what I call ‘The Filter’. Imagine taking a giant pile of books like taking sediment from a river looking for gold: filter the garbage out and only let the good stuff into the store. Going through that process is how I spend 90% of my time. The romantic idea about owning a bookstore is getting to sit around and read all day, occasionally chatting with customers about your favorite books. There is a bit of that, but there are also 12-hour days of scanning through thousands of books. It's monotonous and a lot more work than people think.
Most books don’t make it to our shelves, and selecting a book is partly data-driven, partly experience-driven, and partly comes from a feeling. Since the invention of the printing press, there have been more than 130 million titles published. The idea that any bookseller can know which ones are selling and at what price they should be is ludicrous, especially when you're in a marketplace that's constantly changing. But after running a bookstore, you get a feel for pricing and selection. I've handled so many books. I did the math, and before I opened the store and was just selling on Amazon, I scanned through over a million books, actually scanned and looked at the data. I have this reservoir of information in my head of what is a book that sells and what doesn't.
It's hard to articulate, but I know a good book when I see it.”
—Scott Byers, Midland Street Books
“For years and years, I wanted to have a bookstore, but it became one of those 'someday down the road' type of things. I'd heard about Midland Street Books, and I was excited that there was a bookstore in Bay City. I started coming around a little bit as a customer. Eventually, I met Scott, and when I got home, I told my husband, 'That guy doesn't know yet, but I'm his new business partner.'
I'd always been a book lover, but I mostly worked in restaurants and hospitality. I really wanted to work somewhere where people would be happy all the time, and I thought there's nothing to be mad at in a bookstore! I started doing research on some of the bookstores in the state, and it was interesting. Actually, the spot I always had my eye on was right there on Linn Street, where Major Skate, Bay City MI is. I had this whole idea of a bakery, a coffee shop, and a bookshop. But now, we have all those things on the street, just in separate spaces.
Midland Street Books is located on this fantastic street with all its history and beautiful buildings that are kind of undiscovered. 'I haven't been down here since I was 22 years old,' we hear a lot, but the renaissance of Midland Street we’re seeing now is a great time to come back and visit.”
—Kerice Basmadjian, Midland Street Books
“Why would someone go to a bookstore to buy a book rather than buy it on Amazon? Lots of reasons. First of all, when you buy a book on Amazon, it's not instant. Even with Prime shipping, you wait two doors. But a bookstore is instant, and we price our books below Amazon prices, which a lot of people can't believe until they come in. If you’re buying used books, it's good to be able to physically see the thing you're buying because lots of Amazon sellers lie about the condition of their books. You buy it in 'very good' condition, and it arrives with the cover blank, pages torn, etc.
Bookstores can make recommendations from hundreds or thousands of books that you can’t see on Amazon. Looking through the shelves in a real bookstore allows you to discover books you would never have thought to look for in the first place.
Midland Street Books is not 5% of what it's going to be when it reaches its final form. It's going to be...I almost want to make it like a theme park, like when you go to Disney World. I want everything here to be literary-themed. Like when you walk through the door, you're not in the regular world, not in your world; you’re in Book World.
It's not like going to Walmart and buying a toilet bowl brush on a shelf with a bunch of others. It's a unique experience. Every single used bookstore, by definition, is different from every other one. If one opens right next to us, their inventory will be different from ours. Ours is different from what it's going to be tomorrow or yesterday or a week or a month or a year from now. The reason people go to used bookstores is because of the experience of just being around books, and because of that, there will always be a place for a little used bookstore.”
—Scott Byers, Midland Street Books
