Recently, I was graciously given an opportunity to speak on the phone with the lovely & accomplished Nan of Nan’s Pre-Owned Books!!
If you’ve been here since last summer, then you might remember when I mentioned my first visit to Nan’s store. (I also spoke about it in my 2019 recap, and my June & July Book Hauls feature purchases from her store!!) Since then, my family and I have stopped there every single time we’ve been in the Pismo area!
Anyhow, after reaching out to Kassi, Nan’s granddaughter, to request an interview with Nan, I was invited to email Nan and get it all set up, so we did! (Although Nan is giving the store to Kassi, she will be continuing to work there!)
Please, check out Nan’s website, and if you’re familiar with this area, or you drive through it on your next California road trip, do go by Nan’s Pre-Owned Books!! It’s a charming place, and I fell in love with it at first sight.
My conversation with her was incredibly fun, enlightening, and so worthwhile. Nan is charming, gracious, and her story is interesting, to say the least. Here we go!!
Let’s face it, reading will take you any place. It’ll take you to the depths of despair, or to the joys of a happy ending, to anything.
Nan’s Pre-Owned Books: The Origin Story
I caught up with Nan on her afternoon off work, and when she picked up the telephone, I was instantly pulled in by her easygoing, affable, and good-natured manner. I felt a bit nervous, but Nan put me at ease within seconds. After exchanging a little bit of small talk, I started by asking her how Nan’s store came to be.
“About 35 years ago, I was a nurse. I was working for a doctor who was going to retire, and I really didn’t want to work for anybody else. So, I had to find something that I could do for the rest of my life. And I [have always] loved used book stores; our whole family were readers,” Nan recalls.
“So, my mother and I actually spent one year going around the state of California looking at bookstores to make a decision on how we wanted to run this one. We started with about 5,000 books, and we spent that time collecting them from friends, from sales, and from everything we could. I actually had boxes, flats in my garage, and I could flip a book across the garage and hit the right alphabet box!” Nan exclaimed. “So that’s how we did it, and then I rented an old, beat-up building, and we started with that.”
Nan recounted that her job was still necessary, for a time, and we talked about the cost of living, then and now. “I did have to work for about 3 and a half years, as a nurse, to pay for it. My mother worked for three, and my aunt worked three, to get it started. You know, I don’t think that’s possible now; that was possible 35 years ago…There weren’t the regulations that they have now. I got a business license, and I opened the store.”
What an exciting beginning! It must have been so enjoyable to go up and down the state, conducting research by hunting for bookstores! After I oohed and ahhed at this, I asked if Nan’s Pre-Owned Books has always been located where it is now:
“No, I’ve been at my current location for 16 years now. For the first 14 years, I was at a little store, just a little, dinky, ex-house, right on Grand Avenue. Then my brother owned a grocery store down on the corner of 13th and Grand, and so one day I said, ‘you have to close that because I need that building,’ and so he did!” Nan chuckled. “Yep, so it’s all been in the family.”
As I’m fairly familiar with this area, Nan went on to tell me that the first location is where there’s now a Panda Express on Grand!! I really got to picture it, with that added bit of context. She also shared that her family has been here since the Fifties, and she proudly said that her family is “long-time, South County people.” What great history.
What was Nan’s Motivation?
Aside from no longer wanting to work for anyone else, Nan said that it was her love of books, more than anything else, that kept her motivated. From starting with a meager $5,000—and still having to work for those three extra years, to keep the store going—Nan worked hard to keep her new dream afloat: “It’s just a love of books, and the fact that it was something that a single mother could start cheaply and see a future in.”
About the Book Collection at Nan’s
Since Nan mentioned that she was able to start with 5,000 books, I asked her how many the store has now: “The last time we counted—which, I have to be honest, was several years ago—I think there was 54,000… And that naturally varies, depending on how things go, but I would imagine [we have] 50 to 60,000 books.
As for the wide variety of genres that Nan’s carries, more than anything, Nan told me that they are a “paperback store”! She said that, of course, Nan’s Pre-Owned Books do carry a few hardbacks when it comes to history, or books of that nature, but other than that, they are overwhelmingly paperback.
That prolific trip across the state of California, which cultivated a lot more personal enthusiasm, would also help Nan learn what she should carry in her store, by virtue of some of her mistakes: “I thought at that time that Harlequin Romances would be a big seller. So, we stocked up on [them], and we ended up blowing them…And we didn’t realize the amount of people that wanted non-fiction; the first book I sold that first day was on Zen Buddhism. And I’m thinking that we’re going to sell Danielle Steel [romance writer] and Harlequin. But I found out that people are searching for answers, so we always try to have a big metaphysical section.”
There’s sometimes a feeling that people aren’t interested in anything but TV, and things like that, but it’s not true. People are actually deep thinkers.
Before I go on to detail some more of Nan’s wise words, I’d like to interject that I find it so amazing that Nan remembers the first book that ever left her store!! Anyway, more about Nan’s selection of books…
“The young people—very often not teenagers, but the young adults and so forth—are searching for answers to make themselves happier. Or their marriage better, or their parenting better and things like that…And then, to be honest, the sixty and seventy-year-olds look for kickback reading; they want something to get past making supper!” Nan laughs. “So that’s why Nora Roberts [romance, fantasy, suspense] and Sandra Brown [romance, suspense, thriller] and all those people are popular, because you don’t agonize. It’s a little romance, maybe a little sex, and then it’s a happy ending!”
What a colorful way to describe the selection at Nan’s Pre-Owned Books, as well as the “why” behind it!!
Nan’s own Love Affair with Reading
“All of our whole family were readers,” Nan exclaimed. Her favorite genre to read, at any given time, is mystery! “I’m sure that I started with Nancy Drew; I still have a tendency to like a mystery, but I’m sure that that would be where I would have probably started. I can’t actually remember that far back, I’m 80 years old, so I’m lucky if I remember last night!”
Nan’s history with used books goes way back into her childhood. There weren’t that many used bookstores when she was younger, yet people didn’t always have the money to buy new books. So, she and her family were self-proclaimed “library people… we went to the library, and then as the years went on, we got involved in trading the books in a used bookstore, and I’m comfortable there.”
When it comes to Nan’s favorite authors, it’s no surprise that they are within the mystery genre! She told me that since she’s a great mystery reader, she generally thinks of Michael Connelly (detective novels & other crime fiction); James Patterson (mysteries, thrillers, ya, & more); and Stuart Woods (character-driven mystery-type series).
If you don’t read about those things [that make you uncomfortable], you can’t imagine what the rest of the world is like. Nothing’s better than reading of something from another country, and seeing what’s important in their lives. It’s an education, reading is an education.
Despite her affinity for mystery, Nan will read just about genre, but she draws the line with sci-fi: “I will read most anything,” Nan said, “except science fiction. I don’t read science fiction.” I wholeheartedly concur with her!! Sci-fi is just not my cup of tea, either :’)
It should come as no surprise that Nan’s favorite part of the store is the mystery section! As Nan shared this with me, she mentioned how it also happens to be the part of the store that she organizes and takes care of. Every employee at Nan’s has their own little “department” that they file and manage.
What changes can we expect, now that Kassi has been given the store?
“[Nan’s Pre-Owned Books] will be much more proactive with social media,” Nan said, “Basically, she’s going to keep most of it the same. We’re not moving books around to take down all my pictures—I suppose [that might happen] sometime, but right now, she’s just trying to learn the bookkeeping and so forth…because it’s a learning curve, and it isn’t easy to own a business.” Nan continued, “It’s also 24/7; if you have a job and you go home at 5:00 p.m., you don’t care if the place burns down, particularly. But if it’s your business; you worry all night whether or not there’s a water leak or something… So, yep, that’s exactly what she’s coping with now.”
Nan’s Advice for Hopeful Booksellers
I asked Nan what kind of counsel she might give to someone who dreams of opening their own bookstore. She responded with one of my favorite quotes: “You know, there’s an old cliché that I like to remember, and it’s: ‘Do what you love, and the money will follow.’ If you have a passion for something, and you know that’s what you want, somehow, you’ll get it. You’ll figure it out somehow; you’ll go without something else to pay for it, or you’ll go to school to learn that skill… I think the #1 word is passion.”
Nan’s Career Highlights
As our conversation drew to a close, I asked Nan the question that I was most excited about. What has she enjoyed and loved throughout her career? Her answer did not disappoint:
“I suppose it’s just the people. I mean, I’m real sick of filing books. Let’s face it, I’ve filed books now for 35 years; I don’t care if I never file another book, so it isn’t that. But, at the same time, you know, when we accept books [from people] it’s sort of like Christmas. Every time somebody comes in with a big bag of books, you’re wondering ‘What do they have? What is there that I really want?’ So, it’s exciting to see; it’s like opening gifts every day.”
By and large, people are really, really nice. Readers are nice, and I’m always so thankful for that… 99% of people are good, kind people.
“I just like the people best,” Nan gushed, “I also like the fact that, with a business, you can get involved in the community. I was always involved with the Chamber of Commerce… of course, I’ve been a part of the Grover Beach Library and the Grange and the Historical Society. You get to know people! And to be honest, one of the reasons my name is on the store is because I am identified then with the bookstore… you just come in and say, ‘Hi, Nan!’”
And here, we come to the pith of this story, my favorite part of the entire interview. I’m so grateful that Nan humbly shared this particularly special moment from her career!
“Because of my store, I got very involved with the community. One year, I was named Citizen of the Year of Arroyo Grande. That’s kind of the hype. I was given recognition in Sacramento because I worked on renaming Grand Avenue. You know, Grand Avenue used to be all the same. It’s because I fought for it to be East and West, so that [people] would know what is Arroyo Grande, and what is Grover… but those are the things that you do when you want to give back to the community. And I think that I always cared. I love the South County, and I just want it to be a better place—it is a good place, it’s a wonderful place—but everything we do makes it better.”
Nan continued: “That’s why we did all those things. That’s why I was on the original [commission] to open Grover Beach Library. They needed the library down there, so I was instrumental in that. So those are the things you do.” I’m so amazed at Nan’s accomplishments, and I admire her dedication to her community.
That’s a wrap!! As someone who genuinely fell in love with Nan’s Pre-Owned Books from my first visit, I feel so blessed that Kassi & Nan were so gracious in working this out with me. I really hope you enjoyed reading this interview as much as I enjoyed speaking with Nan. I would love to hear from you if you ever do stop by this wonderful place!!! Please let me know what your favourite part of this interivew was; it would make my day, and I’m sure it would also brighten Nan’s!! <3