ENTERPRISE ENCORE
‘Here We Go Again’
Kazoo Books’ Gloria Tiller has weathered ‘a million changes’ stories by
by
BEN LANDO
KARA NORMAN
W
hen Gloria Tiller, the owner of Kazoo Books, was growing up in Sparta, Michigan, her family owned an apple orchard. As a child, she punched a timecard and, at 16, was put in charge of payroll. Maybe that’s why, at 21, while doing payroll at a different company, where the boss told her to get him a cup of coffee and sit on his lap, she quit and became self-employed. And she hasn’t looked back. It wasn’t exactly an auspicious start to employment, but Tiller was undaunted. She sold real estate for 18 years and in 1988 opened her first bookstore, the Book Exchange at 407 N. Clarendon St. in Kalamazoo. Starting out with a selection of gently used romance titles, the store grew into a fully stocked, new and used bookstore called Kazoo Books. In 2004, Tiller opened a second location at 2413 Parkview Ave.— while most independent bookstores were closing shop for good. In her 30-plus years as a bookseller, Tiller says, she’s always had to think outside the box. “That’s kind of a cliché now,” she says, “But I had to be open for improvement. I’ve had a million changes in my life.”
Weathering a sudden loss One of the most recent upheavals in her life was the sudden heart attack and death in 2016 of her husband of 17 years, Jim Tiller, who was not only her business partner, but also the store’s resident computer guru. “I didn’t even know how to update a (computer) file,” Tiller says. “I had no idea how to process mail order (the business of selling books online).” Months before losing her husband, Tiller had decided to close the Clarendon Street Gloria Tiller, right, is the owner of Kazoo Books, which, in 2016, consolidated its two locations into the store located on Parkview Avenue, pictured at far right.
20 | ENCORE AUGUST 2019