Raven Bookstore. LAWRENCE, KS
F E AT U R E D I N D I E B OO K S TO R E
FIRST, GIVE SOME BACKGROUND INFORMATION ABOUT YOURSELF AND RAVEN BOOKSTORE. RB: The Raven was founded in 1987 as a specialty mystery-only bookstore, and has since expanded to be the only new generalinterest bookstore in Lawrence, Kansas. In 2021, after 34 years at our original location, the Raven moved to a newly-renovated 1865 storefront on historic Massachusetts Street. I, Danny Cain, moved to Lawrence in 2014 to get an MFA in poetry from the University of Kansas. While working on my degree, I got a part-time Raven bookseller job and fell in love with the place, so much so that I bought it upon graduating with my degree. WHY DID YOU, OR THE OWNERS, DECIDE TO OPEN A BOOKSTORE? RB: Since I'm not the original owner, I can't speak for them, but I'm fairly certain the original owners (Pat Kehde and Mary Lou Wright) were huge readers of mystery books and they saw a space for a store that celebrated that genre in our city. They were both at the point in their careers where 124
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they were ready to work in a field they were passionate about. WAS A BOOKSTORE A MAJOR NEED IN YOUR AREA? RB: Lawrence in particular is a literary town, with a long line of great writers and artists, plus an artistic culturally-engaged population. Their amazing support for us over decades is a pretty strong indication that we're filling a need. WHAT KIND OF READING TRENDS DO YOU SEE WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS? RB: I'm consistently amazed at the resilience of print books. How many times have we decided the internet would kill the book? But the paper book continues to sell, and to sell with surprising robustness. No matter what happens, people still turn to books. In terms of smaller trends, nonfiction and fiction have been taking turns as the dominant sought-after books for us, and this year it seems to be swinging back to fiction. We've also been selling a lot more Sci-fi and
