Garrison Keillor's Corner Books to Open in St. Paul

A Prairie Home Companion's Garrison Keillor has, of course, been part of the literary world for years: he's the author of more than a dozen books, including Lake Wobegon Days, The Book of Guys, Love Me, and Homegrown Democrat, and has been a writer for the New Yorker, a writer and host of The Writer's Almanac, and an emcee of the National Book Awards. He has also had a long association with independent bookstores and the American Booksellers Association, which sponsored his radio program for many years; and he has hosted several events benefiting the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression. Now, Keillor can add "independent bookstore owner" to the list. On November 1, Keillor will open Corner Books in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Garrison Keillor Photo: Brian Velenchenko

"Garrison's really wanted his own bookstore, and he'd been thinking about it for a long time," said Chris Livingston, owner of The Book Shelf in Winona, Minnesota, and project manager for the opening of Corner Books. Livingston said the bookstore will fill a void left by the closing of several independent bookstores in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, including Ruminator Books and Bound to Be Read.

"Garrison's putting in quite a bit of inventory," said Livingston. "We're looking at about 13,000 titles in a 2,200-square-foot space, so the shelves will be full. He's committing to a fairly large poetry section. We looked at the statistics, and he'll have about twice as many poetry titles as a typical independent bookstore that size." The store will also have a strong regional section and will carry used books.

Corner Books, which is opening as a store with Book Sense, will be at basement level in the Blair Arcade building, beneath Nina's Coffee Café, and the two businesses plan to partner for special events. Store signage will read "Corner Books" and beneath that, in smaller letters, will be "G. Keillor, Prop." The store's tagline, created by Keillor, is "Live local. Read large."

Keillor does, in fact, live local -- he's a resident of the surrounding Cathedral Hill neighborhood, a culturally and socio-economically diverse area of St. Paul. "There used to be a fairly high crime rate," Livingston said, but more recently older buildings have been renovated, and the area is experiencing a renaissance. Livingston noted that Keillor was keen on contributing to the revitalization of the neighborhood.

Although he intends to play an active role in Corner Books, Keillor isn't planning on leaving the shores of Lake Wobegon. "His first dedication is to A Prairie Home Companion," said Livingston. "I think he's looking for a place to go in the evening, sit down, read a book, and be comfortable."

Corner Books is opening in a building that has an established literary association. According to the Pioneer Press, the building was once known as the Angus Hotel, and it was home to St. Paul native F. Scott Fitzgerald's mother, Mollie.

Although Livingston will continue to work as a consultant for Keillor, the reins of the bookstore will soon be turned over to recently hired Corner Books manager Sue Zumberge, who owned two Montana independent bookstores several decades ago -- The Bookshoppe in Whitefish and Electric Avenue Books in Bigfork. More recently, she has been working in the Twin Cities as a bookkeeper.

"I'm so happy to be back in the realm of independent bookstores," said Zumberge. "I feel so strongly about it. I wanted to be back selling books, that's my passion in life." Zumberge said she got the job by responding to Keillor's classified ad on craigslist.com.

"It's going to be great," she said. "From my conversation with Mr. Keillor, it sounds like it's going to have a real Midwest flavor. There will be a wide selection of fiction, with a concentration of Midwest writers. It will really have the flavor of a neighborhood bookstore." --Karen Schechner