Argo’s Book Shop and Redux Books provide whimsical alternative to Barnes and Noble

I believe it’s necessary to begin this review with a warning: secondhand bookstores come with a distinct smell.

They actually smell somewhat musty, as if each paperback has marinated in minor dampness for a while and is releasing the mild yet distinct odor of old paper into the store. The scent of pages is pleasantly pungent; it’s the smell that you catch as you quickly fan through a book magnified thousands of times, each volume adding its own unique variation to the overall aroma.

This is the smell that will greet you if you ever happen to wander into either Redux Books or Argo’s Book Shop in Eastown. Located just a few storefronts from one another near the corner of Lake and Robinson, these two stores are gems for the book-lover with a taste for the eclectic and a tolerance for dust.

Argo’s is the better-known of the two: billing itself on its website as “Grand Rapids’ Oldest and Largest Used Book Shop,” it also offers a wide selection of comic books and vinyl records. The novels, however, are the greatest draw of the shop. The towering shelves are laden with books of all kinds: hardcover, softcover, fiction, nonfiction, English, German, bestselling, obscure, classic, contemporary: Argo’s has a smattering of books from every category and genre imaginable. The store won’t be any competition to major chains in regards to depth of inventory: the organizational system is haphazard at best and there are no stacks of fresh-from-the-publisher copies to replace sold items. The incredibly abundant and random nature of the inventory, however, creates a somewhat whimsical shopping experience, one that is less purpose-driven and more impulsive, more magical.

Redux Books provides a similarly enchanting experience. Redux, too, has an incredibly broad offering of titles to browse through. Chaotically sorted (somewhat) by genre, the shelves at Redux are overflowing with books, quite literally. There are novels stacked on the floor (which is rather endearingly slanted and creaky) and piled on top of each other in standing-room-only abundance. The store bypasses fashion completely and dives straight for function: many of the books are in what might be considered poor condition, if their age and rarity was not taken into account. A jacketless hardcover novel with wrinkled, yellowed pages inside may seem more valuable when you consider that it is a first-edition copy of C.S. Lewis’s debut book.

According to their website, Redux specializes in “rare, out-of-print and antiquarian” books. In several trips there, I’ve found many volumes of this sort, in addition to hundreds of more well-known (and well-used) titles. Perusing the novels at Redux is an adventure in and of itself, especially if you traverse down into the basement, where the slope of the floor, the number of books, and the intensity of that old-paper scent all increase exponentially.

The stores are so remarkably similar that one wonders how they have coexisted as neighbors for so many years. The pairing seems to work, however, as both shops continue opening their doors to Grand Rapids tourists and natives year after year. At Redux, these doors are open from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays. Argo’s has similar hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Sundays.

The idea of small, independent business has captivated America since the nation’s foundation. In a world where big-business chains dominate cities everywhere, the charm of the small business is greater than ever. This charm is the basis of the 1998 romantic comedy “You’ve Got Mail,” in which Meg Ryan stars as Kathleen Kelly, the owner of a small independent bookstore. Her nemesis in that film is Joe Fox, played by Tom Hanks; Joe is the owner of Fox Books, the large, chain bookstore that is putting Kathleen’s shop out of business.

“I sell cheap books,” Joe says flatly at one point in the film. “So sue me.”

If the combination of charm and supporting local businesses is still not enough to lure you down the winding, overstuffed aisles of Redux or Argo’s, Kathleen Kelly’s reply is an eloquent description of why, if you ever find yourself stopping-and-starting down 28th Street on the way to Barnes and Noble, you might want to consider rerouting.

“It wasn’t that she was just selling books,” Kathleen says about her mother, who owned their bookstore, ‘The Shop Around the Corner,’ before she died. “It was that she was helping people become whoever it was they were going to turn out to be. Because when you read a book as a child it becomes part of your identity in a way that no other reading in your whole life does.”

Books can be magical things when appreciated with the right sense of childlike wonder, and Argo’s and Redux are two of Grand Rapids’ own “shops around the corner” where this magical quality can still be found. Both stores add a new spark to the often humdrum task of shopping for books, offering shoppers an immersive perusal experience which cannot be replicated at any other location in the world. At Argo’s and Redux, joy can still be found in an ordinary quest for weekend (or holiday break) entertainment. All it takes is a quick whiff of that secondhand bookstore aroma.