An Interview with Sharon, co-owner of Mostly Books

If you keep venturing back, you’ll find over 100,000 books, as well as the other things that make the name of the store Mostly Books: CDs, VHS Tapes, Records, old photographs, magazines and DVDs. It is somehow simultaneously orderly and chaotic– sections are well demarcated and kept, yet there are also leaning boxes of books at every turn, a hint of not-yet-priced treasures and what you might glimpse on your next trip.

Sharon has been with the store for over two decades. She fell in love with the original owner Joe Russakoff, her now-husband, after stumbling into his bookstore.

How long has the bookstore been here?

In this location? For 22 years. I came in here, cause [Joe] had a store right across the street, and I was there once but couldn’t find it again when I went back to look for it. I saw some books on the sidewalk right here, so I just stumbled in, and I saw that it was the same guy that I had seen at the store across the street. I thought he was kinda cute over there…

Oh I love that – so you didn’t start it together?

No, this was his store, his parents have always had used bookstores, but I stumbled in. I saw a copy of Grendl and it was a dollar. I said I wanted to buy it. So I left but I came right back, and I said look, I need something to do, I’m on unemployment, I don’t want any money, I don’t want any store credit, I just want to be here. That was also because… I thought he was cute. [Laughter] And so that’s how I ended up here.

How long after did you end up falling in love?

Oh. Well. That didn’t take long. [Laughter]

Have you always loved books?

Absolutely – my mother taught me to read really early. So when I went into kindergarten, I already had words. I remember sitting at the bottom of the steps at my house looking at the bookcase and just seeing Don Quixote and trying to read the Count of Monte Cristo, I was like seven or eight. I didn’t know Count of Monte Cristo from Sesame Street. But it was cool because it was one of those old books that had black and white pictures in it, so those were the first two things I ever honed in on.

You’ve been here about 22 years – do you still love working here every day?

Oh god yes. It’s what we both do best.

What do you think makes for a good bookseller?

Patience. You’ve got to be kind to people, and patience comes along with kindness. Sometimes people will ask for stuff and they don’t really know exactly what it is, so it’s kind of pulling information out of them, and then we can hook ‘em up. Handselling books is so satisfying.

What do you like about handselling?

It’s more intimate. It’s actually person to person, heart to heart, instead of just saying: oh there’s that over there, you can go check it out. If someone doesn’t really have an idea, take them there, and talk to them about what they want, give them different options to choose from.

Since you love selling used books, you wouldn’t want to sell new?

I’ve done it. For a good part of my life, I worked in bookstores that sold new, I opened a bookstore for some hippie jerks in the airport. I was in charge of the construction and the hiring and the decorating. And they fired me to give my position to a friend of theirs.

I used to volunteer at a used book store and I resonate a lot with the patience aspect. To put it bluntly, do you ever get rude customers?

…They try to be rude. [Laughter]

But it doesn’t work.

They try.

Has this area of Philly changed a lot in your time here? How would you describe the changes from your perspective?

Wealth breeds poverty. That’s all I can feel right now. And they get angry when things start to happen, but you’ve taken things away from people that need them. From the people that live here, and have been here for generations. You just come in and take things. You don’t ask, you say things are good for your neighborhood, but you don’t know the neighborhood. Those things really… they hurt. And, excuse me, I’m getting a little choked up, cause it’s just crap.

It’s been happening down here for, I wanna say, six to eight years, South Street has gone through a lot of changes, I’ve seen it change like three times, it always ends up as shit like it is now. I’m not happy.

But the customers are fantastic. Most of them are really good people.

Do you feel like bookstores are a necessary part of every city?

Yes! Yes! For one reason, I hope the people who live around us feel safe here. It’s like there’s some place they know they can go. It’s been there, it’s gonna be there, it’s comforting. It’s a neighborhood thing, you know?

I also love, especially when spaces are this big, that you can browse in peace. It’s not a small space. And there’s only three of us. My husband and me and our friend – that tall guy back there, Nick.

We are just of the mindset that people come in wanting to look. You’re not supposed to stand on people’s heads. I don’t usually ask them if they need help, until they come back up front. It’s our place, we get to really deal with people more. We can be who we are.

What are some of the craziest things you’ve found in books?

$100. I found five twenty dollar bills. That was awesome. I took my dog to the vet! Sometimes, we’ll find love letters in older history books, every now and then. We get great bookmarks.

What’s something you can’t believe hasn’t sold yet?

There’s a book over there, it’s about Black cops. We had a book about Bugs Bunny and the Warner Brother cartoons signed by Chuck Jones. I sold that – a kid came in and he was like, “I’ve been looking at this book, and I have to get it!” So that was really cool. Look at this that we have – sorry, I’m just excited – a book signed by Dick Gregory. We get a lot of really, really cool Black books from the 60s. Uncommon stuff.

What are you reading right now?

Proust, the stories of Archy and Mehitabel. It’s about a roach and a cat. It’s funny as hell.

Do you feel like book sales are doing well right now?

Yes. It’s great. After the Covid scare, we closed for three months, and we had a chance to do a lot of reconstruction. We did so much during that time.

What’s the next phase? I know you built up the upstairs, are you constantly working on changing things around here?

We morph. It’s whatever Joe feels is going to be best at the time is what we do. He has a really beautiful vision. He designed it. I helped him build the bookshelves, and cases and all, but this is his design. People love it. He’s just got a really wonderful vision.

It feels like there’s so many nooks and crannies, you can really take your time.

There was a section, in the rear corner of the store, where foreign language used to be. There was a man who was –not really upset – but he was like, that was the corner I would sit in to read! He used to love that little spot. 

We’ve had people come in… I don’t know what time, but it would be like 9 o’clock, the time we close, and they’re still back there.

Do you ever almost lock up to go home and find people?

I’ve turned lights out, cashed out the register, and gone in the back and there were people still there.

That’s such a sign that it’s such a safe space.

I’d like to think that. We live here so it’s like, welcome to our home. We live upstairs. Welcome!

I think one of the most important things is that people feel comfortable to take their time and look around. I don’t want to be rushed when I go in a store, and I don’t want anyone talking to me. Just leave me alone, let me do my thing.

At this point, a customer approaches, looking like she’s about to leave but also wants to linger. Sharon asks if she needs some help. 

“Oh, no! Well….yeah”

“What is it you’re looking for? Or is it help I can’t give you?”

Maybe it was meant to be a light joke, but the customer contemplates this and takes a beat before answering. 

“Well you know what? Both.”

The two get to talking about My Broken Language by Quiara Alegría Hudes and The Devil’s Arithmetic by Jane Yolen. I turn off my recorder and head into the back of the store, where I’ll probably browse for an hour or three. 

Mostly Books is open 7 days a week from 10 AM to 9 PM. They offer store credit for book trade-ins. As Sharon describes it, expect a hand-selling, come in and browse and look around, no database cause it’s all in our heads, kind of store.

About Kyle: Kyle is a writer and content marketer living in Philadelphia. Besides collecting old books and ephemera, she enjoys writing about culture and the people who create it.