Booktown Books holds open house, adds dealers

Aruna Tumpyte displays some of the classic reading she picked out for her young son at Booktown Books’ open house in July.

Booktown Books, part of a co-op consisting of 15 independent booksellers that specialize in vintage and collectible books and art, hosted an open house on July 21 at their expanded 4,000-square-foot store at 107 Bank St. in Grass Valley.

Booktown also has five new dealers who will showcase their books. Alan Camillo, a retired San Juan Unified School District librarian who lives in Roseville, is a new dealer who has been with Booktown for two months. His specialty is collectible and vintage cook books, art books, antiques, home décor and art.

“My wife, Debbie, and I chose Booktown Books to set up our book business because it is the only outlet like it in our area,” Camillo said. “In the past, we mainly participated in antique fairs. We have been looking for a place like Booktown Books for some time and are very happy to be a part of this group of booksellers.”

The range of books available through the dealers include children’s classics, comic books, mythology, folklore, metaphysics, history, literature, aviation, travel, science fiction and photography…just to name a few.

Booktown also houses well-known local artist Irene Nicolas’ studio upstairs. Soon there will be an under-lock-and-key rare book display of unusual and collectible books for sale.

The open-house entertainment on July 21 included a scavenger hunt that Booktown member Marylin Tubbs instigated.

“We are very excited to get our five new dealers, and we wanted some fun enticements for our open house patrons,” she said. To make the scavenger hunt more challenging, the prizes were hidden in a black box designed to look like a book hidden amongst the bookshelves. Each hour the “book” changed its location to keep prize hunters guessing.

If you are interested in music, Booktown also offers a large collection of LP records, CDs and DVDs.

Booktown Books is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays.

For more information call 530-272-4655.