“Books on the bookshelves
and stacked on the floor.
Books in baskets
and propped by the door.” L.R. Knost
Creaky wood floors, the soft padding of library carpet, and the shelter of tall bookshelves full of books…just the right mix for a rainy-day book store visit! Though, let’s face it, many of us need no specific weather to justify wandering through a book store. In Odyssey Books, open since 1972 in Port Angeles, wanderers may also have the unique experience of having a stuffed lemur or giraffe looking over their shoulder too.
From Front street, the bold storefront with sea green bricks frames up large red-rimmed windows and two front door alcoves. Walk in through one of the large wooden, glass paned front doors and let your eyes scan. What appears to be some sort of dragon-like skeleton peers down from above the front door.
The visual, and shopping, delight here is the dense and colorful mixture of goods that provide endless eye candy. Book cases stretch high and make a maze of sorts throughout the store; some books are arranged by genre in counter top cubbies where shoppers can flip through them like records in a record store; some are housed in a dining hutch near “Romance Novels,” and of course, some are rowed traditionally just like a library too.
Every familiar book store section is cozied into this high-ceilinged shop: greeting cards that include local artists, a thoughtfully stocked section on the Pacific Northwest, cookbooks, fiction, nonfiction, and a delightful alcove for children’s books. Clever items abound to accompany any book purchase, whether it be for an indulgence for the shopper or purchased as a gift, from stickers, artwork, stuffed animals, coloring pencils, or even an Albert Einstein bobble head doll.
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