Marty Medina found that one problem with giving your book store in McAllen a French name is that people don’t know what you are selling. Her shop J’aime Les Livres, which is French for “I Love Books,” does attract customers who are fluent in French, as well as others who think her name is Jaime or that she sells only books in French.
“I loved the way the name sounds,” said Medina, who studied French for three years. As a young mother she read to her three children every night. As they reached their teens, she thought by investing in a bookstore, she could provide them with good place to hang out with friends. “And, yes, I love books. Books are good for you. They take you places you’ve never been.”
J’aime Les Livres opened five years ago in a leased, wood frame house which is at least 85 years old and comes complete with a white picket fence facing North Main. Inside, the space is dotted with comfortable chairs and bathed in natural light. Medina, whose aunt had run a business in the same building for over 20 years, said the bookshop is a work in progress. Family and friends helped by finding bookcases and book shelves at resale shops and estate sales. Amid tables overflowing with recently acquired used books that need to be sorted and priced, she still makes time to read.
Keeping children reading and enthralled by books ranks high on the bookshop’s reason to exist (raison d’etre, in French). “Teachers in particular shop here to stock their classroom libraries. They even ask for certain series and certain books. I try to always stock children’s books and classics.”
Parents ask Medina to find a few books that their child will like. “I ask what they like to do or want to know about. I tell them to read the first page. If it makes you curious, then it’s a good book for you to read. If you want your child to write, speak and socialize, reading is important.”
Of course, she instilled a love of reading in her now college-age children and has had some pushback. The young Medinas have told their mother that she cannot touch or sell their own books. “Even if I know someone who wants that book!”
Loyal customers come in regularly to browse through her eclectic collection of histories and mysteries, cookbooks and chap books of poetry, romances and thrillers, hardcovers and paperbacks. “I have a little bit of everything. It’s organized chaos, but grouped by genres, although the books are not in alphabetical order.” Constantly asked to recommend books, Medina has dedicated one bookcase to her favorite reads and the books that customers rave about or say changed their lives. Many customers are Winter Texans. Others drive up from Brownsville. Barnes & Noble and Books ‘N’ Things refer customers to her for out-of-print books, too.
Medina said her books are inexpensive, less than half the original price. “They need to move along instead of staying on a shelf.” Twice a month, J’aime Les Livres offers their Saturday Sale: sometimes it is buy two books, get one free. She features local authors and regularly hosts book signings for them. “It’s good for the community. People come in and share stories. We’re trying as a community to bring in new ideas. We need to support each other more.”
New and used books arrive at the shop from estate sales and specialty book distributors. Medina also purchases some books from customers, giving them credit toward future purchases in lieu of cash. “I look for books everywhere.” Medina haunts other books stores when traveling — in search of ideas and more books for herself, too. “We see places where you can pick up a snack of hummus and chips and sit outside reading on a patio.” File that under options for the future.
Medina makes up gift baskets filled with books, adding a bottle of wine to a basket of cookbooks, for example, at a customer’s request. She also donates a baskets of books to favorite local charities’ fundraisers. “My friends always know they are getting books from me for their birthday.”
As Medina asked, “How do you say no to a book?”
For more information, call 789-4518 or see J’aimeLesLivres on Facebook.
This story by Eileen Mattei appears in the August 2016 edition of Valley Business Report.