Youngtown bookstore keeps adding and adding

Editor's note: This article first appeared in Sun Life Magazine, a Daily Independent publication.

If you want the real scoop as to why R Bookmark, an otherwise off-the-beaten path used bookstore in Youngtown, has almost 300,000 books under its roof, go right to the shop’s owner, Richard Lang.

The reason?

“The owner of this place is an idiot and just keeps buying books,” he laughed.

Lang bought the store at 11122 W. Alabama Ave., in Youngtown, 11 years ago and has been filling it ever since.

R Bookmark was open for more than 20 years before Lang purchased it, and he has since more than doubled its space, including not one but two on-site warehouses. There are so many books, in fact, some boxes have been waiting four and five years for the busy staff to sort.

“You think you have an idea,” shop employee Tabatha Shipley said of the sheer volume of books in inventory. “There’s just books everywhere. And the great part is we have a whole range of books. He’s collected all of them.”

Just how many books is a tough one for Lang to answer.

“A person came to me and said ‘How big is your collection?’ I said ‘Which one?.’ I’ve got 3,000 or 4,000 books at home. But all told these are all mine,” he smiled from inside the store, looking at the multitude of shelves.

R Bookmark’s primary customers are 65 years and up who account for almost 70% of the store’s business, and the shop keeps its prices low. Paperbacks go for as little as $2, and hardcovers aren’t much more generally.

The shop is a place residents can gather and browse titles covering everything from history to religion, short stories, poetry, travel, photography and a whole lot more. There are even a couple boxes in the warehouse containing books dedicated to, yes, other books.

Lang bought the store years ago to surprise his wife. A book lover herself, her dream was always to own her own bookstore. At the time she was going through a bone marrow transplant, and during her treatment he bought the shop so she could focus on running it when she was healthy again. After braving her way through five cancers in 20 years, she succumbed four years ago.

Today he donates cases of books throughout the year to hospitals, primarily cancer hospitals like the Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center.

“It’s something I did for my wife now it’s something I do for the people,” Lang said. “I do it for the people that live around here so they don’t have to travel all over and they can get their books.”

The shop also ships online orders of its selections.

But if you shop online rather than go in, you’ll miss the star of the store: Lang’s Blue Merle Sheltie Sheepdog, Misty, who walks around the store looking for attention from customers. Although you might miss Misty given the day. She also spends three days a week cheering up residents at local nursing homes.

Richard Lang strolls through just one part of his warehouse of books in Youngtown. Between their on-site warehouse plus selections currently on the shelves for sale in the store, R Bookmark has almost 300,000 books under its roof.

(Sun Life Magazine/Steve Stockmar)

The team that makes R Bookmark a gathering spot for West Valley readers includes, from left, Bill Manley, Connor Taney, Sarah Walsh, Tabatha Shipley, Sherry Latimer, Nadine Taney, and Richard Lang.

(Sun Life Magazine/Steve Stockmar)