Shelf Awareness Review

Bookselling Adventures at A Novel Adventure Mar 16, 2009

For more than a century under various auspices there has been a bookstore in downtown Boise, Idaho. A Novel Adventure, which opened last September, continues that literary tradition.

Mike Rainey, his wife, Becky, and two other family members had been looking for a local business to buy when they happened upon what was then the Boise Book & Gift Co. "We just fell in love with it," said Rainey, who manages the day-to-day operations of the store.

In addition to bearing a new name, the store has been remodeled and revitalized. Along with additional seating areas, there is now space to display works by Northwest artists and photographers. Artwork is changed monthly to coincide with First Thursday, when downtown galleries and other shops provide refreshments and entertainment. The event draws hundreds of people to the area. At A Novel Adventure, wine is served and a folk band plays. "One day a month we become an art gallery," Rainey said. "It has really pushed sales on those particular nights."

With art galleries, restaurants, hotels and a large number of banks and other businesses, downtown Boise draws a mix of locals and out-of-townerslike the thousands who visited the city for the 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Gamesand brings significant foot traffic into the bookstore.

Despite the ailing economy, Rainey and his trio of partners decided to forge ahead and pursue their plans to become retailers. "It actually seemed like it was a good time to open a business, if you can hang on, because everything is cheap right now," he said. "The possibility exists that we'll sink before people start swimming again, but it's no fun buying at the peak of the market and riding it all the way down. I'd rather buy at the bottom and ride it all the way up."

Before running the show at A Novel Adventure, Rainey served in the U.S. Army (where he met his wife, who is now a lawyer) and then went college on the G.I. Bill. A recent journey for the Raineys was attending the ABA's Winter Institute in Salt Lake City in January. "We're new at this, and we're still figuring it out," remarked Rainey. "I was really inspired by the time we spent at the Winter Institute. It was the coolest thing in the world." Encouragement from close to home has come from Bruce and Laura DeLaney, the owners of Rediscovered Bookshop in Boise. "They've been mentors to us and given us invaluable advice," Rainey said.

A category in which Rainey has a personal interest is travel, and those titles are given prominent placement at the front of the store. Also popular are guidebooks related to sites and activities in and around the city and the state such as rock climbing, hiking and mountain biking. Also selling well are travel narratives like The Tecate Journals: Seventy Days on the Rio Grande by Keith Bowden, The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific by J. Maarten Troost and Living in a Foreign Language: A Memoir of Food, Wine, and Love in Italy by Michael Tucker.

In the spirit of la dolce vita, A Novel Adventure hosted an Italian-themed evening last month. Customers sampled Italian wines, dined on food prepared by a chef friend of Rainey, listened to a tenor and took in a presentation by a woman who leads tours to Sardinia. And this past Saturday, novel adventurers enjoyed a Celtic celebration with bagpipes, poetry and pints.Shannon McKenna Schmidt

A Novel Adventure is located at 906 W. Main Street, Boise, Idaho 83702 208-344-8088 anoveladventure.com.