Callie Elkins
Santa Fe is practically bursting at the seams when it comes to stores that appeal to bookworms and readers of all kinds. Locals will know this isn’t really a recent development, however, with many of the most iconic and well-trod bookstores in town having been open for decades. Book Mountain (1302 Osage Ave., Unit A, (505) 471-2625) is one such store. Opened in 1980 by Peggy Frank, the shop has been, for lack of a better word, almost retro. Frank didn’t sell hardcover books or take credit cards, for example, and she was notoriously stern regarding stock. Even so, Book Mountain was beloved by the bibliophile community for one specific reason: you could trade in books for credit. Frank retired in 2023, and current owner Nathan Center has been at the helm since then. Having been longtime patrons of Book Mountain, we reached out to see how it’s been in the two years since Center’s acquisition. This interview has been edited for clarity and concision. (Callie Elkins)
When and how did you end up as the owner of Book Mountain, and how has the business changed since you became the owner?
So, it all began—for me at least—in July of 2023. Prior to this, I had been a copywriter, but when COVID ended, AI was sort of taking over, so copywriting stopped really being a viable career. I was just looking for somewhere to go. Peggy Frank, the former owner, decided she was ready to retire and put an ad in the paper suggesting anyone who wanted to come in and take over the store could do so. I just kind of came in, and while everyone else wouldn’t stop talking about how qualified they were and how they loved to read, I just asked Peggy what I could do, and that was pretty much it. Instead of trying to impress her, I just asked her…I just tried to get to work, and that’s why I was ultimately the person she chose.
As far as the business, we carry games, workshops, books and miniatures now.We also accept credit cards, and we take hardcover books now. Peggy hadn’t been doing that because she was, well, 84 years old, and, you know, not a very tall woman either. Prices have gone up a little bit because of inflation, but not in a way that the general customer will notice. Otherwise, the store’s pretty much the same as it was.
What does Book Mountain focus on carrying right now?
We don’t specialize in anything except used books, and the reason that works is because all of our inventory comes from the community, so they really tell us what they want by bringing in those books and sharing them with their friends and neighbors. We have everything from baby’s first books, picture books, cardboard books—the kind of the stuff infants play with more than read—all the way to classics of literature, philosophy, women’s studies, gay and lesbian studies, behavioral health and self help psychology; maths and sciences…we don’t say no to anything except college textbooks and encyclopedias.
Because all of our inventory comes from the community bringing things in for exchange, I know we have a community of very active readers. I know for certain that my customers don’t just shop here, they shop at pretty much all of the bookstores. There’s a real community of readers in Santa Fe, and everyone kind of works together to make sure that people who like to read can find the books they want for reasonable prices.
What makes books and the stores that sell them unique compared to other retail markets?
Well, books are not the sort of product that you generally throw away, but they don’t normally get used more than once, either. People as individuals have kind of developed their own unique ways of handling their books. Some folks give them to their friends. Other people turn them in for exchange. It’s difficult to describe, because unless it’s damaged to the point where it’s unreadable, the value of a book never expires. A book always has something to offer. Even if it’s not worth a fortune as a collector’s item, it’s always worth something to somebody who wants to read it. None of my products will ever go out of style. Let’s say hard sciences like physics, even as we’ve discovered new things—it will always be important to see the foundations of science and understand how we get wherever it is that we’re going in the future. That makes everything about this market different.
