{"id":1832,"date":"2025-06-24T08:11:03","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T08:11:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/06\/24\/west-side-book-shop-ann-arbors-oldest-bookstore\/"},"modified":"2025-06-24T08:11:05","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T08:11:05","slug":"west-side-book-shop-ann-arbors-oldest-bookstore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/06\/24\/west-side-book-shop-ann-arbors-oldest-bookstore\/","title":{"rendered":"West Side Book Shop: Ann Arbor\u2019s oldest bookstore"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><em>In an exploration of Ann Arbor\u2019s robust and diverse literary scene, The Michigan Daily\u2019s Business beat spoke with seven downtown bookstores. Each article in \u2018The literary culture of downtown Ann Arbor\u2019 project aims to capture each store\u2019s unique offerings and contribution to the community. Read the other articles <a href=\"https:\/\/specials.michigandaily.com\/a2-literary\/\">here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Amid near constant construction within the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clickondetroit.com\/topic\/Ann_Arbor_Construction\/\">city<\/a> of Ann Arbor, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.a2books.org\/west-side-book-shop\/\">West Side Book Shop<\/a> has remained steadfast in its original location on 113 W. Liberty St. for decades. Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, West Side Book Shop is the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.atlasobscura.com\/places\/west-side-book-shop\"> oldest<\/a> operating bookstore in Ann Arbor and continues to be a place to find a new read among its selection of used, rare and antiquarian books.<\/p>\n<p>In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Jay Platt, West Side Book Shop founder and owner, said he was inspired to open a bookstore after visiting one in New York City.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c(I) somehow got drawn into the book business by a friend who took me into a used bookshop in New York City,\u201d Platt said. \u201cI remember he asked for a particular book way up in the stacks, and (a staff member ) knew right where it was. How did he know that with these thousands of books? It was kind of like turning on a light bulb. I said, \u2018That\u2019s what I want to do.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>West Side Book Shop occupies the<a href=\"https:\/\/aadl.org\/buildings_113wliberty\"> John Haarer Building<\/a>, named after late 19th-century photographer John Haarer who set up a photography studio in that space. The Haarer family later<a href=\"https:\/\/aadl.org\/a2st\/dthaarer\"> expanded<\/a> the studio to include a book and stationery store, which continued operating until the city of Ann Arbor purchased the building in 1964. In the late 1970s, Joseph and Carolyn Arcure bought the building from the city, and Platt found a home for West Side Book Shop on the first floor soon after.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In light of the rise in technology use over the past 50 years, Platt said he believes it is important to have physical bookstores despite the presence of the internet.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201c(The) internet has changed (things) quite a bit,\u201d Platt said. \u201cI still believe in open book shops where people come in and actually feel and see the book, handle it and just browse.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Art &amp; Design junior Sophia Confer visited West Side Book Shop for the first time earlier this year. Confer told The Daily she was showing a friend around downtown when they saw the storefront and decided to go in.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe just popped in because we were looking for old car magazines for her partner,\u201d Confer said. \u201cThey just have a lovely collection of vintage and older literature predating our parents\u2019 age. So we were just completely fascinated by the pure amount of stuff they have in that little shop.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>Karen Alvarez is an Ann Arbor resident and serves on the board of the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.a2books.org\/\"> Ann Arbor Book Society<\/a>, a local organization that focuses on documenting the city\u2019s literary scene. In an email to The Daily, Alvarez wrote she first visited the store during a weekend trip to Ann Arbor, prior to moving here in 2017.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI love to visit bookstores wherever I travel, and friends who knew the city told me I would love (West Side Book Shop),\u201d Alvarez wrote. \u201cI got warm fuzzies as soon as I saw its old-world exterior. Walking through the shop felt like going on an adventure, with something interesting to see wherever I turned to look. I was surprised and delighted to see many non-book items like maps and art prints.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Alvarez wrote she believes the bookstore holds a special place in Ann Arbor\u2019s bookstore scene due to its unique charm and storied history.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEach bookshop in A2 has its own unique personality and a place in the city\u2019s charm and culture,\u201d Alvarez wrote. \u201cWandering through WSB feels like being wrapped in a warm blanket woven from thousands of interesting stories.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Platt said he will continue running West Side Book Shop for the foreseeable future.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-3    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cI have been here (for) 50 years, and I plan to keep going,\u201d Platt said. \u201cI still enjoy it. Almost every day, I see a book I\u2019ve never seen before, so it\u2019s always kind of interesting. So I plan to be around for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Daily News Contributor Eilene Koo can be reached at ekoo@umich.edu.<\/em><\/p>\n<aside>\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related articles<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In an exploration of Ann Arbor\u2019s robust and diverse literary scene, The Michigan Daily\u2019s Business beat spoke with seven downtown bookstores. Each article in \u2018The literary culture of downtown Ann Arbor\u2019 project aims to capture each store\u2019s unique offerings and contribution to the community. Read the other articles here. Amid near constant construction within the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1833,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[242,1990,602,1989,2041,401,641,1591],"class_list":{"0":"post-1832","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-ann","9":"tag-arbors","10":"tag-book","11":"tag-bookstore","12":"tag-oldest","13":"tag-shop","14":"tag-side","15":"tag-west"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1832"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1834,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1832\/revisions\/1834"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}