Behind the library, just across the street from the high school, a little bookshop is celebrating its 10th year in Coronado. Second Hand Prose (SHP) is a labor of love by the Friends of the Coronado Library, the library’s fundraising and support organization.
To commemorate SHPs 10th year of service to the community, I sat down with Sharon Sherman (General Manager of SHP) and Margaret Wright (Assistant Manager and Volunteer Coordinator of SHP) to find out how the bookstore began, the story behind the star mural on the wall, and some of the bookshop’s future hopes.
So how did SHP come to be? “Year after year, thousands and thousands of great books were left over after the Book Fairs, says Sharon Sherman. We tried everything to find them good homes: donated them to the Childrens Hospital, schools, rescues, and shelters, and every place else we could think of. But there were so many to place, each year piles of them were still simply recycled. This broke our hearts, and the Board of Trustees discussed it and decided to try opening a bookstore to begin selling books all year long, rather than only once a year at the April Book Fair.” In 2005, Sharon volunteered to be the manager of the shop.
In order to start the bookstore, the volunteers needed space. Christian Esquevin, Director of Library Services, had a large storage area in the rear of the new Library addition, remembers Sharon. He had great plans for the space, but when he heard our idea of a book store, he very graciously gave it to Friends of the Library for a dual use: sorting and pricing the donated books as they came in, and the larger portion of the space for a book store.
Next,” continues Sharon, “we needed a name. We held a contest, open to any of our Friends of the Library members and any patron of the Library who wanted to enter. We had over 100 entries, and each one was catchy and clever. But we knew immediately when we saw Carol Grimauds and Deborah Warriners entries: Second Hand Prose. It was just perfect.”
Now the Friends of the Library had a name, a space, and boxes upon boxes of books. Their next task was outfitting the space with bookshelves, desks, and other furniture. “Lisa Heinz was invaluable [in bringing] a desk and large display bookcases 
that were supplemented by the purchase of a few other items such as chairs and decorator items. Lisa also brought us our mascot, a Big Red Clifford stuffed animal which has been in Second Hand Prose from the first day and still watches over the store!
About a year after opening Second Hand Prose, the Board decided to open the Honor Shop in the Friends Corner of the Library lobby. The idea was to put out mass media paperbacks and magazines out with a receptacle for money, the customers being on the honor system to pay for what they would take. “Each book was only $1.00 and magazines were 50 cents. The Honor Shop took in $35.00 during its first month of operation. After a few years, the Library Staff asked if they could help and, under the guidance of Theresa Geldart, the monthly income from the Honor Shop grew to over $300.00 and literary paperbacks were added for sale. We were thrilled,” says Susan. Now the Honor Shop is run by library employee Nicole Tallent who has enlarged its inventory to include children books. “It now consistently brings in over $600.00 per month,” says Susan proudly, “and we have never had a theft of the honor box.
Just like everything that Friends of the Library does, Second Hand Prose is entirely run by volunteers. There is no one paid for any of the work done. “From the first day Second Hand Prose was open, a wonderful woman named Jan Camillo came in every weekday morning to clean books, and get them ready for the Second Hand Prose shelves. The first shift volunteer coordinator was Joyce Shepherd, who designed our volunteer schedule and then organized almost 100 volunteers into approximately 40 three-hour shifts per month.”
Today, Margaret Wright leads the volunteers, which is an enormous task. The shop is open seven days per week, with three shifts each day, making a total of over 80 shifts per month, and most of the shifts are manned by two persons. Currently SHP has 72 volunteers.
Margaret is also the Assistant Manager and works with Sharon to choose which books will go out on the shelves, pricing the books, maintaining inventory, and organizing special promotions and events such as the 4th of July and holiday sales. She also helps to keep fresh, current books on the shelves. Each book is dated and only kept on the shelves for two or three months before being rotated off in favor of new choices.
As if that is not enough, Margaret does all of the bookkeeping for Second Hand Prose as well. When asked about her work, though, Margaret focuses on the first volunteer, Jan Camillo. “Jan Camillo had visitors come into the shop each summer just to see her,” remembers Margaret. “Of course, they also purchased books, but they wanted to maintain that relationship with Jan. She is now in her ninth decade and has found that she must turn over her sorting, cleaning book job to her predecessors — and it takes two of us to do her job.
SHP’s volunteers are the backbone of the bookstore, and the volunteers want each of them to be remembered in a unique way. They worked with the CoSA Art Department at Coronado High School to design and complete a wall mural in the shop that honors those volunteers who have passed. “Carole Spector, retired middle school teacher, has been instrumental in developing the stars and overseeing the artwork,” says Sharon. “Carol Pastor, FOCL President, is doing the printing of the names on the stars.”
The volunteers also have hopes to include more school students in the bookshop. “We are planning to recognize the CoSA students and instructor who did the work on the mural,” Sharon affirms. “Our hopes for SHP is to involve more of our school students in the good things that happen in the shop and encourage more students to visit the shop for book purchases. The volunteers are most interested in encouraging more reading for our students.”
Perhaps the sweetest part of SHP is seeing customers come in and pick out new, good reads. Who comes to shop at SHP? Many tourists,” says Sharon, “some who come back year after year. There is a mother and daughter who set aside an entire morning of their vacation to come into Second Hand Prose, shop until they drop, and then go out to lunch to look over all of their purchasers. Our most popular books are non-fiction with many military men coming in every week to see what we have. Cookbooks are also popular, with collectors coming from all over the county. Many San Diego book dealers come in regularly to buy for their business inventory.”
“Our best customers, though,” says Sharon, “are our own volunteers. Rare is the shift where the volunteers dont buy. They love seeing the new books on the shelves and being given first opportunity to buy them. Would you like a chance to shop first at SHP? Volunteers are always welcome! We always need volunteers: in the shop and for special events. And, after 10 years, we would love new eyes, new ideas and suggestions on how to make SHP even better, says Sharon.
What are Sharon and Margarets dreams for SHP? Margaret focuses on the practical side and needs. “Our hope for the future include wise financial planning so that we can continue to support our wonderful library. Sharon adds, With the shift to digital books, our dream for Second Hand Prose is to maintain an affordable, independent store where the written word in paper book format is still honored and enjoyed. Bibliophiles dont just love to read. We love books: the feel of them, the smell of them, how they made, how they look, how they can comfort us. Likeminded people are always welcome at Second Hand Prose where they will feel immediately at home.
On Friday, October 16th, Friends of the Library will be hosting a dedication ceremony for the 10th anniversary of Second Hand Prose, and it will include a reception and a special book sale to benefit SHP. The event will be from 12:00 to 4:00pm at the bookstore, and the community is welcome to attend!
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Becca Garber
Staff Writer
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