Squirreled Away Books

Armada, Michigan. This small, farm town, is often overlooked on the map. Out-of-towners visit for the summer's popular Armada Fair and again in the fall for the nearby apple orchards and haunted houses. In other seasons, Armada can be unknown to the outside world. Within this town, there lies a duty gem. One that is just waiting to be unearthed and cleaned off.

This gem that I speak of is the local bookstore, Squirreled Away Books. Of course, the natives of Armada visit Squirreled Away often. A fact that a friend of mine, who grew up in Armada, told me. But, for those who live in the suburbs and city, there is something that they are missing out on- a fantastic store.

The store carries both used and new books, as it is the only bookstore in the city. The new books are recently published, current best-sellers, available to purchase for twenty percent off of the list price. The used books are all in fairly good condition and most of the titles were familiar to me. Prices depend on condition and edition, as well as if it is paperback or hardback. Most of the books are under five dollars.

The genres featured at Squirreled Away include children's fiction, general fiction, mystery, romance, self-help, travel, spiritual/religion, philosophy, fantasy, "fang-tasy" (vampire novels), classics, and child development. A wide variety of books were available under each genre. It was clever of the owners to play off the popularity of vampire novels by creating the “fang-tasy” section. This shows that the store is in-tune with popular novels and trends. Squirreled Away really knows how to engage customers.

 

Squirreled Away is an adorable store. Sitting high on the shelves were statues, stuffed animals, and photos of squirrels of all kinds all around the store. It really played up the cute "squirreled away" theme. The store was on the smaller side, but the shelves were stacked high. The atmosphere was comfortable and small-town friendly. The owner, who was working at the time I was there, showed genuine excitement when I made a purchase. 

The Nancy Drew books proved hard to find during my visit, but after searching the stacks high and low, I eventually found them in with the children's chapter books. At least twenty of the Nancy Drew on Campus books were in stock at the store. This series features Nancy during her college years. This set of books was not as popular as the original books because the story line strayed far from the familiar characters. Some critics said that it became more of a soap opera series than a mystery series. I, personally, did not care for this series, which only lasted for twenty-five books. The other Nancy Drew books at the store belonged to the Nancy Drew Notebook series, which features Nancy and her friends in their elementary school years, solving equally elementary mysteries. (Despite that, I really like that series.)

My experience at Squirreled Away was great. I'd be quick to award this used bookstore as my favorite, so far.