Raleigh bookstore owner focuses on everything except the profits

Welcome back to WRL small business spotlight

I'm kevin Kozminski and this week I'm at reader's corner

in Raleigh just off N

C

State's campus surrounded by hundreds of thousands of books

But the story I want to focus on is about

the man who's selling these for mere pocket change and

donating a chunk of the profits

IRV coats has sold a lot of books over the

years

Each one for the same reason you do it because

you love books and and that's what really matters

You know he started his collection more than 70 years

ago when the local town library needed to clear some

space

He asked the mayor if you could have them and

we found a vacant house in town and I stole

my father's car and we I spent 23 days trucking

all the books into the vacant house

Just one of the many fascinating chapters of herbs life

I worked in the field of radiation

So I worked on a lot of reactors

I worked on the first nuclear powered submarine and then

I worked on X rays and I worked on microwave

ovens and things like that

He's worked on a lot of cool projects but none

gripped him enough to keep him from his first love

He had to be true to his shelf

I just loved books so much

I did all kinds of things

And I finally got the bookstore my mother said to

me and says you're finally doing something that suits you

So in 1980 he bought reader's corner and he's been

here just about every day since I'd rather be here

than anywhere else

Not

It's a pain to stay at home

I want to come in and play with the books

You know it's how does 87 year old Irv get

to work by bike Of course you had your back

here every day

I'd have been dead years ago

I've worked for the bicycle it's about four miles each

way just enough to get a little exercise you know

Also providing him with exercise is hauling all these books

around

We buy 1000 bucks a day and 7000 today and

most of them go outside outside is where you may

just find the cheapest books in the country on one

side of the entrance

Iraq for a quarter of peace on the other side

Adan

But earth what if someone steals them What happens is

they don't steal them They bring more

He may not sell them for much but those profits

add up

So in the spirit of learning he pays it forward

to national public radio donating hundreds of thousands of dollars

over the years

I just love NPR you get more education for dollar

on that and anything else you do and try to

keep some sanity you know and boy do we need

it You know you may be wondering how he can

afford to give away so much bureau radiological health and

public health service and you get 20 year retirement like

a military thing

So I retired in 77

I haven't drawn a salary since then

I still live with my half pay from your mix

I don't need it

But profits took a hit when COVID struck

And the bookman's it really started to pick up before

the virus hit

I think we're just going swimmingly

I mean the store was packed

I hired extra people everybody a fat raise the next

day we were shut down

But if you think the pandemic stopped Irv well you

haven't been paying attention

I never start

In fact I worked harder than ever

He had the novel idea to work exclusively from his

back office

He didn't shut down the internet business at all

So I was in this cell right here you know

locked in no chance of getting the virus working back

here alone

So and that's why we made enough money to keep

to pay the help and keep the lights on

That took some ingenuity

But herbs sincerity maybe his best quality he is who

he is in the community is better off for it

So I don't care about from profit

You know I just care about having a nice bookstore