Hall Book Exchange was founded in 1983 by Mary McKenzie stocking approximately 4500 of her own romance novels. The store was open the first couple of years just down the street from where it currently is now on Thompson Bridge Rd. She moved the store to Cleveland Hwy. in Gainesville in a small strip center where it stayed until January 2002. Mary and her husband Mac were loved by the customers and neighbors there. Mac passed away January 31, 1996 and Mary sold the store over a year later to Sandra Baumgartner. Sandy eventually needed to relocate out of state and sold the store back to Mary who brought Freda Blackledge in as partner. I began working at Hall Book Exchange in February 1995 and continued working with all the owners until I purchased it in June 2001.
The first order of business was to find a larger building. The store was in an 1100 sqare feet space (including the bathroom!) and it was hard to take anything in trade because there was literally no space. By December of that year I had signed a lease at 1854 Thompson Bridge Rd. in a 6000 square feet, two floor building. I closed December 22nd and re-opened January 1, 2002 on the upper level with a side walk sale that is now an annual tradition on New Year's Day. The store exploded and has been filled to capacity since April of 2003! The inventory went from 30,000+ books to over 90,000+ in less than 18 months!
For several years the customers from northeast Georgia kept commenting how badly a bookstore was needed in their area. Folks from as far away as Hayesville, NC were driving to Hall Book Exchange on a regular basis to trade books. I replied to each of them, "Find me a building/location and I will open a store" and they did!
Mt. Yonah Book Exchange opened February 1, 2007 at 3779 Helen Hwy., in Cleveland, GA. Located in a reproduction train depot with a real vintage train engine in the front yard the books are housed in 2400 square feet. I took just over 5,000 books from the Gainesville store to stock it and in less than a year the stock has quadrupled to over 20,000 books. Those people were serious about wanting a bookstore closer to home!
I have not done this alone. When I began planning the Cleveland location I brought my daughter Molly Henderson on board to manage the Gainesville store. My son-in-laws and daughter Mel built the bookcases, my daughters Molly, Mel and Mallory stained them and painted the walls. The landlord took care of the floors; I packed the books and my son Derek and I loaded, moved and unloaded them. It truly was a family and community effort. Since I am not very handy with any kind of tool they basically banished me to Hall Book Exchange to do what I enjoy the most which is selling books and being around my customers.
Mary McKenzie died in July 2006. I believe she had as much impact as anyone else in my life. She was a great mentor and friend.
Please contact me if I can ever help you with anything. You can find phone numbers on the contact us page and my email address is hallbookexchange@gmail.com or mtyonahbookexchange@gmail.com .
I look forward to seeing you soon!
Myra Meade