Children's Book Cellar:
A Tot Spot
by Michelle Troutman

Like some of the fiction she sells, the story of Ellen Richmond's business ownership features an unexpected plot twist. "I mean, it was just a fluke that I ever ended up in it, so -- I'm not sure that I had any huge compulsion. It was a subject that I liked, and it just kind of was a fit."

After getting a B.A. in English, she wound up managing local Mr. Paperback stores for 20 years. "I had no plan to do retail. I was going to be an English teacher, but when I graduated in the '70s, there were far too many high school English teachers, and I couldn't coach basketball or football, so, it was tough to find a job."

A lifetime of experience and a love of reading prepared her for the next phase of her life: opening her own bookstore. Burned out and ready to start a new chapter, she worked at the L.L. Bean call center in the winter of 2001, while friends suggested she consider buying Children's Book Cellar from Barbara Wentworth.

"Faye Nicholson and Jennifer Bergeron conspired and called me, and asked if I knew that Children's Book Cellar was for sale, and had I ever thought about buying it? And the answer was a double 'no.' I had no intention of doing books."

Ms. Richmond is now the fourth in a series of owners, after Carol Wynne started it in 1987. "I couldn't have opened a business on my own for what I could get into here for, and it needed a lot of work. The inventory wasn't anything that I was thrilled with, but the landlord was willing to have me take over the lease. I mean, it just kind of fell into place, so -- here I am," Richmond says.

Except for bookkeeping, Richmond is a one-woman show, marketing, running the cash register, taking orders and inventory, and stocking the shelves herself. She cites no influences on her business career. "Nobody that I can blame."

The sign on front advertises two businesses -- on the right, Children's Book Cellar, and on the left, Re-Books. The occasional Re-Books shopper will stop in and look around on his or her way to the entrance down the stairs at the back.

Browsing the inventory brings back memories of favorite childhood books and toys. The store reflects Richmond's character, open and bright, welcoming visitors to a world of wonder and imagination, aisles filled with colorful books and toys. Small posters hang on the walls, below the high ornate tin ceiling that overlooks shelves lined with books, puzzles, stuffed animals, games, blocks, puzzles, cars and trucks. The book titles span new fiction and classics; non-fiction includes science, history, and biography.

The Skowhegan native and only child developed a love of reading early on. "Both my parents were readers. When I was a kid, I can remember a great big shipping case coming from the Maine State Library. It was about the size of a coffin. And I don't know, I don't remember exactly what the deal was, but it would have books for everybody in the family, it would have this whole assortment. It would be shipped to you, and delivered to you, and you had it for x amount of time, and then you'd seal it back up and ship it back to the library."

"I went through all the Tarzan novels," recalls Richmond. "I went through all the Nancy Drew, all the Hardy Boys, anything else I could get my hands on, I mean, magazines and -- my mother never restricted what I read. So, there was Ladies' Home Journal, or Saturday Evening Post, or anything. Whatever. I was free to read it. Then when I got a little older, I know, the old reading under the covers with the flashlight kind of. We didn't have book lights then. So, you had to hold the flashlight."

Dr. Seuss titles, The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come by John Fox, Jr., and Parsley by Ludwig Bemelmans ( author of Madeline), about a deer in the forest threatened by a hunter, number among her favorite children's books.

"I read pretty widely without necessarily having much taste or discretion," she says, laughing. "I hope I'm a little more discerning now."

"I did a Maine humanities program at the Waterville Library last year, and so, at 55 I read Little Women for the first time in my life," says Ellen. "It lost a lot of its charm, I think. I kept thinking, 'These girls are so silly. They just annoy me.'"

She chooses her merchandise based on experience, customer requests, reviews, pricing, name, subject, and packaging, as well as trial and error. "Sometimes things die, and sometimes I pass on things that I think look awful, and all of a sudden, it's on the bestseller's list."

Richmond's own byline has graced the pages of trade magazines such as Publisher's Weekly, through her cooperation in projects for the New England Booksellers Association, in which she and other bookstore owners review books for each other.

Besides selling to parents and grandparents, she gets a fair amount of business from local schools. Future plans include having a Web site and adding more books for grown-ups. "If you say, 'adult books,' everybody looks embarrassed. It's funny. Somebody will come through the door and say, 'do you sell adult books -- I don't mean adult books -- books for adults?'"

She admits the shaky economy has affected business, but hopes that with the new presidential administration, business will pick up. "They may not spend as much, but I'm hoping that things like books, which for some people, have a higher perceived value, and they've got some longevity -- it's not a quick consumable. People think books are educational and entertaining. So, hopefully, that will come 'round. But we'll see."

Asked what she likes best about the business, she replies, "The little guys that leave and tell me they love me. I had one little guy, who no longer lives in town, but he hugged me, said, 'Ellen, you're a glorious woman,' which, he was, I don't know, maybe seven. I don't know what qualifies a glorious woman, but I found it hysterically funny. “

“I had Laura Numeroff here, as an author [best known for If You Give a Mouse a Cookie], signing books, and she was great, and this summer, we got Matt Tavares in, who was good fun, and I keep hoping to get some of the really big names. I've had a chance to travel some on professional development sorts of things. New England Booksellers do a trade show every year, and American Booksellers do a trade show every year, so, through those, I've had fun. I've gotten to meet some neat authors, and go to some cool places, so those things are fun. But, just the general day-to-day is fun. I get to play with toys and kid's books all day and get to call it a job. How many people can do that?"

Children's Book Cellar sits between The Clothing Gallery and SBS Carbon Copy at 52 Main St. Store hours: June to December -- Mondays 12pm to 5pm, Tuesdays through Saturdays 9am to 5pm; January through May -- Tuesday to Saturday, 9am to 5pm. Phone number: 872-4543.

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