LEONARDTOWN, MD — Stacked and stored on shelves from floor to ceiling, all that can be seen is books and records. Some are used, some are new, but all are waiting for a new set of hands to crack open their pages, or place gently on a record player and take media lovers on unique journeys.
Joe Orlando opened Fenwick Street Used Books and Music March of 2003, and he says it’s been quite the trip.
“When I was younger, I was planning on having the life of either a musician or an actor. I got into dance in college and I managed to do pretty well, having the opportunity to travel abroad because of it. Any location I happen to be visiting, I would always visit their used bookstores. I always kept in mind what the perfect bookstore would look like,” said Orlando.
When his wife took a position at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, they moved to Leonardtown.
“Notably absent from the area was a bookstore. While I have no formal education in business, I am no stranger to being self-motivated. With my love of books, it seemed like a natural fit and really from the moment we opened our doors we’ve been busy. There’s lots of readers here,” said Orlando.
Aside from used and new books, Orlando also offers a selection of vinyl records, CDs and DVDs as well.
“I hear comments from usually older folks about how it’s too bad they don’t make record players anymore. Which couldn’t be further from the truth. There is an increasing demand for vinyls because they continue to be the best medium to preserve sound,” said Orlando.
There are days where more people will walk out with books over records, but there are days where the opposite is true, said Orlando.
“We are the only place around here that sells good to like new condition records. People can expect to get good to near perfect records from Fenwick,” said Orlando.
He had mentioned that some people believe that used books are dead, that their value is somehow decreased because they aren’t new.
“You have to keep in mind that almost 95 percent of books of all time are out of print. So used books make a huge part of the market for people buying books. The e-readers, like the Kindle, had a hey-day. They’re definitely for people who travel and want a whole library in their pocket,” said Orlando.
He sees the value in experiencing reading, from a screen, on paper or narrated in an audio book recording.
“I own a Kindle, but I use it when I minister at weddings and funerals, because it’s easier to have the device instead of losing my page if the wind picks up. I don’t discount them completely. Even if I’m in the car, I listen to audio books,” said Orlando.
As a member of the American Association for Book Sellers, Orlando said while e-reader sales are down, and book sales have been steadily rising for a number of years.
“Studies have been conducted about what happens in your brain when you read from paper as opposed to reading from a screen. It triggers a more active response in your brain when reading from paper because the pages look different. When reading from a screen, the text all looks the same. If you read a book, you are able to find parts of the book more easily because each page is unique. I think that’s a reason people still prefer to read codex books over digital ones,” said Orlando.
He made the comparison that when instant coffee came out, people didn’t stop buying regular coffee.
“The same can be said about reading books. They don’t replace one form, it’s just another way to enjoy the same story,” said Orlando.
Some people will make his store a destination when they travel to the area, Orlando stated.
“Leonardtown has always been a tourist destination. Along with our local community, we get visitors from DC, Annapolis and Baltimore. There are some people who will seek out used books stores while they are travelling and I am happy to say that many of the people that do plan their trips like that say this is the best used book store they’ve ever been to,” said Orlando.
A bookstore is a place where readers discover new books or topics of interest they may not have realized before.
“It’s very different from shopping for books online. The algorithm used to suggest books based on titles you search for on Amazon is definitely not the same as a bookstore employee or owner help you discover new things to read,” said Orlando.
As the president of the Leonardtown Business Association, he schedules a guest author signing at the store during the town’s First Friday monthly events.
“We try to get authors that appeal to the local interest, such as Carol Davis’ recent photo publication covering the Blackistone Lighthouse. It’s a topic people are interested in,” said Orlando.
It’s never too late to discover the joy of reading, and it will eventually become a good habit, said Orlando.
“If you want to start, pick up any book that appeals to you. That’s what I always tell teachers because I was involved in education for so long, assigning reading is good, but let the students pick their own books to read. I also tell parents if their child wants to read Harry Potter, let them because they’ll develop that love for reading,” said Orlando.
For adults wanting to get back into or start reading, Orlando advises picking up a collection of short stories to keep their interest level high and the time consumption low.
“The habit of reading will grow with time. As you know, most people will not pick up books once they are done with high school or college because they don’t have to. And it’s sad because they oftentimes pass that on to their children,” said Orlando.
He remembered his father often telling his mother that she ‘always had her nose in a book,’ and Orlando said that he thinks that may have had a lot to do with his love of reading as well.
“And all I do in my car is listen to audio books. The narrators make the stories come to life and I really don’t know how some of them do it because they can breathe life into these characters with their own unique voices,” said Orlando.
There is nothing like being able to spark the imagination by sitting down and entering another world that could be similar or completely different than the reader’s, said Orlando.
“To try to get in the minds of people who think differently than you do, it’s fascinating. When you sit down and watch a movie or television show, it might be visually stimulating but the information is being fed to you. It doesn’t do the same thing inside your head when you make those characters come alive in your brain,” said Orlando.
Fenwick Used Books and Music offers community members a loyalty program called Perka, with sales and specials sent out via notifications once a week.
For more information about Fenwick Street Used Books and Music, check out their website and Facebook page.
For more information about Joe Orlando, check out this website.
Contatc Jacqui Atkielski at j.atkielski@thebaynet.com.
