A dense odor of decay, dust and the past saturate the air. As I funnel my body through the canyons of novels and mounds of gadgets, I find myself overwhelmed by the sheer wealth of unique treasures. To my right, I spot a swelling heap of aged family photographs in slender transparent wraps; several of the families are positioned in a manner that reveals their polite posture.
Protruding from a pile of old newspapers, an Arizona Republic headline reads: "Eight words that hold a key to victory in the war." This headline isn't about the war on terrorism; it's about the war against Germany and Japan - 62 years ago.
As I creep my way to the rear of the store, it almost appears as though the time-worn pictures, clocks and flat tin advertisements are blooming from the foot of the walls and inching their way to the ceiling to unite with several dangling lamps. In the heart of a pulsating district where business trends seem to change with the seasons, one traditional relic remains constant. Those Were The Days bookstore, at 516 S. Mill Ave., is one of downtown Tempe's few remaining antiques.
At 28-years-old, the "mom-and-pop" business is the one of the oldest establishments on Mill Avenue. Likewise, it's no fluke that the shop's focus is old antiques, collectibles and books.
From 'Guide to Nosepicking' to priceless collectibles.
Owner Vick Linoff explained that the store is almost 70 percent books, holding one of Arizona's largest selections of books on antiques and collectibles.
"Even if you're not into collectibles, most would find the shop's sometimes bizarre antiques intriguing," he said. "Also we're currently working on poster that will display a series of photos revealing all the different colors the 'A' on 'A' mountain has been through." Customer Melissa Peterson also recognized the shop's variety.
"I love all the unique books here; you can find the 'Ultimate Guide to Nose Picking' next to a 1,000-page restored 'Sears Roebuck Co. Catalog' from 1942," she said.
Patron Lisa Stenholm, while assisting her six-year-old daughter, Julia, agreed that variety is an appealing quality of Those Were The Days.
"I collect various butterfly displays, so I come through a lot to see what they have. When I bring Julia, she always finds interest in some of the old traditional American toys, like these 'Jumping Jacks.'"
Tempe resident Jack Ellworth, 45 and an employee of three years, said, "It's like a time capsule that has trapped the culture of the last 125 years."
In 1973, when Vick Linoff started Those Were The Days, the store had a much different focus.
"The establishment has definitely evolved over the years," Linoff said. "We initially started off refinishing antique furniture." However, as a demand built from Linoff's clientele for books on various subjects within antique collecting, Those Were The Days slowly made the transition to providing books.
Although the store's concentration shifted to books, the diversity of antiques was not seriously affected. Those Were The Days appears to be utilizing every spare cubic foot to pile, hang and prop unique antique pieces.
"One time a woman came in and asked the price of a specific antique figurine, I was baffled because I had no idea what she was describing. She lead me to a corner and sure enough, the figurine was crutched in a corner covered by an antique that was also covered by another antique," Ellworth said.
To maintain a consistent supply of store antiques, Linoff takes road trips through the Midwest to the Northeast United States once or twice a year to simply shop for antiques at auctions, markets and even other antique shops.
"People commonly ask me what I go looking for, and the answer is I don't know. There is nothing in particular, I just look for interesting items," Linoff said. Judging from a set of almost 200-year-old Pony Express badges to a photo book of "new" 1950s U.S. highway turnpikes, many customers confirm that interesting items are most certainly prevalent at Those Were The Days.
"When I go in there, I get lost in the maze of stuff - my wife has to drag me out every time," a browsing customer stated. The prices of these collectibles range from a 50 cent wedge for an old wooden block typewriter, to $10 replica movie posters of movies such as "King Kong," "Gone with the Wind" and "Dracula," to a $350 antique Smokerette-brand table radio manufactured in 1948.
Surviving the bumps
Through its 28-year history, Those Were The Days has naturally faced some tough periods. In the early 1980s during a very slow economic period, several local merchants and artists, including Mr. and Mrs. Linoff, got together to devise a way to attract business. The group of merchants constructed a plan for a festival to help boost interest in the Mill Avenue area.
Today, that event has grown into the Tempe Festival of the Arts, one of the Valley's prominent fall and spring attractions.
Through such events like the Festival of the Arts, Linoff said that he has been able to take an active role in the community. "The business has opened many doors for me; mainly it has increased my access to the community," he said.
Linoff teaches a course on antiques to college students at Mesa Community College; he also is active in many community services.
"Participating in the community is not easy, but it is necessary. If you're not participating in the local decisions that you will be affected by, your voice will go unheard and it's likely that someone else who doesn't hold your viewpoint will be taking your place."
Nonetheless, as times changed throughout the Tempe community that supported Those Were The Days, so did the challenges for the business.
Today, while corporate development continues to expand throughout downtown Tempe, a critical question for Those Were The Days arises. Will there be room for humble shops like this one on Mill Avenue?
"When I first started down here, (downtown Tempe) there was seven or eight stores just like this, now this is the only one left. What once made Mill Avenue unique has all but disappeared," Linoff said.
Mesa resident Keri Walker, 29, agreed. "I remember when I could come down to Mill and find several shops like Those Were The Days. Now Mill is very similar to a mall, except at the mall, it is not 110 degrees." Move over Borders Recent increases in demand and rental rates are making it even tougher nowadays for local businesses to afford rent in downtown Tempe. As a result, several local "mom-and-pop" businesses have faced the tough decision of relocation or extinction, while the more financially stable corporate chains have moved in.
In the fall 2001, another phase of the downtown redevelopment was completed with the addition of the Brickyard on Mill. The Brickyard houses several establishments, mainly corporate, including bookstore giant Borders Books.
"We have certainly felt the effects of the corporate development, I can't say that it hasn't been tough on business. But we like to believe that our market focus is centralized enough to protect us from chains like Borders," Linoff said. Those Were The Days has over 12,000 books on specialized topics.
"Of our 12,500 titles, a Borders or Barnes and Noble will only have about 100 of the same titles." Likewise, Those Were The Days offers 50,000 out of print books, of which most chains do not have access. "We cover a different market, it's a market that the chains have a hard time reaching," he said.
Borders patron Karl Rothenberger, 27, of Tempe, agrees with Linoff somewhat.
"I don't think that smaller bookstores will be effected by Borders, because they have their own markets, which are different from the market Borders appeals to. I come to Borders for a large magazine selection that I can't find at a smaller bookstore," Rothenberger said.
According to repeat customer Chris Johnson, 28, of Nashville, Tenn., the shop's unique market angle is not the only reason why business keeps coming. "The store is full of priceless history...the shop has a hometown feel in the middle of a big metropolitan city, but sometimes it seems like there is no longer room for 'mom-and-pop' on Mill."
An added advantage for Those Were The Days is its location. The shop is located in the last cast iron-front building in Tempe, making it a national registered historic building, which detours any sort of redevelopment schemes.
"Rent is the most expensive part of doing business. When we first started in 1973, we paid $200 a month for rent. Now for this kind of office space one would pay $50,000 or $60,000 a month, but because our building is so old, we enjoy some of the lowest rent rates on Mill," Linoff said.
"Nearly all of historical Tempe has been destroyed to make way for the new expansion; this is one of a few original buildings left, it will have its 100th birthday in 2007," he said.
Among all the current issues, Vick Linoff maintains a reasonable point of view.
"I realize that the evolution of the downtown economy is very complex, there just isn't any easy answer to the problems we local merchants face."
However, as indicated by several State Press articles over the past two years, many local Mill Avenue merchants and residents felt different about the situation and voiced their concerns about the escalating redevelopment. Some merchants and residents were concerned about the tax breaks handed to the corporate chains from the city as a development incentive.
"They're (tax breaks) common practice in the world of business to lure investors. But, given the economic success of Mill Avenue, the question is are these tax breaks necessary?" Linoff asked.
From local merchants who feel like Mill has lost some of its unique personality, to college students who believe corporate influence has gobbled up any sort of college atmosphere in downtown Tempe - the community has voiced its concerns over the escalating redevelopment.
"Perhaps the true loser of this whole situation is the ASU student community. Because of the high rent prices there is not many opportunities for students to experiment with opening a business and creating a student business district. I know I didn't learn how to run a Those Were The Days in the classroom," Linoff said.
Linoff, a merchant with 28 years of Mill Avenue business experience under his belt, acknowledged that in an ever-changing economic market, the future for Those Were The Days is not known.
"I don't know what is going to happen to this shop; I certainly hope there is a future for this kind of business on Mill, but I just don't know," Linoff stressed. "I do know that I don't have any plans to retire, if I retired I wouldn't have anything to complain about."
Reach Matt Garcia at margar40@hotmail.com.
