Volume One targets more student business
Besty Woodruff
Issue date: 9/17/09 Section: Down the Hill
Volume 1 Books just became the perfect escape from campus.
It is quiet and well-lit, and sells good coffee. The store also now sells snacks.
And if you need a copy of "The Communist Manifesto," look no further. Owner Richard Wunsch has accumulated a wide variety of leftist reading material, pins, and buttons and his store features free pamphlets from anti-war groups and the Michigan chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
Members of College Republicans should not be deterred, though; Volume 1 also carries a variety of conservative books by authors like Ayn Rand, Ludwig von Mises, and Nathanael Brandon. They sell more quickly than the socialist ones.
"In Hillsdale we need a place for town and gown to interact,"said Wunsch. "There's a big bad world out there, and Hillsdale College is its own community, and if I was up there, I'd need a place to get away."
The store also has newly extended hours: It is open until 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, until midnight on Friday and Saturday, and from two to eight on Sunday.
Mary Angerer, a sophomore at Hillsdale who works at the store, pointed out that it sells much more than books; students can find records, comics, CliffsNotes, posters, and old photographs there, as well.
Upperclassmen will be surprised by the changes Wunsch has made on the second level of his store; instead of functioning as an inverted basement, it has several freshly-painted, pleasantly secluded rooms with tables and chairs for studying.
Wunsch's renovations have been a long time in coming. He attended college in the Vietnam War era and had many friends who protested against the government and several who were arrested for their actions. Though Wunsch sympathized with their causes, he always envisioned a different way of healing social rifts.
"I think it's important to provide community space," he said. "What I'd like to see is that we get lots of students hanging out, the town people that come in will continue to come in, so there will be more of that interaction. The community between different groups of people is good -- people have a lot to learn from each other."
Wunsch also believes that change is crucial if society is to survive.
"I'm a Jeffersonian," he said. "Every twenty years, there better be a revolution; not necessarily a bloody revolution, but a revolution."
The store needs an increase in traffic to survive. Wunsch spent three months last winter driving a taxi cab in Ann Arbor to support it; the market crash severely hurt its business, most of which comes from online sales.
"I don't know whether all this stuff's going to work," Wunsch said, "but there's only one way to find out!"
He said his life motto is simple: Do things, even if they don't turn out to be the best decisions.
It is quiet and well-lit, and sells good coffee. The store also now sells snacks.
And if you need a copy of "The Communist Manifesto," look no further. Owner Richard Wunsch has accumulated a wide variety of leftist reading material, pins, and buttons and his store features free pamphlets from anti-war groups and the Michigan chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
Members of College Republicans should not be deterred, though; Volume 1 also carries a variety of conservative books by authors like Ayn Rand, Ludwig von Mises, and Nathanael Brandon. They sell more quickly than the socialist ones.
"In Hillsdale we need a place for town and gown to interact,"said Wunsch. "There's a big bad world out there, and Hillsdale College is its own community, and if I was up there, I'd need a place to get away."
The store also has newly extended hours: It is open until 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, until midnight on Friday and Saturday, and from two to eight on Sunday.
Mary Angerer, a sophomore at Hillsdale who works at the store, pointed out that it sells much more than books; students can find records, comics, CliffsNotes, posters, and old photographs there, as well.
Upperclassmen will be surprised by the changes Wunsch has made on the second level of his store; instead of functioning as an inverted basement, it has several freshly-painted, pleasantly secluded rooms with tables and chairs for studying.
Wunsch's renovations have been a long time in coming. He attended college in the Vietnam War era and had many friends who protested against the government and several who were arrested for their actions. Though Wunsch sympathized with their causes, he always envisioned a different way of healing social rifts.
"I think it's important to provide community space," he said. "What I'd like to see is that we get lots of students hanging out, the town people that come in will continue to come in, so there will be more of that interaction. The community between different groups of people is good -- people have a lot to learn from each other."
Wunsch also believes that change is crucial if society is to survive.
"I'm a Jeffersonian," he said. "Every twenty years, there better be a revolution; not necessarily a bloody revolution, but a revolution."
The store needs an increase in traffic to survive. Wunsch spent three months last winter driving a taxi cab in Ann Arbor to support it; the market crash severely hurt its business, most of which comes from online sales.
"I don't know whether all this stuff's going to work," Wunsch said, "but there's only one way to find out!"
He said his life motto is simple: Do things, even if they don't turn out to be the best decisions.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
ReaderGuy
posted 9/17/09 @ 4:03 PM EST
How on earth is it going to work if he hires only college kids who know nothing about books? The first need in any bookstore is help which knows something about what they're selling, and nobody there does now. (Continued…)
Ben Bradley
posted 9/18/09 @ 11:13 PM EST
Whatever happened to Amy who used to work there? She was a nice lady, and knew more about books and what's in 'em than any dozen college kids. I miss her. (Continued…)
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