The Raven History
Raven Bookstore: The History of a Bookstore
By Pat Kehde
The Raven Bookstore came about in a kind of casual, even accidental way; in fact you might say that the idea was born on a tennis court.
Mary Lou Wright and Pat Kehde spent time together in the early 80s playing tennis, taking their children to the pool and talking about the books they loved, many of which were mysteries. They both had other full time jobs but were interested in doing something else. Pat visited some bookstores in Minneapolis that were just selling mysteries. It was a revelation. You could stock a store with books you knew and loved and find others who liked them too and would buy them. So we thought we’d give it try.
The two of us had met in1958 when we were freshmen at Scripps College, Claremont California. In the 70s we happened to move to Lawrence with husbands both of whom taught at KU. When in the mid-80’s we decided to explore the possibility of opening a bookstore, no one discouraged us though it was one of those decisions that seems in retrospect to be fairly naïve. Neither of us had ever run a business, and except for a library science degree and years has librarians, we knew little about the book business. At that time both were employed full time: Pat at the University of Kansas in the Student Affairs Division, as Director of the University Information Center, and Mary Lou as the Business Manager of the Journal of Applied Behavioral Analysis. After taking an American Bookseller’s Association workshop and exploring options with the U.S. Small Business Administration, we talked to the bank about a loan. Because the interest rate for two women opening a small business was ridiculously high, we ended up borrowing money from family. The summer of 1987, we decided on a place to rent (very small, about 700 sq feet) at the north end of Massachusetts St., which at that time was pretty rundown (Free State Brewery opened a year later).
The hardest decision was deciding on a name for the store. We knew we wanted something that related to mysteries and that had a visual connection, sort of like the British pubs with names like the Green Parrot or the White Swan. Since Edgar Allen Poe is considered the founder of the mystery, using his famous poem “The Raven” as a name seemed to work, though that poem is not part of his crime fiction work. Then we opened an account with a national book distributor, painted walls, stained bookcases, filled out inventory cards, and opened boxes of books and cards. We had a lot of help from family and friends. In late August 1987, the store opened. With two half-time employees, one of whom, thankfully, had had bookstore experience, both Mary Lou and Pat worked part time at the store and full time at their “day” jobs.
Over the years the Raven Bookstore grew from four part-time employees to one full time and 5 part-time employees, with Mary Lou and Pat working nearly full time. The Raven’s space grew too. Once moving into the shop next door for an additional 300 sq feet, and then in 1996 taking over that next door space entirely, for a total of 1200 sq. feet of space.
Borders Bookstore, a national chain, built a large store about 150 feet away from The Raven Bookstore opening their store in December of 1997. It was a challenge. But due to the campaign to keep Borders from tearing down an historic property where they wanted to put a cookie cutter chain store, public awareness grew about the threat to small home grown businesses in downtown Lawrence posed by national chains. And The Raven customers have been very loyal.
The Raven Bookstore is a member of the American Booksellers Association, the Upper Midwest Booksellers Association, and Independent Mystery Booksellers Association and is a New York Times Best Seller List contributing store, which means that we report our best sellers every week to the NYT. Seven years ago we created the Langston Hughes Creative Writing Award and asked the Lawrence Arts Center to join with us in this effort. Every year since 1996 we have given away two prizes, or $500 each, for the best fiction and the best poetry entries from unpublished writers in Douglas County. It is a way to commemorate Langston Hughes’s growing up in Lawrence and Douglas County and to encourage young writers.
The store has always sponsored many book signings and events hosting such famous authors as Alice Walker, William Least Heat Moon, Sue Grafton, Thomas Frank and Sara Paretsky. We offer two mystery reading groups that meet monthly and are open to anyone. We have various free booklists and guides for our customers to help them find good books to read, and we will continue to write reviews and book suggestions on both the website and the newsletter.
Then in January 2008, we decided it was time to retire. We are so happy that we sold our store to wonderful, knowledgeable and energetic women, Heidi Raak and Lisa Stockton. They have added many wonderful touches to the store’s interior and to the stock of books, cards and sidelines. It’s a pleasure to see The Raven continuing to serve our community and all our terrific customers.
