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Shakespeare & Co., an eclectic independent bookstore in downtown Chehalis, is brimming with good cheer, warm hospitality, delectable pastries and a large selection of gently used books.
The shop also has some new books and holds several surprises — such as takeaway soup on Tuesdays and a large art collection featuring items such as matchstick art, papier-mâché figures and an antique tapestry from Tibet.
“We’re living out our dream here, to have books and a comfortable, welcoming place for everyone,” said Karen McSwain, co-owner of the bookstore along with her life partner, Mo Anderson. “I’ve always loved reading and the story of Sylvia and her bookstore in Paris, and knew we could reflect that same goodwill here.”
Therefore, the bookstore in Chehalis is named after Shakespeare and Company, the famed bookstore that is situated on the left bank of the Seine River.
Opened in 1951, the Paris bookstore was named by Sylvia Beach, who called the shop a spiritual successor to her own bookstore, which had operated in Paris from 1919 until early in World War II. Beach’s bookstore had served as a gathering place and center of literary life for expat American writers, including Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound and many others.
From the first day of the Shakespeare and Company opening in Paris, struggling writers, artists and scholars were invited to stay as long as needed. They were allowed to sleep on the bookshelves, and today the bookstore’s website claims more than 30,000 people have spent the night there.
Over the years, the Paris bookstore has grown from one narrow room to a labyrinth of reading nooks today. The bookstore continues to host literary events and most are available for free on its online podcast.
The local Shakespeare & Co. has been in business for nine years, originally operating from a former Victorian home as a bookstore, coffeehouse and lunch place. Food was prepared in the commercial kitchen in the back of the present location and then brought over to the main site each day.
Impacted by the recent pandemic, McSwain and Anderson decided to downsize operations and, in October 2020, they moved their business downtown to focus primarily on bookselling.
Just like the venerated bookstore in Paris was when it began, the local bookstore consists of a long, narrow room. Today, the business offers soup on Tuesdays, whereby area customers can pre-order a quart for pickup. Pastries are available daily. Books are carefully curated and available in all genres.
“We try to offer something for everyone,” McSwain said, adding that fiction, the classics and cookbooks sell best, as do books on poetry, tarot and philosophy. She said 25 to 50 books are added to the shelves each day. Bargain books are always available, and the owners’ listings of recent favorites is kept current.
The bookstore also serves as a private art gallery of the kind that only collectors of diverse art with a knowledgeable eye could have put together — unplanned, wide-ranging and highly engaging.
“We’re art rescuers,” McSwain said. “We find interesting things at estate sales, galleries or secondhand shops, and occasionally people bring us things. We can usually find a place to display special art that complements our collection.”
A colorful character puppet on a velvet loveseat by the door welcomes visitors. Figurines, vases, a velvet Elvis, vintage photos, religious icons and various small sculptures fill long shelves above the books. Above these items hang paintings and other two- and three-dimensional art pieces of various forms, including a large 1851 painting found at a thrift store and a handwoven Buddhist tapestry from a yard sale — well over a century old and bearing the handprint signature of the monk who created it.
Tucked away under one shelf is a locked gold tabernacle, the altarpiece which formerly held the sacred Eucharist in a Catholic church in California, gifted to Anderson’s father who had served the archdiocese.
A full-size, precise violin created by Anderson’s father solely from matchsticks is displayed, as is a small matchstick replica of the Queen Mary steamship and two large matchstick “paintings,” one of which features former president John F. Kennedy.
“My father did thousands of elaborate matchbox portraits,” Anderson said, “including one of Bing Crosby that Crosby kept for years. My dad was a character, and this was his hobby. As a kid, we had to pull the heads off thousands and thousands of matchsticks for him.”
A 1912 Idaho class photo that McSwain found and displayed eventually drew the attention of one customer, who recognized his great-great-grandfather as one of the nine graduates. Pressed to take the photo home, in the end the relative relented.
“I’m the book lover and Mo is the people person,” McSwain said. “Our bookstore is a place where we’re happy to be, and we encourage people to come and check it out. Both of us feel that everyone is welcome here, where they can be themselves, and find some respite. It’s nice to have a place like this, as the world today can be so chaotic.”
Learn more about the business at https://tinyurl.com/bdchje6t.
Shakespeare & Co. is located at 553 N. Market Blvd., Chehalis.
