Quirky book and yarn store...or is it yarn and books? Anyhow, the place is a bit cluttered but it is great to browse and check out what you can find. The owner is a real trip and super friendly and talkative. Nice dog too!
All Books is a wonderfully charming book and yarn store with a lovely, thoughtful, and inquisitive old lady who runs the store that she pours her life and love into. It is heartwarming to see someone who takes such pride in what they do. I love going in and being asked by cute ole Mrs. Polly about how my life is going in general. It's not often that you find people who run businesses that are genuinely concerned with the lives of their customers. I will return to this store again and again and I recommend this store to those looking for a soul-nourishing experience. However, don't go into the store looking to be serviced, it's a serve yourself kind of store where Mrs. Polly kindly allows you to explore all of her books for yourself. She is a sure enough Southern woman with greatly apparent Southern values. She is a very honorable woman who will give you exactly what you pay for. Overall, All Books is a treasure in the heart of downtown that reminds you of the roots of where the city has come from.
The 2 stars is because those few books that I found might have been a great find but, I leave that to another adventurer.
What an adventure. Between the dogs in sweaters, smell of meat, smell of dog, completely disorganized set up, and bags of yarn, I did manage to find some pretty neat books. Of course they were hardcover book sets with instructions to not remove them from sleeves. No clue if they were in decent condition or price. It really came down to the owners poor servant, Chelsea (think that's her name). After being told to run books to the back the owner then began calling her back to the front to put a book on the bottom shelf. With many yes ma'am's, she finished in the back. Before she could return the owner threw the book down and yelled for her to put it on the bottom shelf. Once she finished that, the owner told her to feed meat to the dogs. "Just pick it off the bone." She sat on a crate and began picking at the meat. When the owner them started asking her about her claim of being a spiritualist. That's when I left and never looked back.
If you want to be insulted, stop in to All Books. I made the mistake of letting a friend take me to this store because my wife wants to start spinning. My wife already knows the equipment that she wants, and I am perfectly capable of making it for her. She also wants to make her own dyes. The proprietor of this shop was the rudest and hardest selling, and flat out condescending piece of work I have ever come across in a retail establishment. Apparently she has managed to cultivate a few sugar daddies over the years and they support her. I can not fathom a customer with more than half a bran tolerating her or her attitude for long. And for someone who owns a book shop, she should find a copy of _The Rainbow Beneath My Feet_ , a unique and useful reference guide to some of the more common and best color-producing dye mushrooms of North America. The book includes step-by-step instructions to the process from collecting the mushrooms to dyeing the wool.
There is no doubt she is a talented spinner but her abusive personality and her hard sell tactics, and just lack of tact will keep me from *ever* going back. There are much better resources on the internet and they lack the bad attitude and hard sell. This is a perfect example of a brick and mortar store doing everything wrong, and than no doubt crying in private about the internet ruining her business.
Love this place - character, good values, a treasure of an place and owner!! Will definitely return!
All Books is a US Book Store based in Chattanooga, Tennessee. All Books is located at 410 Broad St, Chattanooga, TN 37402, USA.
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