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DeDe’s Book Rack offers atmosphere, adventures

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Photo by Ron Burkett.

Located just off Main Street in downtown Trussville, DeDe’s Book Rack opens a world of adventure the moment you open the door.

“It’s an escape. You can live in another world, meet people all over the world and have adventures. I’ve loved [reading] since I was a small girl,” said shop owner Debi McCarley, a Clay resident. “There’s always a conversation to broaden your horizons and expand your scope of what you know and where you’ve been, without leaving the room.”

McCarley fulfilled a life-long dream in September when she purchased the barter-system used bookstore and all of its contents, including more than 20,000 books. The store, which was formerly located in the Trussville Crossings shopping center, opened at its new location at 104 S. Chalkville Road on Oct. 1.

“The dream has always been in the back of my mind to own a bookstore one day,” said the former Books-A-Million manager of eight years. “I grew up with a family that owned businesses. I saw my parents were successful, and maybe that helped stoke the dream.”

While the dream was not originally used books, McCarley welcomes the new idea of being a Book Rack licensee, a format for used bookstores dating back to the 1960s. This particular store has changed hands now three times, dating back to when it first opened in 1975 on Huffman Road in Roebuck, making it Alabama’s second oldest continuously operating barter bookstore. 

What is a barter bookstore? It’s a store where customers can bring in an old paperback and trade it in for credit, roughly 25 percent of the publisher’s price. The credit can then be applied to the purchase of a book in the store. All books are already marked down to 50 percent of the original publisher’s price.

McCarley, who greets and helps every customer that comes through the door, says the people are one of the best parts of the store.

For some, a bookstore without a digital option may seem like a dying breed, but so far, traditional paperbacks are still surviving in a growing world of e-books. Former owner Charlotte Powell saw the store through the digital transition of books over the last seven years.

“We weren’t hurt by e-books. We could still do a better price point,” Powell said. “Paperback is less expensive than a download.”

McCarley agrees, and says her business serves those who love to turn a page, as well as book clubs and students who need books for their school reading list. She may even try to get a few new books upon release and some hardbacks at customer’s request.

“I don’t know if that will continue as the younger, younger kids get older, but I think there will always be people who want a book in their hand,” McCarley said. “As long as we’re turning over inventory and keeping new things in stock, there’s always going to be someone who wants to hold a book.”

Customers can browse the inventory of more than a dozen genres every Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. While there, customers can expect to be helped by McCarley personally, as they search the main room and seven side rooms for the right book and a stool or chair to escape into their new adventure.

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