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| - By Bob Hoover, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Jay Dantry, owner of Jay's Book Stall in Oakland, is closing the store after 49 years of business. There are a couple of reasons why independent bookstores are declining, but none applies to Jay's Book Stall in Oakland, closing Friday after 49 years. "I'm going to be 80 in August and waiting for 'Dancing With the Stars' to call," Jay Dantry joked yesterday, explaining why he's retiring and closing down. He opened his shop, at 3604 Fifth Ave., in 1959, but has sold books for 53 years. "It's all become a bunch of gadgets these days."
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| - By Bob Hoover, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Jay Dantry, owner of Jay's Book Stall in Oakland, is closing the store after 49 years of business. There are a couple of reasons why independent bookstores are declining, but none applies to Jay's Book Stall in Oakland, closing Friday after 49 years. "I'm going to be 80 in August and waiting for 'Dancing With the Stars' to call," Jay Dantry joked yesterday, explaining why he's retiring and closing down. He opened his shop, at 3604 Fifth Ave., in 1959, but has sold books for 53 years. Dressed uncharacteristically in shorts and sneakers, he was perched in his usual spot at the front counter with a view of the busy street. That scene was the only familiar one remaining, however. The narrow space, usually crammed with books, was practically stripped bare, the handmade floor-to-ceiling shelves mostly empty. Boxes of books were in piles to be shipped to Powell's Books, the mammoth Portland, Ore., bookseller; others will be donated to Children's Hospital, colleges, neighborhood book fairs and secondary schools, said Joe Emanuele, store manager. Here and there were paperbacks priced to sell and a table of give-aways -- publishers' galleys provided in advance of the final book to promote upcoming titles. Missing was the display of the hundreds of snapshots Mr. Dantry took over the years of the authors, great and small, who stopped in to pay homage to Pittsburgh's top independent bookseller. "I'm going to go home, read and take it easy," Mr. Dantry said when asked about his retirement plans. "I'm so glad that we're leaving now," he added, pointing to the technological changes in the way people read, including Amazon's digital "book" display, Kindle. "It's all become a bunch of gadgets these days." Nationwide, the American Booksellers Association, the independents' trade group, lost 56 members last year, dropping membership to 1,524. There were more than 5,000 in 1990. Despite the emergence of the bookstore chains, the Internet and the success of Amazon -- all factors in the shrinking of the independent bookstore -- the Book Stall didn't lack for customers. The university community and the city's dedicated book readers remained loyal, thanks to Mr. Dantry's unimpeachable taste in literature and his no-frills operation. "He will always be the quintessential bookseller," said John Schulman, owner of Caliban Books, an Oakland store that carries used and rare books. "I don't know where his customers are going to shop now. They came to depend upon him." The doors "will be locked Friday," said Mr. Emanuele.
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